5.+Connections+with+literature+&+literacy


 * Justine Shubert - Connections with Literature and Literacy:**

A television show is a specific type of narrative, so much of the metalanguage applied to fiction texts may also be applied in the context of our television show. Using television shows such as Modern Family can be an effective tool in teaching literacy practices because it allows teachers to better scaffold students through the practice of using literary metalanguage. Students who are unfamiliar with analyzing narrative texts, or who have perhaps never actually read a book before in their life, will have a difficult time just learning and immediately applying literary metalanguage to narrative texts.

Using television shows to teach this new metalanguage allows students to learn new content by making connections with very familiar content (even if the specific show is not known to students, they should all be at least somewhat familiar and comfortable with the conventions of T.V.). This type of scaffolding fits in with Vygotsky’s concept of a ZPD, by taking students from where they are comfortable (with watching T.V.), stretching into their ZPD by adding in the element of unfamiliar metalanguage and critical analysis, and eventually leading them to their target area of applying this metalanguage and analysis to more literary texts after further practice.

Not only are students being given the opportunity to practice metalanguage, students are also learning how to approach various texts through different analytical frameworks. The skills used to analyze values and message in television may be transferred over to deciphering purpose and theme in literary texts, mainly because "there are similarities between the effective strategies of strong readers and the strategies that 'readers' of media texts use when they engage in meaning construction" (Pace 9). In our lessons we have students engage in analysis, make connections, reflect upon information, and synthesize what they have learned - all valuable skills that are an important part of good literacy practices.

Modern Family is particularly effective for examining issues of characterization due to the way it models (and at times parodies) familial values. Television shows present an interesting contradiction between static/dynamic and flat/round characters due to the open nature of the narrative. Characters are static in that they must remain recognizable from one episode to the next when it is likely that viewers have not seen all episodes. In contrast, these characters do eventually change over the long course of a season, so in examining the last episodes of a season it is interesting to examine the ways in which characters have changed throughout. The examination of flat and round characterization is particularly pertinent to the first lesson and its discussion of familial stereotypes.

Another aspect of good literary practice is taking old skills and applying them to new texts and contexts, also known as transformed practice. As discussed in the introduction to our lessons, our students are already familiar with applying concepts such as Freytag's triangle to short films and stories. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their transformed practice through taking these acquired skills and applying them to a new form of text - the open narrative which extends through multiple episodes of a T.V. show.

These lessons also support good literacy practices by helping students to make connections between various texts and experiences. Students are taking what they view in Modern Family, and then relating it to their own personal experiences with their families, and through what they learn from interviewing family members or friends.The benefit of this practice can be summed up in the following quote: "Connections between school and life experiences not only legitimize students, but they also legitimize schooling and make education more relevant" (Pace 8).

In addition to the benefits of making connections between home and school, developing interview questions is also supportive of good literacy practices because it forces students to consider the audience for which they are planning - a key aspect in any writing assignment. Creating audience appropriate content is also key to Sunshine State Standards that students are expected to be capable of demonstrating. By having students examine the different ways in which they conducted interviews, it is possible to support a transition into future lessons in units such as persuasive writing, skills which are clearly dependent on the student's sense of audience.