Youth Media Field Study

1. Youth Media Field Study 1501 Christian St. Philadelphia, PA

2. Traditional vs. Internet Age Learning • Important to note the differences made throughout the past decade or so regarding the teaching methods of elementary aged children (10-12 years) • Homework assignments children receive from their schools seems to be taught in the usual, regimented form, whereas “Mighty Writers” work is often innovative in structure: • ‘MyAccess’ grammatical, content, and continuity program • Use of Internet/computer medias to aid learning processes. • EX. Ghazan, who used Japanese Anime show, “Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood,” which had English subtitles in order to complete his reading aloud assignment. This is in opposition to the common methods of reading a chapter out of a classroom. • Depiction of mass medias employed, so students have an early exposure, and hopefully a mentor who is able to steer them in the right direction. • Ghazan, a student I worked with one day, helped me to experience a first hand perspective of the “self-organizing principle,” often found on the web in which, “people with strong mutual affinities find each other and link their Web sites or leave comments on each other’s pages.” (Levine, 2008) • He used personal blog encounters and threads in order to help me better understand the proceeding storyline, when I asked him to further explain the episode we had just watched/read. • This also led me to a connection in the Peter Levine article, A Public Voice For Youth: The Audience Problem in Digital Media and Civic Education.I could see how Ghazan was, “gravitating toward what was already popular, making it more so.” (pg. 122, 2008) • However, through closely tutoring him around the many woes of the Internet, I believe it is possible to “diversify the culture,” by means of “civic engagement,” (Levine, 2008) allowing students to interpret, synthesize, and most importantly communicate their creative ideas with other members of their communities.

3. Civic Engagement • The opportunities presented by the Internet: (Levine, 2008) • Allows for instantaneous connectivity • Production and dissemination of personal ideas • Relatively the cheapest way of producing content, in any form • “Could turn people from spectators and consumers into innovators and creators” • Possibly pulling away from the inundation of “Mass culture” • Product of corporate capitalism • Has already been used to convey; • Innovations in tactics, techniques, expression and mobility. • “The Net does not give everyone an equal audience… but if offers more opportunities for cultural creativity, cooperation, and effective public voice than the mass media system that prevailed 20 years ago.” (Levine, 2008) • This is where we enter: as volunteers, trying to help these students in their educations, we are engaged in helping to form a brighter, more creative budding generation of youth in Philadelphia. • The internet is an obviously very powerful and very useful tool in this process, assuming it is being properly utilized.

4. Why Engagement Matters • Both tutors and students benefit from a more concrete understanding of digital medias • Young people are relatively “plastic” • “Initially flexible and subject to influence.” • “Once an identity is developed, changes in attitudes or cognitions are much harder to come by.” • “Youth are heavily represented in innovative online activities such as blogging and wikis.” • “Young people have special needs that can be met by encouraging them to participate in civic and political affairs.” (Levine, 2008) • Strong correlation between adolescents’ civic engagement and successful development (pg 125) • Extracurricular activities which encourage educational development help tremendously in reducing dropout rates by actively engaging the student • The Mighty Writers • The concept of ‘Service Learning’ is enacted; • Combining community service (tutoring) and academic/classroom discussion • Examples: Students Nadirah and Haniahseemed to have much trouble engaging in their school homework which included reducing fractions, and writing repetitive science definitions – but have always excelled in their Mighty Writers prompts, reaching proficiency in most every instance • “Much of the exciting youth media work that one can find by searching on the Web is created in after-school and community-based programs that have support from foundations.” (pg 127)

5. Interpretation • Audience: • True that “people use and interpret the media in very different ways – in practice this is often reduced to a form of demographic determinism.” (Buckingham, Harvey, 2006) • As mentors of students with this ‘plastic’ cognitive existence, our goal is to help set forth a basic understanding of the goals of the media messages we so often see, and to do so in a manner that bridges the demographic gap found between some students in the Mighty Writers program and ourselves. • A common ‘conceptualisation’ of media content must be reached between both parties before any sort of assignment or educational response is formed. • “Active learning can be counterproductive unless projects are well conceived and executed.” (Levine, 2008) • Personally, much of this ‘planning’ is done on-the-fly when figuring out ways to address the problems of students I am currently working with, as I see fit. • Offering personal interpretations, as well as experiences learned through (my own) classroom discussions, presentations, and readings. • Sometimes this is a great way to engage students, but there is also instances in which the communication was lacking in some form or another • This may be due to a number of things, including direct misunderstandings or misinterpretations, due to cultural or educational gaps present between myself, a tutor, and the respective student(s). • “Different social groups may have different cultural competencies that will dispose them towards different forms of media language, both as consumers and producers.” (Buckingham, Harvey, 2006)

6. What Mighty Writers Promotes • Speaking strictly from my personal experiences and relations to the course readings, I think many students involved in this program enjoy it more than traditional schooling. This may be because of the processes of ‘active engagement’ employed by Mighty Writers projects, and the experience of “tutor-student relationship…much more informal and less hierarchical,” Which may ultimately lead students to, “associate the experience with leisure, rather than education.” (Buckingham, Harvey, 2008) • Provides students with a sense of ‘self-expression.’ • Allows for a broader range of creative expression within their work • This is in opposition to strict traditional elementary training • Directly correlates with the idea presented in A Public Voice for Youth by the “Main Street Project” • “our media work is grounded in a right to communicate… and to use our voices to speak truth to power as well as preserve and protect our culture, languages and identity.” (Levine, 2008)