Stepping Outside the Content Gray Zone

Last week I admitted that I struggled to find a connection with the readings. Reading Turner and Hicks for this week helped unload some of the ideas and concepts I found overwhelming, especially as somebody with little digital/technological experience such as what they describe (blog posts, social media/Twitter, Google and all that it offers, et cetera). And by little experience, I mean as somebody who uses the technology in a way that is meaningful and carefully considered, not just as a sounding board for my personal thoughts and opinions, nor as the simple PowerPoint presentation projects or "add a link here" type thinking. 

I do appreciate the activities and lessons that Turner and Hicks propose as far as genuinely incorporating technology into the classroom to encourage students to become digitally aware citizens. The symbol analysis, for example, is an activity that would engage students in what they see day to day, likely stirring their interest to some degree, and then allowing them to actively process what these symbols truly mean and are speaking into the world. The lesson we participated in during class last Tuesday night was remarkably similar, and even I was "forced" (hesitant to use that word because it's not a force issue by any means) to reconsider images, sounds, and ideas presented to me on a daily basis. It's not as if I'm unaware, but I think the easiest thing to do is to go through like not awake, not asleep, but in that halfway point, merely content and accepting and occasionally mildly bothered or enraged or excited. Ruba mentioned in her blog the Florida shooting. At the moment, many are angered and grief-stricken, and there is much argument about what should happen next. But what typically happens in these events is that a few weeks pass, and then... we return to our haze, the fire is gone, it does not directly affect us, life goes on. 

How do the standards help in teaching our students how to get out of that contented gray zone? I've read through the CCSS and NCTE standards before. Years ago I was very hesitant about their place, thinking them restrictive. That was before I truly spent the time to read and absorb what they say. I think some might be wrong when they declare the standards should be discarded, much as I did once. I think it's what you do with them, how you interpret them, and in some cases, how others wield them, for good or bad. They can provide a helpful framework, but as I've read in other classes, the problem with the language of these standards is that they fall flat, they place a lot of emphasis on non-fiction and seem to discourage imagination, they are vague, they've been linked to standardized testing versus in depth engagement and assessment, among other issues.

The tie in with digital argument is that much of our lives takes place in these digital spaces, and unlike the past, where you wrote something and the readers responded individually, now everything is a networked experience, at least online. As the book points out, somebody might write a letter to the editor on a website, but you can read hundreds of other letters responding to that first one. And it's important to be critically aware of what it is you're actually ingesting when you're reading these pieces, or watching those movies, or when you're the one writing the piece and making the movie. You must be alert or else you settle into the humdrum of borderline complacency. Our students deserve better than that, especially in this day and age, and we should strive to help them at least look outside the gray zone into a world they may have never seen before.