Windows and Mirrors: Media Artists' Door

"With access to mirror texts, students are able to see that their narrative matters, and with access to window texts, students learn to understand and appreciate the narratives of others."

The above is a quote from Chad Everett's guest blog post on Scholastic.com about the need each student has to be able to see herself in each field of study, and to read about success stories about people like her that open up new worlds of possibility as she imagines goals and dreams for her future.

I learned from personal experience as a white cis hetero able man that it's equally important for students of dominant identity groups to see and read stories about a diversity of peoples. I found out the hard way many times how little I knew about how to live in a country with all kinds of folks. I have so much to learn from listening to stories about non-dominant life experiences that are very different from my own.

One thing I'm doing this year is dramatically upping the mirrors and windows in my Media Arts classroom. This room serves 7th to 12th grade students, so I selected artists that meet a variety of audiences and whose well-known work is appropriate for at least portions of this age range. All of these featured artists identify as women, people of color, and/or LGBTQ.

The photos are up on a door that leads into a maintenance closet. The door is always locked. I am thinking of telling the kids that the key to unlocking this door doesn't look like a regular key. It's a work of media art they need to make. It's a story that only they can tell.

I could maybe arrange for a surprise to be behind this door on the last day of class, heehee!

Here's a list of the artists (I'm sure I'll be adding to it!)

Intisar Abioto
Haifaa Al-Mansour
Pedro Almodovar
Ana Lily Amirpour
Kathryn Bigelow
Luis Buñuel
Jane Campion
Niki Caro
Gurinder Chadha
Lisa Cholodenko
Ta-Nehisi Coates  
Ryan Coogler
Sofia Coppola
Alfonso Cuarón
Guillermo del Toro
Maya Deren
Lena Dunham
Ava Duvernay
Nora Ephron
Reggie Fils-Aimé
Nina Freeman
Tavi Gevinson  
F. Gary Gray
Vi Hart
Aureia Harvey
Todd Haynes
James Hong
Laura Hudson
Robin Hunicke
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Patty Jenkins
Miranda July
Wong Kar-wai
Merritt Kopas
Akira Kurosawa
Spike Lee
Annie Leibovitz
Kasi Lemmons
Penny Marshall
Steve McQueen
Shigeru Miyamoto
Hayao Miyazaki
Mira Nair
Yoko Ono
Yasujiro Ozu
Tyler Perry
Kimberly Pierce
Sarah Polley
Prince
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Zoë Quinn    
Dee Rees
Anita Sarkeesian
Cindy Sherman
John Singleton
Will Smith
Penelope Spheeris
Julie Taymor
Gus Van Sant 
Lana Wachowski
Lilly Wachowski
Glynn Washington
Carie Mae Weems
Lina Wertmüller 
Lindy West
Oprah Winfrey
John Woo
Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Karla Zimonja

Student Inspiration Boards on Pinterest Build Connection within the Classroom

Inspiration is the energy that drives students to act independently.

The stories that inspire us are precious. They contain that potential to drive us to realize our dreams.

We hold these stories so close, that we actually make them a part of us.

Lately, I've been really inspired by Lin Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical, Hamilton. I didn't write it, I've never seen it, but I have memorized some of the songs. They're now a part of me - I stored every note and lyric in my brain, and I'm singing it to myself as I do the dishes and push in the chairs in my classroom.

A great way to get to know my students is to ask them to share what inspires them. This insight really helps me to shape future units and lessons. It also bolsters a student's pride in self to proclaim to the class, 'these are the things that inspire me.'

A really easy way to do this is to make a Pinterest board about it!

I've found it easy to simply use a classroom Pinterest account that I control. I just share the email and password out to my students, and they all log in.

First, I share with them my own inspiration board:
Follow Brendan's board Brendan's Inspiration Board on Pinterest.

I explain that the content of this board has played a huge role in forming who I am today.

Next, the students get to start their own boards. They each create their own within the same account. For example, 'Dylan's Inspiration Board.'

BTW I always email the parents first, letting them know that students will be using a social media platform, and that whatever personal information they post is on a private page (Pinterest calls them 'secret' boards), and that they're not creating their own social media accounts - they're using one I've created for classroom use.

Searching for 'pins' on Pinterest is super fun! It's amazing to look up Minecraft, for example, and find so many images, links, and other kinds of content about a single subject. A student can get very specific, and this helps create that sense of self that begins to form digitally on the board.

The best part is that, once a student finishes a board, it's instantly ready to be shared with the class! Just connect a computer to a projector, log in to the classroom Pinterest account, and let the presentations begin!

Here are some screenshots of boards my students have created. Notice how unique they are from each other! These boards can build connection between everyone involved.

Teaching a Systems Approach to Segregation

Systems are all around us. Sometimes we call a system a system: the public school system, or the political system, for example.

Other times, we don't call a system a system. This doesn't make it any less a system. We might call it the NBA Draft, or the college admissions process.

Sometimes people deny that a system is a system. You can rely on people to deny the systemic properties of racism, for example.

Systems are easy to teach when you have a clear model available to share and experiment with.

Thanks to Vi Hart @vihartvihart and Nicky Case @ncasenmare, we now have a fun, interactive model to understand systemic segregation that's appropriate for kids (and adults) of all ages!

Parable of the Polygons

http://ncase.me/polygons/

I heard about this model over the weekend and was so excited about it, I tried it out on my 7th grade media arts students today. I didn't even give them their own machines, I just walked them through it.

Even then, the students were totally able to grasp the rules of the system, and understand how systems create the world around us. They were entranced. One student who was class clowning that day remarked without irony, "Whoa, this is, like, really deep."

Next time, I'm going to set each student up at a machine, so they can click and drag through it on their own - experimenting, testing, hypothesizing, and proving their own assumptions either true or false.

Systems are important in media arts, because when you tell a story, you create a system for the audience. You create a setting, and you define (implicitly or explicitly) its boundaries. You create characters, and you define the parameters of their interaction. You define what powers each character has, and the latitude for each in terms of ability and mobility. You define what success and failure means in this system. Most important of all: when you mass communicate a system and it becomes popular, it inspires audience members to deploy that system in real life. Thus, we must be cautious as storytellers what systems we're popularizing.

Story Globe

I just went to This American Life's website recently and noticed the Story Globe feature. It's a world map with little dots all over it. Each dot is a story that relates to that location. Click on a dot and listen!

Here's what it looks like (image only)

A diverse selection of stories, presented in a more inclusive way. Happy travels!