Blog 7 video

Blog Task 6

The Digital Beginnings written by Marsh et al (2005) explores young children's use of pop culture, media and new technologies through conducting surveys. They found that parents scaffold children's learning in using technology engages them in social and cultural practices. It develops their understanding of media and technology in society. Parents believe that children can live a balanced like, including their hobbies. Media is seen as promoting play, speaking, listening and reading skills which is why it is seen in a positive light. I have seen in school children playing with Ipads which generate conversations and develops children's speech, especially when in partners. Marsh et al (2005) found that parents felt that children learn a great deal from pop culture and agree that media should be used in the curriculum from a young age to prepare children for the increasing technology world.  These findings are very positive to the use of technology, nevertheless, Marsh et al (2005) identified that ongoing research is needed to develop further understanding children's needs and potential. Interestingly, Early Years teachers want more development in the use of technology to become more confident in using and teaching with different media in the classroom. Marsh et al (2005) discuss how observations in children's homes are necessary in order to deepen their understanding regarding how skills and understanding is developed as well as parents scaffolding children's learning. I agree that pop culture, media and new technologies help develop children's learning and feel it is necessary to make these resources available to children when teaching in the future. I enjoy using technology when teaching, but worry that I depend on it too much for every lesson using the Interactive Whiteboard. I have not seen comics and graphics used in lessons, but have learnt how it helps children's understanding of story structure, through the layout used. I would like the challenge to include comics when teaching story structure or focusing on contractions or speech in a lesson, to engage the children with a new form of text. Millard and Marsh (2001) argue that colloquial language used in comics distress a high percentage of parents, but some may argue that children need to be made aware of contractions used, as comics mainly include speech. It is evident that parents are encouraging different media and new technologies in the home from a very young age, due to the world's increase in technology. Children are now growing up as digital natives and need to embrace these skills (Prenzky, 2001).  According to Ofcom (2004, as cited in Marsh et al 2005) children engaging with a wide range of media and technology from birth helps children develop 'media literacy' which is the 'ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts'. I believe that pop culture is a great tool to use in order to stimulate lessons, however the use of ICT should not be overused. Most schools I have witnessed, use ICT to type their work or play maths/science/literacy games. It is a shame to see ICT software not being used and promoted such as scratch, however it should not be overused in schools as children can become dependent on it. For example, when typing work, children have access to the spellchecker, which may help children who have difficulty spelling, but is it actually helping their learning? The question is, do they understand and remember the correct way to spell a word to use it in with future writing?

It is vital that teachers have the understanding and confidence in using technology in order to teach children how to use it. As I specialise in ICT, I have a good knowledge of how to use it, but I aim to engage in more software available. During seminars, we are exposed to using different web 2 technologies, learning how to use them. Some teachers fear the use of technology and 'stick to what they know'. In my opinion, the children are missing out on experience of using technology and is why I have the passion to include it in my lessons.

Marsh, J. Brooks, G. Hughes, J. Ritchie, L. Roberts, S. Wright, K. (2005)  Digital Beginnings: Young Children’s Use of Popular Culture, Media and New technologies University of Sheffield

Millard and Marsh (2001) 'Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices' Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1, 25 - 38 (pdf)

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part  II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ in On the Horizon 9 (6)

Week 7: Infomal Blog Task; Rethinking Literacy; Multimodal Texts

I created a multimodal text on PowerPoint, which was an interactive story about The Little Gingerbread Man. I enjoyed creating the multimodal text because I developed new skills. I learnt how to hyperlink the slides together so children can click on the link to read the next page of the story, so I have integrated literacy teaching through creating a multimodal text (Walsh, 2010). The experience will affect my practice positively because I can use the story as a template to create more interactive stories. The skills I gained can be transferable, to creating other texts for example, using hyperlinks to view videos online. I was confident with making my story, as I knew how I could make it interactive to ensure that there were different activities involved to engage the children.

 

The challenge I experienced was not finishing my story in the seminar, the lack of time was an issue. This can be linked to ICT lessons in schools. I experienced that most children did not have enough time in the lesson to complete their work. In addition to this, some aspects of the story I could not make fully interactive because I was lacking the skills to complete the action for example, I wanted the user to be able to click on the words to place them into the correct box in order to complete the missing passage. However, I would adapt the activity so that children can still complete the passage by numbering the boxes and the children write on their whiteboards which words match the correct box. Teachers need to make the time to create their interactive story and the relevant skills to create it.

The implications that could occur are teaching children the skills to create the text, which could be time consuming. They will need to teach them how to use the program. A lot of time will need to be spent on generating ideas with the children, to ensure their stories will involve interactivity (UKLA and QCA. 2005). Other threats are the children using pictures from inappropriate websites which exposes them to inappropriate content. They also could be breaking copyright laws by using copyright protected images. To avoid these implications from occurring the teacher could save pictures that are not protected by copyright laws in their class folder, which the children can use. This means the children are not breaking copyright laws and being exposed to inappropriate websites. Time will also be saved because the children will not have to look for the pictures.

In conclusion, teachers need to teach the relevant skills to children of creating and experiencing multimodal texts in order to have the relevant skills and understanding to engage with the text (Medwell, Moore, Wray and Griffiths, 2012). For example different skills are needed to make a movie compared to watching a movie. Children should create multimodal texts because they will gain skills to broaden their learning, and be creative to make information come to life (Creating multimodal texts, 2011).

Bibliography

Creating multimodal texts. (2011) Introduction and how to use this resource. [www] Available from: http://creatingmultimodaltexts.com/ (Accessed: 25.02.2014)

Medwell, J., Moore, G., Wray, D., and Griffiths, V. (2012) Primary English Knowledge and Understanding London: Learning Matters.

UKLA and QCA. (2005) More than words 2: Creating Stories on page and screen. [pdf] London: QCA.  Available from: http://www.suehorner.com/resources/8_More+than+words+2+$282005$29 (Accessed: 25.02.2014)

Walsh, M. (2010) ‘Multimodal literacy: What does it mean for classroom practice?’ Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33 (3), pp211-239. [pdf] http://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/63 (Accessed: 25.02.2014)

Informal Blog Task 4: Harnessing New Technologies

Informal Blog Task 4: Harnessing New Technologies

During the seminar you have engaged with Web.2 technologies/new literacy practices. Please upload you created text/s and reflect on the implications of this session for your future practice, drawing on any relevant sources.

During the seminar we were learning to use some Web.2 technologies such as wordle, JigZone and Tagxedo. These technologies were fun and interesting to use and would clearly be something which children would enjoy to see and to use. I believe that I have developed a good understanding of how these technologies work and am keen to use them more and research others which are similar. One key implication is my personal development, I believe form the session I have a basic understanding of how to operate and use these technologies myself but to effectively use them and teach them to children I believe I will need to develop my confidence and knowledge further in order to be able to answer any questions children may have or to be able to extend the knowledge of those who are gifted and talented. The Richardson (2008) argues that web.2 technologies can promote learning through a social, creative and participatory way.

These technologies provide a platform for key ICT skills to be taught to children. These web.2 technologies are becoming an influential element of life and are used regularly. It is key that the skills required to use and access these form of technology are overtly taught to children. Before the session I was unaware of some of the key features of the technologies and the way that many of the can be incorporated, such as posting them in the blogs.

I also believe these Web.2 technologies are essential tools for incorporating ICT into all areas of the curriculum. ON a previous school experience we used Wordles, with the children, for them to develop their own word banks relating to newspaper report and the key language they could use. It was easy and effective for children to look through newspaper and jot down, onto iPads, any useful words they would like to steal. After the session they had created Wordles that they could then use to inform their own newspaper report writing. I believe this example is one which can be carried into many areas of the curriculum and is something which I need to endeavour to use.

Richardson, T. (2008) How Web 2.0 has changed the face of education. NCC [online] http://www.ncc.co.uk/article/?articleid=13295 (accessed 26/02/14)

Formal Blog Task 3: Comics and Graphic Novels

Formal Blog Task 3: Comics and Graphic Novels

Drawing on your learning within the seminar, relevant readings and your own experiences and observations, respond to the following question:

Does the use of comics and graphic novels (hard copy/electronic version) within the primary literacy curriculum undermine the values of the classroom or do they offer opportunities for learning.

Comics and graphic novels have become one of the fastest growing areas of children’s literature in recent years. Between 2001 and 2004 sales of these forms of literature have grown by around 45 million (White and Walker 2008). It is edging ahead of storybooks to become children’s favourite choice of book (Sainsbury and Clarkson 2008). Clearly comics and graphic novels are part of children’s lives but the argument lies for us as the gatekeepers into the classroom (Marsh and Millard 2001). Do we see these forms of literature as potential learning opportunities or do we feel that they undermine the values of the classroom?

Harding (2000) argues that we must start where the children are, in relation to teaching and in this case literacy with a focus on reading. Comics are therefore ideally placed to support children in reading; they are a step from picture books through to storybooks. They can act as a form of scaffolding (Vygotsky 1978) supporting children when necessary to move up and onto the next level of learning.

On my recent school experience we had a visit from the well-known creator of story sacks and fond promoter of reading for pleasure, Neil Griffiths. Neil spoke to the staff in an after school CPD evening about the importance of reading for pleasure. His key point was that it did not matter what it was that the child or adult was reading just that they were reading. If it was a magazine or a comic or even the TV guides. It did not matter because it was their access to the world of literature, one day they may progress to reading a novel but he insisted that a novel is not the only form of appropriate literature for schools.

The reason why sometimes teacher may be fearful or unsure of the use of comics and graphic novels in the classroom could be due to their ‘discombobulation’ at the shape of the modern world (Brooks 2006). Teachers, as discussed earlier as the gatekeepers, have not grown up in a world or education system that accepts comics and graphic novels as appropriate forms of literature they therefore do not have an understanding of their use they are not accustom to their uses and benefits.

Comics and graphic novels can be used as part of a wide variety of tools at a teacher’s disposal to support children in all areas of the curriculum. It is for us as primary practitioners to decide when and where it is appropriate to use these forms of literature in a broad and balanced language environment.

Bibliography

Marsh, J. and Millard, E. (2001) ‘Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices’ Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1, 25-38.

White, C. and Walker, T. (2008) Tooning in: Essays on Popular Culture and Education. Abingdon: Routledge.

Sainsbury, M. and Clarkson, R. (2008) Attitudes to Reading at age Nine and Eleven: Full Report. Slough: NFER.

Harding, P. (2000) Horncastle Curriculum Centre (Reported in TES August 2000)

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Brooks, L. (2006) The Story of Childhood: Growing Up in Modern Britain. London: Bloomsbury Press.

Week 7: Creating a Multimodal Text

 

I created a multimodal text based on The Little Gingerbread Man story. I used PowerPoint to create the interactive text. The example above is a video; therefore, it is not interactive. However, on PowerPoint it is interactive because children will be able to click on the links to view the next page of the story, along with the interactive activities that have been included.

Multi-modal Texts

I created a powerpoint which will allow children to work through as story using picture and text. The format allows the children to work with support to begin with and then develop the story just using given images and some support from a wrod bank.

The Little Mermaid. Session 7.

I used powerpoint presentation to create a multimodal text, based on The Little Mermaid Story.

Session 6 - Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age?

Palfrey & Gasser (2008) describe children who were all born after 1980 as “digital natives”; children with access to digital technologies and the skills to use those technologies. The concerns about the threats to the privacy of children, their safety and education as a result of the digital age, are central to their writing. However, they do well to balance caution with encouragement when it comes to the digital world we now live in (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008).

They highlight teacher’s fear that the skills that they have imparted over time are becoming obsolete, and that the pedagogy of our educational system cannot keep up with the changes in the digital landscape. In short, teachers feel they are out of step with digital natives. However, as Palfrey & Gasser (2008) state, we must put these real threats into perspective; our children and future generations have tremendous opportunities in store for them, because of the digital age. They see promise in the way that Digital Natives are interacting with digital information, and state there are things that we as teachers can do, in order to manage the extraordinary transition to a globally connected society. One solution that they offer to solve those problems includes a good education (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008).  They state that teachers are among those that are on the front line and therefore have the biggest responsibility and the most important role to play in ensuring we harness the good that comes from the digital age (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). However, they highlight that too often teachers cut themselves off from their digital native children because of the language and cultural barriers, rather than allowing digital natives guide them into the new way of living (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). As a result, children are using the technologies alone, without any supervision or support. In turn, they are more at risk at the potential threats of the digital age.

Conclusively, Palfrey & Gasser (2008) argue that teachers must care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age to ensure children have the opportunities to make possible new forms of creativity, learning and innovation. They add, that in order to navigate in this complicated world, young people must learn digital literacy (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). It is therefore, our jobs as teachers to ensure they are equipped with the skills to do so.

 Bibliography

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital. Understanding the first generation of digital natives New York: Basic Books.

Blog Task 5

There is a continuous debate on whether advertising influences children. Gunter et al (2005) identifies advertising as portraying a message about a brand to influence consumers perceptions of the brands in order for them to purchase it. Adverts raise awareness and people's attitudes to brands and makes us unconsciously feel the need to buy them. For children, food such as cereals entice children to want to eat certain cereals because they know they have the chance of winning a toy. Some adverts include products that if you keep buying them, you gain a toy each time which creates a whole set. As well as magazines, which come with pieces of the body or a ship, the first few are free, then they become more and more expensive to complete the set. Parents are then nagged to buy them so the child get stheir toy which is known as 'pester power' (Proctor and Richards, 2002 as cited in Gunter, 2005). Young (1990) views advertising in a negative light as it persuades children to buy products they do not need, spending money they do not have. Not all products are bought due to advertising as some products are bought because of the popular 'craze' for example Harry Potter (Proctor and Richards, 2002). During school experience, children would bring in their favourite toys to play with others, for the boys it was mainly cards, which they would swap and share. These popular crazes influence more and more children to pester their parents to get them, which they become the talk of the playground. Advertising is seen by some as promoting awareness of important social and religious events such as Christmas. This makes children aware of what is going on in the world educating them. Gunter et al (2005) puts forward how some adverts show toys in a unrealistic way, which concerns parents as the small print is not always readable by children. Strasburger (2001, as cited in Gunter, 2005) states how children are exposed to alcohol, tobacco and medicines which causes concerns. This is because some adverts may include animation to look as if it is aimed at children, to confuse the viewers. Another issue with advertising is when some products are  shown with celebrities, to promote the product and enhance sales as it increases children liking the product (Rose et al, 1984, as cited in Gunter, 2005).  This shows a false sense of security as children are influenced the need to buy it, when they may not even need it. Advertising does influence children, but not just through adverts, but through crazes at school and what is most popular that everyone else has, that you do not want to be left out.

Gunter, B. Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp 1 – 13




 

Young, B. (1990) Children and Television Advertising. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press 

Blog Task 4

I have increased my subject knowledge in using JigZone, Wordle and Tagxedo through the use of ICT. Each of these tools were very fun and creative which I am eager to use in the classroom. I believe that children will love carrying out these activities as there are so many skills to learn and to explore, to produce good work. Using the Web2. technologies includes many skills to be learnt and should be embraced, as technology is all around us being used every day. For my own subject knowledge, I need to feel confident enough using the software in order to answer any questions the children may have. Therefore I plan to explore them in depth, to provide the best knowledge and understanding to be able to communicate effectively for children to learn (FutureLab, 2010). Merchant (2007) argues the importance of introducing new digital literacies into the classroom as it develops children's understanding and awareness of new skills. By giving children the opportunity to explore different software to produce creative text and images. They learn a range of skills which increasing their confidence and ability's in ICT.

 

Cox et al (2003, as cited in Beauchamp, 2013) found that using ICT in lessons improves children's attainment levels. However, ICT does not always have a positive impact on children and should not be overused. On my school experience, the children hardly used ICT and because I specialise in it, I took over the ICT lessons. The children were enthused to use ICT, but should not use it to the extent of relying on it too much. I believe it should be used wisely with a purpose. Most of the schools I have visited use ICT to type up written work and are not experimenting with other software to create pieces of work through exploration of tools.

 

The Web2 technology software offers great activities for children to develop their skills and can be linked to any lesson with a specific topic, giving the task a purpose in an interactive way. The children can share each other's ideas by experiencing new ways of producing work through using different features and tools on the computer. Having completed these tasks myself, they are very fun and engaging and I am excited to use these in my own teaching as it opens up a new set of skills for children to learn. The only implications are that some of the features, for example of Tagxedo, do not allow you to insert more than one image. However, it can be resolved by using word or another document to crop images and then insert them into Tagxedo. This is why having a secure knowledge of how to use the software is vital when teaching children which helps resolve any barriers.

 

Beauchamp, G. (2013) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. NY: Routledge

 

FutureLab. (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum. [pdf] Available from:http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (Accessed: 20/02/14)

Merchant, G. (2007) Writing the future in the digital age Literacy. 41 (3) pp118-128

Formal Blog task 3

There are many views on whether comics and graphic novels within the Primary Literacy curriculum offer opportunities for children to learn. The Department for Education and Skills (2006), state that children should be exploring how writers use language for comic and dramatic effects in year 5. This shows how important it is that children have access to reading comics and novels.

 

Comics and graphic novels are accessible to most children including those with reading and writing difficulties as well as developing children's vocabulary. However, Millard and Marsh (2001) argue that colloquial language used in comics distress a high percentage of parents. On the other hand, some individuals may argue that children need to be made aware of contractions used, as comics mainly include speech. I have seen children in schools choosing comics to read due to the amount of words and images that look more appetising than a thick book. This is because some children have a negative view on reading and find it boring, which promotes graphic novels as a way of motivating children to read (Crawford and Weiner, not dated). Stafford (2009) puts forward the idea of introducing children to comics as a class, discussing what they know about them already and comparing it to a normal book. This helps improve children's attitudes towards comics and graphic novels, as some children on my school experience did not read comics because they believed they were too easy. This view is understandable, although should be approached by a teacher to try and change their thoughts as it is good to have a variety of resources,  as all children learn in different ways. Comics include both images and text, which helps children's comprehension skills improve, as they can independently work out what is going on by using the images (Frey and Fisher, 208). Frey and Fisher (2008) claim that the visual clues in comics can encourage children to read more, giving them a positive reading experience and is a fun way to make links between images and words.

 

Stafford (2009) stresses how important it is that the content of comics used are appropriate to the age range due to the art work or language used. This needs to be approved by the teacher to save any problems in the future.  Nevertheless, Burg (as cited in Frey and Fisher, 2008) states an implication to using comics, is that words are reduced to minimum dialogue and images are restricted to a limited amount of cells on each page. Some parents believe that graphic novels are a bad influence on children and are used to motivate the reluctant readers (Crawford and Weiner, not dated).

 

I have not seen comics and graphic novels being promoted in schools, I would like to incorporate this into a lesson using the software to create comics. This would help teach story structure in Literacy to give children another mode of text to help with clearer understanding.

 

Crawford, P. & Weiner, S. (not dated) Using graphic novels with children and teens. A guide for Teachers and Librarians. [pdf] Available at: http://www.scholastic.com/graphix/Scholastic_BoneDiscussion.pdf (Accessed: 20/02/14)

 

Department for Education and Skills. (2006) Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics. [pdf] Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2006-primary-national-strategy.pdf (Accessed: 20/02/14).

 

Frey, N.E. & Fisher, D.B. (2008) Teaching Visual Literacy. London:Sage

 

Millard and Marsh (2001) 'Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices.' Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1, 25 - 38 (pdf)

 

Stafford, T (2009) ‘Teaching Comics’ in Duncan, D. (2009) Teaching Children’s Literature: Making stories work in the classroom. Abingdon:Routledge (pdf)

Formal Blog Task - Week 6

I read this text:

Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It London: Orien

Palmer (2006) argues children need to have opportunities to learn about the world through first-hand experience. Therefore, teachers need to provide children with opportunities for learning practically, because teachers need to acknowledge that, 80 per cent of five to sixteen-year-olds have their own TV in their room, which was found in a UK survey conducted in 2005 (Palmer, 2006). This shows that teachers should care about how much children are exposed to digital technologies in this digital age. Teachers need to take an interest into what content their children are viewing, in order to educate them about the dangerous impacts they can have on their health, behaviour and learning (Palmer, 2006). Teachers need to work together with parents to try to break the ‘digital divide’ between children and adults so that everyone is more aware of the uses and impacts digital technology has on us, because we will always have access to technology but we need to be aware of when it is appropriate to press the ‘off-switch’ button (Palmer, 2006).

Johnson and Kress (2003) argue, digital literacy allows individuals to participate in society. Therefore, teachers need to understand the positive impacts digital literacy has on children such as, giving them a voice by communicating information in a literal way. Department for Education (2013) have stated that children need to become digitally literate to develop their existing ideas. This suggests that teachers should incorporate technologies because it will support children in the workplace and in the digital world (Department for Education, 2013). In addition to this, children are born in a digital age; therefore, different forms of media should be embraced into the classroom with a balance with traditional teaching methods (Meador, undated).

Whilst I was on my latest school experience, the children did not have much experience of digital technology, however for a series of lessons the children did use the computers to research about their history topic, which was on the titanic. The children had the opportunity to understand information about the titanic, through using different sources (Purposeful Technology, undated). The children were finding and selecting information, and they were motivated with the task in hand (Purposeful Technology, undated). However, teachers need to be aware of the potential threats that can occur for example, of using Web 2.0 technologies such as the use of social media sites within the classroom (Futurelab, undated). This is because of the lack of control we have of what children can view on the internet (Futurelab, undated).

There are many benefits of using digital literacy and embracing the digital age within the classroom. My experience of digital literacy is positive because technology has allowed me to develop my knowledge and skills in this area (Purposeful Technology, undated). Therefore, Dean (2010) believes attitudes towards literacy should be changed to encompass the era of digital literacy. However, if teachers have a genuine concern to what children are exposed to in this digital age, teachers need to educate children about the actual uses of technology (Purposeful Technology, undated).  

Bibliography

Dean, G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms London: Sage

Department for Education. (2013) Computing programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2. [pdf] Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239033/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Computing.pdf (Accessed: 18.02.2014).

Futurelab. (undated) Digital literacy across the curriculum. [pdf] Available from: http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf  (Accessed: 18.02.2014).

Johnson, D., & Kress, G. (2003) ‘Globalisation, Literacy and Society: Redesigning pedagogy and assessment’ Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 10 (1), pp5-14. [online] Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09695940301697#.UwN6yWJ_ut8 (Accessed: 18.02.2014)

Meador, D. (undated) ‘Qualities of an Effective Teacher’. About:Teaching. [www]

Available from: http://teaching.about.com/od/pd/a/Qualities-Of-An-Effective-Teacher.html (Accessed: 18.02.2014).

Palmer, S. (2006) Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It London: Orien

Purposeful Technology (undated) ‘How can we embed digital literacy into the classroom?. [www] Available from: http://purposefultechnology.weebly.com/how-can-we-embed-digital-literacy-in-the-classroom.html (Accessed: 18.02.2014).

Session 5.

Over the last three decades, a substantial body of research has accumulated seeking to address how advertising influences children (Lawlor & Prothero, 2012). It is noted by Cooke (2002) that children in the United Kingdom and the United States spend on average between four or five hours a day watching some form of electronic media, therefore exposed to a large amount of advertisements. As Gunter et al (2005) states, there are concerns about the way that products are presented to children, such as using celebrities to endorse their product. As found by Gunter et al (2005), there appears to be little room in advertisements for children who do not conform to their particular gender stereotype. Therefore, it is suggested that advertising has the possibility of having a huge influence on a child’s perception of themselves.

There is an underlying concern about television advertising; whether it exploits children. Gunter et al (2005) describes children within this exploitation as ‘innocents’, suggesting advertising is criticised for persuading children to buy products they do not need. This desire is said to lead to ‘pester power’, meaning that children pester their parents or other adults to buy things for them. On the one hand it is argued children are becoming ‘empowered’ in a commercial environment: the market is seen to be responding to the needs and desires on the part of children. However, there is a growing concern about the ‘commercialisation’ of childhood which is said to cause harm to many aspects of children’s physical and mental health (Buckingham, 2011).

While advertisement is part of everyday life, children’s exposure to these types of texts is likely to be through reading and listening (Burrel & Beard, 2010). Engaging with these types of texts requires children to make connections between their out of school reading and the writing that they do in school (Burrel & Beard, 2010). Therefore, it is important that both teachers and parents educate children about advertisement.

The distinctive features of advertisement writing has been analysed over many years by distinguished linguists, such as Leech (1966). It is shown within Burrel & Beard’s (2010) findings that by including advertisement writing in the classroom, it provides opportunities to develop communicative power. These opportunities also foster critical reading, persuasive writing, therefore contributing to consumer, as well as literacy education.  Persuasive writing in general has been given a more prominent place in the curriculum provision and supporting guidelines in England, although specific attention to advertisement writing has received only minimal attention (Burrel & Beard, 2010).

For advertisement writing to be most efficacious in giving children a sense of empowerment, the writing needs to involve tasks and content that engage with the interests and needs of real relevance to young learners (Burrel & Beard, 2010). Therefore, teachers need to understand the interests of their pupils in order to educate their class about the intentions and features of advertisement writing. In addition, as teachers we need to fully understand their roles as consumers both in terms of ensuring that they are adequately equipped to deal with the market, addressing their specific needs and vulnerabilities (Marshall, 2010).

Bibliography

Burrel, A. & Beard, R. (2010) Children’s advertisement writing UKLA,  44:2, pp.83-90

Gunter, B., Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to children on TV New Jersey: Erlbaum Associates

Lawlor, M.A, & Prothero, A. (2012) Children’s Understanding of Television Advertising Intent Journal of Marketing Management, 19:3-4, pp.411-431

 

Marshall, D. (2010) Understanding Children as Consumers London: SAGE Publications Ltd

 

Buckingham, D. (2011) The Material Child Malden: Polity Press

Informal Blog Task 2: Parents' and student teachers' perceptions of using popular culture in the classroom

Explore the outcomes of your parental/student teacher survey. Did any responses surprise you or challenge you? What might be the subsequent implications for your future practice? Make links to the in-session discussion and to any relevant readings.

For my survey I contacted a friend of mine who has spent the last 3 years teaching in primary schools in Southampton and she is now currently teaching for three months in a school in South Africa. I decided to interview her to get a real life teachers perspective and also to gain an insight into any differences between the UK and South Africa. At the bottom of the post I have included all the responses to the interview as there are some interesting elements I have not been able to discuss fully in this post.

Popular culture, as discussed in our seminar and represented through reading, refers to cultural texts, artefacts and practices that are prevalent and widely reproduced on a global scale (Marsh 2005). The teacher I interviewed believed that this popular culture is a crucial element to the lives of children. In the area of technology she identified the link between technology being a massive part of children’s lives out of school and the belief it should be represented inside the classroom. Palfrey and Gasser (2008) identify that many modern children are often referred to as ‘digital natives’, the fact that they have been born and breed in a digital society and it is a crucial part of who they are and how they live.

When asked if using popular culture scared her, she said no but often children’s popular culture only becomes apparent to her when it has become out-of-date. This is something we need to be aware of as often as a child I can remember teachers using ‘popular’ culture which was outdated and actually acted to decrease interest. However, as my interviewee explained, when used correctly it can “be used as a tool to increase interest, focus and class participation.”

For myself, as a primary practitioner, I must aim to use popular culture, including technology, to the fullest of its potential. However, the challenge of this is how I keep up-to-date with the ever-changing popular culture of primary school children.

Bibliography

Marsh, J. (2005) Popular culture, new media and digital technology in Early Childhood. London: Routledge Falmer

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008). Born digital : understanding the first generation of digital natives. New York : Basic Books

Interview (carried out of Facebook) 

Do you see technology as something which should be given time and space in the primary classroom or as something which is unnecessary? Why?

 Yes technology definitely should be part of a primary school classroom! It is so much part of life, children would be put at a disadvantage if technology was not given time and space in the classroom. I am currently teaching in South Africa and even though technology is expensive the school makes a huge effort to give the children access to at least computers. We know we are educating a generation that will need at least basic computer knowledge to find any employment. Also, these children do not have access to a computer at home therefore we see it as a core part of their learning at school.

 How did/do you use technology in your classroom practice? Why?

When in England the children and I used an interactive white board to model and present work. I enjoyed being able to use, within seconds, the vast amount of information on the Internet, e.g whenever we talked about a place or country we automatically looked it up on 'Google earth' so we knew what it looked like. Other uses where interactive maths and grammar games. We also had access to enough laptops for one child each therefore tried to encourage typing work up on laptops to improve presentation whilst practising and using typing skills and word process knowledge. These laptops were also full of maths games which were regularly used to extend and consolidate learning within lessons. The children had weekly ICT lessons, in the computer suite, where they learnt about different programs and we created a class blog to show off our topic knowledge and work. Also, they were taught how to use a search engine efficiently and safely.

 Is popular culture something which scares you as a teacher? Why?

Popular culture doesn't scare me but popular culture for a 7 year old regularly doesn't become known to me until it is out of date.

Do you believe popular culture can be used as a tool in the primary classroom or should it be pushed to the fringes? Why?

I think it can easily be used as a tool to increase interest, focus and class participation. Children love talking about things they are interested in and I have found using popular culture; for example in mathematical word problems, has increase children's enjoyment and focus on the task which improved the quality of their work.

Focusing on literacy, how would/do you use popular culture to help support/develop reading and writing? Why?

 In literacy, popular culture is extremely helpful when encouraging reading, as I know a child that would never enjoy reading until they found a Justin Bieber biography. She read the whole thing in days and her comprehension was fantastic, she could have talked to me for hours about the information she had learnt about him.

Do you believe literary aspects of popular culture, such as comics/graphic novels, should be confined to the book shelf or used as valuable teaching tools? Why?

 I definitely try use aspects of comics/graphic novels as teaching tools where I can as I know they can be very helpful for EAL children and love using comics for teaching children to include speech in their writing. However, I would never force them to fit into a lesson.

Informal Blog Task - Week 5: Children and Advertising

How far do you think advertising influences children’s perceptions of themselves?

Gunter, Oates and Blades (2005) argue children are exposed to a large amount of advertisements every day. Therefore, I believe that to some extent advertising does influence children’s perceptions of themselves. However, these perceptions can be challenged for example, traditionally women were seen as ‘home makers’, staying at home looking after their family, whereas men were the ‘breadwinners’ going to work and providing for their family. However, as times have changed men and women’s roles can interchange. To contextualise this example to the question in hand, De Chenecey (1999) argues that the typical traditional gender and family roles are still mostly shown in advertisements, for example women doing washing up advertisements. Although it depends on how the child interprets advertisements to influencing perceptions about themselves.     

In conclusion, there are many more different factors where advertising can influence children’s perceptions of themselves, such as, body image, their interests and gender roles; the toys advertised for boys might be different, to the toys that should be played with by girls. As a result of this, advertisements reinforce stereotypes for example, between boys and girls.

Should children be viewed as consumers?

There are two different definitions of what a consumer is, in relation to this question, I am going to discuss children only using the products that are brought for them, and not buying and using them which would be the other definition of what a consumer is. I believe that to some extent children should be viewed as consumers, because parents need to understand and listen to what their children want, in order to purchase products that interest their children, for example what they want for their birthday. In addition to this, there are lots of adverts that are aimed at children of products that children should be using or playing with.

I believe that young people to some extent are passively persuaded through adverts to have products that they don’t need. Although, young people should have this right and be viewed as consumers because at the end of the day children are people like adults and they should be exposed to products that are aimed at them to decide if they want the product.

Should children learn about advertising in school and if so, what do teachers need to understand about the way in which children engage with advertising?

I strongly believe that children should learn about advertising in school, because in the seminar we discussed that children need to understand the purpose of adverts, in order to make judgements about products. In addition to this in Key Stage 2, children start to learn about persuasive writing, and learning about adverts is a great way of learning how to write persuasively (Department for Education and Skills. 2006).

Teachers need to understand the extent to which children engage in advertising, in other words how much they are influenced in adverts, which could differ according to their age (Banaji, 2010). Therefore, teachers need to understand and learn from their children of what they know about advertising and how they engage with adverts, and what they think of adverts, because they will have different cultural experiences of adverts as children are from different backgrounds so may experience different adverts.

 

Bibliography

Banaji, S. (2010) ‘Analysing Advertisements in the Classroom’ in Bazelgette, C. (Ed) Teaching Media in Primary Schools London: Sage Publications Ltd.

De Chenecey, S. (2000) ‘The Cellular Family at the Millennium’ Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 1 (4) pp333-337. [online]  http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1648566&show=pdf (Accessed 12.02.2014)

Department for Education and Skills. (2006) Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics. [pdf] Available from: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2006-primary-national-strategy.pdf (Accessed: 12.02.14).

Gunter, B., Oates, C., & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV: Content, Impact, and Regulation Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: New Jersey.

Informal Blog Task - Session 4

Having explored the use of web 2 technologies such as JigZone and wordle, I feel I have extended my skills and knowledge which will in turn benefit my future practice in an increasingly digital culture (Future Lab, 2010). Exploring the use of these technologies will enable me to become more digitally literate and to understand how and when digital technologies can best be used to support learning (Future Lab, 2010). According to Merchant (2009) introducing new digital literacies into classroom settings is an important and challenging task, therefore I need to be able to understand their uses by exploring them myself before introducing them to a class.

As stated by Carrington and Robinson, (2009) digital technologies are by some seen to be irrelevant in relation to children’s learning. This causes many children to leave behind a suite of competencies and knowledge about digital technologies whilst in the classroom (Carrington and Robinson, 2009). However, by providing a context for children to use web 2 technologies such as JigZone to create their own puzzles, it will enable the class to be engaged with their learning (Carrington and Robinson, 2009). However, as highlighted by Carrington and Robinson (2009) teachers must be prepared to teach in schools that are embedded in a world where digital technologies are changing the ways in which we engage each other. Therefore it is vital that I continue to explore digital technologies in order to engage a class to the best of my ability.

Wordle is an additional web 2 technology that encourages children to be active in their learning, rather than passively learning (Vickery, 2014). It also caters for creativity as it enables children to design, change colour and insert text. I would therefore include it in my teaching, providing it would effectively impact the class’ learning.  I believe in order to improve my future practice, it is important that I engage in further technologies in order to make informed decisions about when and when not and how to use digital technologies effectively in my teaching and children’s learning (Allen, Potter, Sharp & Turvey, 2012).

Bibliography:

Allen, J., Potter, J., Sharp, J. & Turvey, K. (2012) Primary ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice (5^th edition) London: Sage Learning Matters

Carrington, V. & Robinson, M. (Ed) (2009) Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices London: Sage Publications Ltd

Future Lab. (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum. [pdf] Available from: http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf(Accessed: 08/02/14)

Merchant, G. (2009) Literacy in Virtual Worlds Journal of Research in Reading, 31 (1) pp.38-56

Vickery, A. (2014) Developing Active Learners in the Primary Classroom  London: SAGE Publications

Informal Blog Task - Week 2

Explore the outcomes of your parental/student teacher survey. Did any responses surprise or challenge you? What might be the subsequent implications for your future practice? Make links to the in-session discussion and to any relevant readings.

Marsh et al (2005) refer to popular culture as being texts, artefacts and practices which attract large numbers of children and are often produced on a global scale; this may include television, films, comics amongst toys, posters, food, stationary etc. Thus, it is impossible to ignore popular culture, and it must be acknowledged that it is going to be influential factor in a child’s school career and should be acknowledged as a means of teaching and learning; a view taken by both the student teacher I interviewed and Benjamin and Harrett (2009).

It is suggested by Lambirth (2003) that some teachers find that the use of popular culture within the classroom and the digital materials that come with this are intellectually inferior. There is an argument that children are often exposed to unregulated films and computers games enough at home, without the use of these in school. However, it was argued by the interviewee that it is the role of the teacher to work alongside parents to mediate what children are exposed to and in teach children to use new technologies in a way which will benefit their learning. This is a view supported by Vasquez (2005) who says that educators should find the forms of media and new technologies that children hold an affinity with and plan for learning around these areas, this will engage children and ensure they are eager to participate, as well as guiding them in how to use these technologies in the correct way.

Furthermore, the interviewee suggested the importance of linking the teaching of children to real life, and matters than mean something to them, by respecting the values that children hold close to them and using popular culture, teachers can build on the funds of knowledge children already have (Moll et al, 1992). Marsh et al (2005) found that by using popular culture in the classroom, children were able to develop skills and an understanding because they are engaged in what is going on in their lessons. Children respond enthusiastically to popular culture in the classroom because it is work related to their interests (Marsh, 2000. PNS/UKLA, 2005) and as suggested Ladson-Billings (2005) a culturally relevant curriculum can be created; thus, making learning more meaningful and exciting. The interviewee highlighted the importance as a teacher of understanding what is important to children and learning their ‘native language’ in order to teach them in way relevant to them (Prensky, 2001).]

 

Bibliography

·       Harrett, J. & Benjamin, T. (2009) Travel with a Time Lord: Using Media to Enhance Literacy. [pdf] Available from: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ860210 (Accessed: 2/02/14)
·         Ladson-Billings, G. (1995) Towards a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy.  American Educational Research Journal. 32, pp. 465-491
·         Lambirth, A. (2003) ‘”They get enough of that at home”: Understanding aversion to popular cultures in schools’ Reading 37(1) pp.9-13
·         Marsh, J. (2000) ‘Popular Culture in the Classroom’, Literacy Today Available at: http://www.nationalliteracytrust.org.uk/pubs/marsh.html (Accessed : 2/02/14)
·         Marsh, J. Brooks, G. Hughes,  J. Ritchie, L. Roberts, S. & Wright, K. (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies. [www] Available from:
http://arrts.gtcni.org.uk/gtcni/bitstream/2428/27212/1/DigitalBeginningsReport.pdf  (Accessed: 2/02/14)

• Moll, L., Manati, C., Neff, D. & Gonzalez, N. (1992) Funds of knowledge for teaching: using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice. 31 pp.132 – 141

·         Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?. [pdf] Available from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf (Accessed: 2/02/14)

·         PNS/UKLA (2005) Raising Boys’  Achievement in Writing.  London: HMSO