Jessica+Rudy+and+Christin+Racioppi's+Second+Exposition+Paper

> Many parents and school administrators are fearful to delve into technology and media. They do not know how to work the technicalities involved nor are sure how to integrate it into the already challenging and demanding school curriculum. Many educators and parents have the mindset that students should “play around” with media and technology at home because it will cause unnecessary distractions in the classroom. In addition, teachers and administrators may not be making use of technology and media that is readily available in their classrooms and schools because they do not fully understand how to integrate the technology into their lessons and curriculum. They do not grasp the concept of how technology and media can enhance the learning experiences for students in the area of literacy (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006).

> This exposition paper will focus on how technology and media can answer the “so what” and “why” questions. Many educators and school administrators cannot answer these questions when trying to incorporate new technologies into school-based literacy education. Popular culture and technology is dramatically changing and becoming more popular with youth who are growing up in a culture where these mediums have dominated and have been ever-present since they were born. Naturally, today’s youth are drawn toward and have become acquainted with these new technologies. It only makes sense that teachers and school administrators incorporate them into the classroom.

May 31, 2010

Dear Mr. Mindset Number One,

We are writing in response to your letter regarding digital tools being pointless interruptions in students’ everyday lives. At first glance, websites and video games may seem to serve solely as entertainment and offer no educational value, but this is a fallacy. Students are motivated to improve their writing and grammar by participating in //FanFiction// and blogging. They also learn many academic and social skills by creating podcasts, photosharing and photoshopping, playing video games, and reading complex websites.

//FanFiction// is a form of storytelling where writers, especially fans, combine characters from onebook, movie, musical, video game, comic, etc. with other characters from these same arenas. When producing //FanFiction//, students are using creative writing skills to alter an existing, popular storyline to make something new and unique, as well as develop connections with characters that otherwise did not exist in the original text. Henry Jenkins, a professor, author, and predominant expert in the field of media literacy, believes engaging in popular culture “may help kids to master traditional literacy skills” (Jenkins, 2004, no page). Jenkins also states “some of the best writing instruction takes place outside the classroom in online communities” (Jenkins, 2004, no page). One such community we suggest you explore is //FanFiction.net//, a popular website that houses thousands of fanfiction works, ranging from stories about Batman to Footloose. Writers can create fanfiction, publish to a fanfiction website, and also receive feedback from other members. Within the website, there can be a beta reader or beta who “reads a work of fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public” (//Fanfiction.net//, no page). This is an excellent resource for writers before they make their //FanFiction// public. Angela Thomas, a teacher and researcher, (as cited in Knobel & Lankshear, 2007) conducted a case study of two girls, Tiana and Jandolf, who worked together more than one year on a //FanFiction//. The writers discussed their work, made contributions, and provided constructive criticism using an instant messaging service. They took part in role-playing as each of their characters to edit and analyze how each reacted. Tiana believed she had weak writing skills, but by collaborating with Jandolf, she now closely examines her grammar and spelling, which have strengthened. Both writers extensively worked on this project, learning from each other and the fanfiction community as a whole and edited and improved their work based on comments and reading others’ stories. Another important element is the writers incorporated their own real life experiences to make their characters and story richer. This example of Tiana and Jandolf truly illustrates how writing can be enhanced within online communities such as //Fanfiction.net// and how writers used “digital literacy skills to discover, discuss, and solve writing and reading-related problems, while at the same time pursuing the goals of developing social networks and affiliating with other fans” (as cited in Knobel & Lankshear, 2007, p.133). By taking part in //FanFiction//, complete participation, collaboration, and positive risk-taking resulted. These are the very skills and experiences that schools strive for and encourage.

Blog is short for weblog, a digital entry where a user can discuss any topic of interest orconcern. Some subjects include friends, parents, popular culture, school life, relationships, political opinions, etc. These are predominant subjects in the lives of many adolescents. Youth at this age are trying to form and shape their identities and there are many places on the Internet, such as blogging websites, where adolescents can express their views, emotions, and talk about anything. Users can also respond to other adolescents and discuss how they are feeling, which creates a forum for shared beliefs and experiences. Researchers Julia Davies and Guy Merchant describe blogging as a “screen-based literacy practice” (2007, p. 167). Writing online provides the opportunity for reflection of oneself, recent events, or any topic being discussed. Members of a blogging website can provide opinions and rationale for a particular viewpoint. A blog may allow members to partake in a conversation about something they truly believe in or make someone think about a topic in a different light.

Podcasts are portable means of creating and distributing audio through a computer or otherportable media device (Shamburg, 2010, p. 51). A benefit of using podcasts in the classroom is that they are “subscribe-able” (Shamburg, 2010, p. 52). For example, the class can produce their own podcast, and the students may subscribe to them as they wish. The ease of subscribing to a podcast and the immense storage capacity that computers can hold allow students the opportunity to subscribe and explore many different genres of podcasts (Knobel & Lankshear, 2010). Podcasts are a powerful technology and media tool that provide students with crucial 21st century skills that they will utilize throughout their lives. The unit plan, Podcourse, in Christopher Shamburg’s book (2008) provides an excellent example of how students are creating and utilizing 21st century skills. Giving students the chance to produce and run their own podcast allows them to create original audio essays that have personal meaning to them, and connect their essays to a political or social event that has or is occurring in history. As students develop their own audio essays for use in the radio show, they take into account copyright and fair practice use. As they are engaged in this process of creation, they are thinking about “…individual rights and community benefits” (Shamburg, 2010, p. 69). Students take into account that they are broadcasting their show to a large audience, and therefore, must fully understand the needs and wants of their audience community. In this instance, fair use and audience are not “…disembodied lessons but fundamental to the ‘doing’ of podcasting" (Shamburg, 2010, p. 69).

In Shamburg’s (2008) unit example in podcasting, he adds the dimension of allowing studentsto peer-edit each other’s audio essays, while commenting and critiquing each one as well. This opportunity of collaborating and becoming responsive students to each other’s work is an important component to literacy. In the peer-editing process, students are responding to appropriate grammar usage and the intention of the audio essay. Podcasting affords students the opportunity of “…organizing, broadcasting and assessing…” their ideas to a broader audience (Shamburg, 2008, p. 39). Activities and units designed using podcasts create an authentic learning experience, whereby the students understand the concepts behind making their own podcasts, and then actually using them for a real purpose. Allowing students to have the opportunity of working with podcasts and intertwining it with Shamburg’s (2008) unit example, they will be able to research social and political events and issues that are affecting their lives in the present, while also critically exploring and portraying their ideas in an effective and meaningful way.

Photosharing and photoshopping are excellent examples of how educators and school administrators can incorporate technological tools into educational contexts and literacy curriculums. As Guy Merchant (2010) describes in his chapter on photosharing, students can learn many literacy skills through this powerful educational tool. Students can learn through seeing an image, reflecting upon it, and examining the many multimodalities that are used in the image. Students build visual literacy skills when examining an image. For example, the website, //Flickr//, is home to thousands of images and videos that are posted by community members. Students who are given the chance to examine these images and videos are afforded the opportunity of building upon their visual literacy skills. As students examine the images, they must take into account written words, songs, etc. that can be included in the photograph. As students examine these photos, they are taking part in social interactions through “…visual and verbal exchanges” (Merchant, 2010, p.99). The examination of complex images, that include different modalities, provide students with the opportunity of connecting the communicative tools that are included in the image. In addition, when students create their own image using many different modalities, they are communicating in different social areas that are popular within their own culture. Images that are shared online, such as on //Flickr//, are open to different types of interpretation and comments that bring many literacy skills into being.

Students who are exposed to photosharing and photoshopping can edit, organize, and displaytheir digital images to their liking. Using powerful technological tools, such as these, in the classroom, allows students to engage with a popular culture practice that is of relevance to them (Potter, 2010). Digital images are seen everywhere, and youth are constantly being exposed to them both in and out of school. The focus on digital images in the classroom reiterates the fact that this technological tool allows students to read, use and “re(present) images” (Potter, 2010, p. 131). Students can use or create their own image and modify according to the audience that they are presenting it too. Whether it be for a social networking site or to be included in a powerpoint presentation, students can use digital images to shift the focus and meaning of how they would like to convey their images. Students who are exposed to editing images can read and open the door to many interpretations of a single image.

> Youth thoroughly enjoying playing video games and it may be an activity that consumes most of their time. Researcher James Paul Gee believes good video games present good learning principles such as identity, interaction, challenge, and risk taking (Gee, 2007). Identity involves learning how to function as a particular character (how to be that character and what he or she does) by participating and being immersed in the characters’ world in the game. Gee further discusses real-world, virtual, and projective identities. One’s real-world identity is who he or she is outside the game. A virtual identity is who he or she is in the game and a projective identity involves following a path of what he or she wants the characters to do and be when playing. Specific choices can be made about how the player wants his or her character to act and real life values can be applied. For example, the player may not want the character to be mean or do anything ethically wrong such as stealing something instead of paying for it. What this illustrates is learning how to be and think as the character by fully participating. Some games are interactive in the sense that they allow users to choose what a character says or does. Gee states video games are different than other areas, such as books and movies, because the end result can be different based on how a player participates and the choices he or she makes. A game itself may be difficult and at times, some options may not always be available. Strategies and alternate solutions need to be developed. Video games can be hard at times but still able to be played and goals can be achieved, which is called "regime of competence" (Gee, 2007, p.68). A player will be challenged, but not to the point where it is unbearable. Learning within a game is set up in a particular way, what Gee refers to as a "concentrated sample," which introduces beginners to basic skills needed within the game to successfully play (Gee, 2007, p.139). The most important skills can be presented through hints and characters’ conversations. Games provide many opportunities to use and practice learned skills. The ways in which games are designed provide opportunities to take risks. Because there are reward systems, such as additional points, receiving objects that are beneficial, and save points, players have more incentive to play. Many games have complex storylines, many characters, and are extremely text heavy. Players need to understand the meaning of words within the game to successfully play. Some gamers create walkthroughs and step-by-step guides to assist other players who may have encountered a problem. Walkthrough documents are plain, with no pictures, and are full of text. Gamers take the time, weeks or even months, to create these play-by-play strategy guides. This demonstrates their willingness to write even if it is not their strength (and others are willing to read) if it is something they truly enjoy.

Adolescents may read popular culture websites for fun. Jennifer Stone (2007) examined students who visit music label websites and read artists' biographies. These students were considered poor academic readers and writers but the websites they visited had high level vocabulary and difficult sentence structures. They also required background knowledge of a particular field. For example, when they read an artist’s biography, to truly understand it, they had to know (or had to research) hip hop culture. Students needed to make meaning of the many words and links, and they persisted because it was a topic that was of interest to them.

Online digital areas enable learners to enhance their writing andlearn editing, reflection, and problem-solving skills. Writers can also feel empowered and inspired, as creating fanfiction and blogging have illustrated. Learning is structured in video games, and strategy and problem-solving skills develop for players. Students will go to lengths to read complex texts and find the right tools to aide in their comprehension. Through the examples we provided, you have seen that students who do not excel in reading or writing may take the time and effort to write and/or participate because it is something that really interests them. The book Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (2010) supports this stating, "when youth have the opportunity to pursue projects based on their own interests, and to share them within a network of peers with similar investments, the result is highly active forms of learning" (Ito et al., 2010, p. 234).

We challenge you to examine //FanFiction// and blogging websites, to pick up a game controller,or see what websites students are reading. Students who have the opportunity to create their own podcasts and images, while critically examining others' works, develop and enhance literacy skills that make them aware of the intended audience and provide learning for authentic purposes. Authentic learning will engage students into exploring and "mucking around" with a technological tool even further and for the purpose of enhancing and changing their view of literacy and what it incorporates. You will find that many of these practices help many students become stronger in literacy and improve their reading and writing skills. Introducing and using the technological tools explored above incorporates already known popular culture practices that students are familiar with, but intertwining them and building upon literacy skills that will be needed for their lives. You must realize that the world is changing and students can learn from others on many of these digital platforms.

Sincerely, Jessica Rudy & Christin Racioppi

>>>>>> Additional Resources for Review

Black, R. W. (2007). Digital Design: English Language Learners and Reader Reviews in Online > Fiction. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.) A New Literacies Sampler. (pp.115-136). New York: Peter > Lang.

Davies, J. & Merchant, G. (2007). Looking from the Inside Out: Academic Blogging as New > Literacy. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.) A New Literacies Sampler. (pp. 167-198). New York: Peter Lang.

Fanfiction.net. (2010). http://www.fanfiction.net/ (accessed 26 May, 2010).

Gee, J.P. (2007). //What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy (revised// > //and updated edition)//. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., boyd, d., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, H.A., Lange, P.G., Mahendran, D., Martinez, K.Z., Pascoe, C.J., Perkel, D., Robinson, L., Sims, > C.,Tripp, L. (2010). //Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living// > //and Learning with New Media//. Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Jenkins, H. (2004). Why Heather Can Write. MIT Technology Review. February. > technologyreview.com/articles/04/02/wo_jenkins020604.asp?p_1 (accessed 26 May, > 2010).

Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (eds.) (2010). //DIY Media: Creating, Sharing and Learning with// > //New Technologies//. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006). //New Literacies: Everyday Practices and// > //Classroom Learning (second edition)//. Maidenhead and New York: Open University Press and McGraw-Hill.

Shamburg, C. (2008). //English Language Arts Units for Grades 9-12//. Washington, D.C.: > International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Stone, J.C. (2007). Popular Websites in Adolescents’ Out-of-School Lives: Critical Lessons > on Literacy. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.) A New Literacies Sampler. (pp.49-66). > New York: Peter Lang.

Thomas, A. (2007). Blurring and Breaking through the Boundaries of Narrative, Literacy, and Identity > in Adolescent Fan Fiction. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.) A New Literacies Sampler. (p. 137-166). New York: Peter Lang.