Mighty+Writers

Project Title/Team Members
Writing Movie Reviews at Mighty Writers (click here for preliminary comments) Jonathan Marcin

 Key Ideas from the Literature
Teaching popular culture in a classroom setting: Arguments for and against Using popular culture to facilitate the writing process Core concepts and key questions of [|media literacy] (developing a six-week curriculum with ML concepts)

__Relevant scholars in the field__ [|Alvermann] Key ideas and takeaways:

[|Popular Culture in the Classroom: Teaching and Researching Critical Media Literacy] Key ideas and takeaways:

[|Power and Play in the Classroom: A Discussion about Media Literacy with Donna E. Alvermann] Key ideas and takeaways:

[|Michie] [|Holler If you Hear Me] Key ideas and takeaways:

[|Flores-Koulish] Key ideas and takeaways:

Key ideas and takeaways:

Key ideas and takeaways:

[|Mahiri] Key ideas and takeaways:

Key ideas and takeaways:

Key ideas and takeaways:

 Big Research Question
What are the pitfalls, promises and pleasures of using popular culture to facilitate the writing process?

 Focused Questions to Explore
Will teaching critical inquiry disrupt the pleasure of students consuming popular culture in an after-school/classroom setting? How does identity (race, gender, age, socio-economic background) influence the pedagogy of using popular culture? What are best practices and lessons learned from teaching writing development using popular culture in an urban setting?

 Research Design/Methods
Auto-ethnography: Personal narrative that chronicles my experiences as the workshop teacher, weaving in key literature. What challenges do I encounter? With what methods will I respond? What changes do I perceive in the students' work and potential to write and think critically?

Quantitative constraints:
 * Time - six workshop classes between April and mid May
 * Small class (and sample) size - 5-10 students expected
 * My role as teacher AND researcher

 Approach to Analyzing the Data
Reflect after each class and address issues accordingly, documenting the experience and drawing connections to existing literature.

 What New Knowledge is Expected to Result?
How will my experience conform to the existing literature? The new knowledge will add to the literature on the barriers, challenges and potentials of using popular culture to teach writing and enhance media literacy in an urban environment.

 Why this New Knowledge is Important
If there is support or resistance to using popular culture in the writing process, it is important to understand why. The new knowledge created by this project will offer a first-hand account on this very practice and recommendations for future best practices.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> What New Questions are Likely to Emerge?
Other (UN assignment): http://www.southerntimesafrica.com/article.php?title=Radio%20empowers%20rural%20communities&id=2542 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=301CreZj77g