How Can Knowledge of Generational Cycles Improve Media Literacy?

Presenter: Susan Abbott, Area 3Writing Project Teacher Consultant

Carlston Family Foundation Teacher of America Recipient 2008

English teacher, Elk Grove Unified School District;

Examine the list of childhood activities below—place a X or a M to represent if you feel that the activity is more common the Generation X—those born between 1961-1981 or to

Millennials—those born from 1982-2002

Computers as passive leisure

Free Play

Before/after school care

Organized sports

Studying

Eating dinner together

Chores done alone

Chores completed with parents

TV watching

Time spent on personal care-grooming

Pick up games of baseball etc.

Church

Household talk

Time spent at school

Travel

Reading

Visiting

Answer Machines

Facebook

Youth Violence

Teen pregnancy

Millennials and GenXers—A Difference in Generations

All Generational research taken from:

Neil Howe and William Strauss, Millennials Rising:The Next Great Generation. Vintage Books. New York: 2000.

Problem: Generation X those born 1961 to 1981 were scaring their elders

Gen X teens were seen as beyond hope—the punk rockers, high teen violence, high risk behaviors—drug use, STDs, pregnancies, and abortions, latch-key children, whose parents often divorced to seek their own happiness

Millennials (those born after 1982—the high school class of 2000) must be saved!

How society responded:

-Millennials were to be seen as Wanted, Protected, and Worthy

-Medicade was made available to all children—no Gen X kid—no matter how poor was ever covered

-School uniforms, standards based learning, NCLB, school accountability

-The number of periodicals aimed at children and parents—doubled

-1990s were the first decade since the 1920s that federal spending on children grew faster than that for adults or elders

-Stability at home—Gen Xers wanted to succeed where their parents failed

Home schooling

Zero tolerance

Anti-bullying laws

Helmets, seat belts, safe toys

Everyone gets a trophy

No one feels left out or a failure

-AmeriCorps—the creation of National Service

-Research focuses on fixing infertility in older would-be parents—not on contraception

-Millennials have older parents, live in smaller families, have more first-borns, and their parents, especially their mothers have more education

-Millennials are the largest 2nd generation group in American History—we have gone from “We shall overcome” to “We shall overwhelm”

Millennials Share Seven Characteristics:

They are special: they feel vital to their parents and the nation
They are sheltered: a focus on youth safety including car seats, helmets, parental leaves, air bags, fight against child abuse, internet safety
They are confident: when surveyed they show very high levels of trust in society, the government, and their parents
They are team oriented: they have tighter peer bonds
They are achieving: they are the best educated and the best behaved generation in a long time
They are pressured: told to study hard, avoid personal risks, be “trophy kids” the good news about them is rarely reported, as it is never “good enough”
They are conventional: statistically, they are more comfortable with their parents’ values than any other generation in living memory. They support social rules.

Educational Strategies for this Generation of Millennials:

Trait / Strategies
Special / Get the parents on our side—if they have to contact YOU then they are already suspicious and possibly hostile
Contact them early and often, get them to use their energy to support your program
Show that you have a large vision for your program, to allay fears that we don’t care or are doing too little
Sheltered / Schools must be totally safe and protected areas in word and deed
Parents will hold those in charge accountable for safety
Safe space in classrooms for opinions and personal traits
Sheltered from moral as well as physical danger—think parent approved movie policies and textbook adoptions
Small learning communities to focus on people not just content
Confident / They want balance between career and family—most see parents as extremely stressed—especially working mothers
They feel technology will solve many of our current problems
Students want to hear about positive outcomes and be inspired with hope and optimism—the opposite of the GenX message of “scared straight.” H.S. must get them ready for both work and college.
Team Oriented / They trust big institutions to solve problems. They see team skills as equal to technology skills as making them employable. Technology is group building with on-line communities 24-7.
Focus on peer-engagement, and how connected they feel with each other—use collaborative learning, student run support groups, peer editing, group projects and peer grading to evaluate learning and enforce rules.
Achieving / Millennials are left brained students who love math and science and feel uneasy with arts and social sciences. Being smart is cool, and failing is out. Integrate technology into the classroom because through technology many non-college youth can keep up with their college going peers. It closes the gap. As more girls are graduating from college (4/7 undergrads), technology is a place where boys are still more connected than girls.
Pressured / This planning for the future comes from their parents—and begins early. They have the least unstructured time of any generation. They are used to pressure and don’t mind it—as long as they feel that their energy and focus will one day be rewarded.
Teachers want to stress long term goal setting—that connect academic skills to job skills.
Conventional / Millennials are RISK AVERSE. They are afraid to fail and get less than a great grade. This affects their willingness to take an AP class and risk a lower grade on a transcript. They need to know that all tasks are achievable with direct effort. They need a lot of feedback, monitoring, and skill mastery. They are conservative in many ways and value family, friends, and life balance.

Millennials in a Digital World—The New Literacy Challenge

Research taken from:

Considine, Horton, and Moorman. Teaching and Reaching the Millennial Generation

Through Media Literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52(6). March 2009.

Lewis and Moorman: Adolescent Literacy Instruction: Policies and Promising Practices,

Chapter 14. International Reading Association.2007.

Media Literacy is defined by these articles as:

“The ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create information.” Considine et al. 1999.

Both identify Literacy Strategies for educators: Teachers must

Expand the their concept of text
Better integrate the internet into the classroom
Explicitly teach the tools Ss need to evaluate the messages the media sends

Texts / Learning occurs through S interactions with printed text, technology and social dialogue, Ss need to cultivate the skills to comprehend and create media.
Textbooks also known as “sanctioned texts” are almost untouched by Ss, but are often used by Ts as pacing guides for delivering the curriculum
“Unsanctioned tests” like student email, text messages, blogs, websites are the key to bringing Ss daily forms of writing into the classroom to help bridge daily writing to academic literacy.
Ss are first generation immersed in information and communication technology and adjust easily to changes in technology and texts.
Internet / Students should surf the internet in a sophisticated manner—they need instruction regarding search engines and evaluation of websites.
They need practice analyzing the context of the programming they watch, so they better judge the flood of electronic messages they receive inside and outside of class, as they have more access to info than any other generation of Americans.
Ts and parents must develop and understanding of what media does to the Ss as well as what the Ss are doing with media—a false sense of competency for Ss.
Schools restrict use of internet, just when Ss need more guidance.
Values / Acknowledge their work world will look very different from ours: Today’s Ss will have 10 to 14 jobs in their lifetime in a society where access and equity are key.
Acknowledge that much of the media messages globally aimed at teens is blasted from large conglomerates who are selling a product. Ss need help using the Text, Audience, Production (T.A.P.) model to evaluate the messages they are receiving.The goal is well taught Ss of media literacy, not just self taught Ss.

The T.A.P. Model --

taken from Considine et al: quoted from

Duncan et al: Mass Media and Popular Culture. Toronto, ON: Harcourt.1998.

Text
What is the medium of this text?
What genre is this text?
(categories of text like TV: sitcoms, reality shows or Films: Westerns, Fantasy)
What codes and conventions are evident?
(Structure of text: setting, characters, conflict, plot, resolution)
What are the characters like? / Production
What individuals, industries, or institutions created this text?
What production techniques are used?
How is the text marketed and distributed?
What laws and rules govern production and consumption of this text?
Audience
Who is the target audience?
(meaning is not in the text but in the individual consumer)
What evidence can you provide?
Who is NOT addressed by this text?
( gender, class, ethnicity shape interpretations)
How and why does this text appeal to its target audience?

Notes: