Research as Authentic Inquiry

Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom

Chapter 2:

1.     “A similar attitude is just as problematic when adults position themselves as distanced from or critical of the mass media, popular culture, and digital media that students enjoy” (Hobbs, pg.33).

I think that as educators we need to discuss various topics with our students and have an open mind during the discussion. We need to hear what our students have to say about certain topics and collaborate different ideas. Mr. Fisher didn’t let his perceptions of the MTV show affect how he started his class with this new teaching strategy. He let them lead the way and discuss with him what they thought about the different shows. Students need to know that we aren’t close-minded and that we want to hear what they have to say about things that they enjoy.

2.     “Today, many teachers across the curriculum are developing creative strategies to make teaching the research paper more relevant” (Hobbs, pg.34).

For students to be engaged in writing research papers they really need to feel that it is something that they completely understand. We need to make our content more relevant to what our students go through on a daily basis for them to have a say and want to do things in the classroom. We have a wonderful creative writing teacher at my school that always has her students write different prompts, but they are always relevant to what the students are going through. She has so many great ideas about getting students involved more with writing papers and they actually enjoy doing it. She had one student write a book last year and they even got it published.

3.     “School librarians tell us that, when looking for information online, many young people give up before they find what they need” (Hobbs, pg.37).

I have seen this all too many times already this school year. When students see that they need to do some work with finding reliable resources and citing everything correctly they freak out and just give up. I have students ask me where they need to go and what websites they can use instead of trying to find sources on their own. We have an online database (Destiny) that gives the students a look at our collection and I can’t even get them to get online to look at it. They want answers right then and now so they come to me instead of using the Internet to find the answers that they need.

I chose this Meme because I think that it shows students first reactions when they are learning how to write research papers. They have to do research and find reliable resources that they can use. They also have to learn how to summarize, paraphrase, and cite what they have read. Looking at Memes students are able to deconstruct and analyze what is being said and what is happening in the given picture. Students are able to create their own which makes it nice for them to display what they want to come out to their viewers. They can also add their own text as well.