04/23 Reflection

In the article by Gloria Ladson-Billings, she attempts to illuminate not only “good teaching,” but teaching that is “culturally relevant.” She begins by offering background in linking school and culture and how students who aren’t white and middle-class need more assistance to get comfortable in school and succeed. Gloria defines the culturally relevant pedagogy as one that consists of three parts and is committed to collective empowerment. First, students must develop academic skill regardless of inequalities, since the first step to being empowered is having academic and literate competence. Second, students must retain cultural integrity and teachers must use culture as a vehicle for learning. Lastly, beyond the individual qualities of the first two points, students must become critically active in order to broaden consciousness locally and globally. She finishes by describing types of teaching, and how each teacher used extremely different methods. She interviewed them later and found the style wasn’t what she should focus on, it was how they structured social relations in and out of the classroom (fluid relationships). Finally, she concludes with the thought that this study and paper should implicate further study on the subject of cultural relevance in classrooms. The second article, Teaching Social Studies with Video Games, begins with a history of video games, and how they have migrated from blocks on a screen in an arcade to interactive stories on devices at home. This is to emphasize the accessibility of video games to today’s youth. The aritcle advocates that using video games in social studies classrooms will allow teachers and students to not only engage in the digital age of the 21st century, but to also learn new ideas from the device and each other. This keeps students interested and develops inquiry and problem-solving skills. A teacher used Age of Empires II in a history classroom, where it correlated with the study of the medieval age and all of the civilizations within it. Each student had their own copy of the game and as they played they were required to answer questions about class so they drew out the important parts of the game. Overall, using the video games was effective and the students performed well in class and thoroughly enjoyed the process.

During my high school career, I never considered using video games for academic purposes. I believe video games get a bad rap, espeically from parents since they think media distracts their children from more important things. Parents of students in my age group never grew up with the digital innovation we have today. I think since my parents were so harsh on me about using my phone or playing video games, I always connotated them with distraction and failure, since I continuously heard “get off that thing and study or you’re going to fail.” Now, especially after reading articles like we have in class, I understand the potential video games. There are so many that are educational, and even if they aren’t so many provide significant skills for adult life. If parents read articles and studies such as these, I think they would realize how big of an impact video games could make in classrooms. With students who already are invested in the digital age, it makes sense to integrate media into the “traditional” mode of studying. I think that video games in classes could be a game changer for the better.

Do you think parents have an influence in why media is not used often in classrooms? How do you think you would change that (specifically with your own parents)?