HOMEWORK due for Sunday June 7:

Common!? That really took me by surprise. Judging by that introduction, I would have NEVER guessed that the camera was going to pan to the left to Common. I am a huge Common fan, and it precisely persons like him that I wish to share with my students.

Since I am embedded in the classroom each day, I cannot help but think of my students - almost individually - as I listen to the speaker in the video. Even when I get to my lucky "video days" it appears almost all of my students need to constantly check their phones or play a game simultaneously on their iPod Touch. I had to take away an iPod today that two girls were playing a game on simultaneously - I kid you not - AS SOON as I confiscated the iPod, BOTH girls whipped out their cell phones and began texting. I almost couldn't believe it, because I was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. "Put it away!" I had to chastise them. Needless to say they were peevish and incredulous and very reluctant to rid themselves of all of their media even though we were already WATCHING A MOVIE!

One of my biggest surprises and most frustrating realizations is the radical abundance of portable digital devices that seemingly ALL the students have - not only that - their inability to keep said items out of sight or mind during a class period. The constant shifty eyes and movements below the desk are inevitably so tiresome that most teachers it seems (including, sadly, me) sometimes ignore the texting just to move on with a lesson.

The rate at which the technological boom grows is impossible to measure. Even as Vicki Rideout gave her opening speech, there were developers in labs creating new and more exciting flashy phones that will allow students more and more access to more and more technology. Beach's book (2007) can't even keep up with the newly released iPhones and Palm Pres that enable better graphics, higher resolution internet and faster everything right in the invisibility of our students' pockets.

Before we can get to the positive implications and applications Beach mentions for the classroom, we have to understand and develop ways to keep up on this monstrous beast that is devouring our school classrooms. I am not exaggerating here in the slightest. Working in a school of 1,900 students, I walk around quite a bit and look into many, many classrooms. I see students with earphones in their ears all the time in many classes. It has become so common that the older teachers and even I do not catch it all the time. They make hearing aids small enough to where you do not see them (Bill Clinton shows his off in the new Newsweek) and when will they develop ear phones that small?

The problem is that our economy is in the tank right now. So when something like the Palm Pre comes around, everyone rejoices because some stocks will rise and people will be buying again! We are so consumed with the DOW Industrial Average that we forget to stop and remember what those stocks represent. If McDonald's soars, we applaud. What about childhood obesity? If Viacom and Clear Channel soar, we applaud. What about students wasting valuable learning time on mindless entertainment or listening to the prepackaged disposable garbage on the radio ("lick you like a lollipop," etc.).

Having students "reflect on their gaming experience" (16) or "have students discuss the effectiveness of the strategies employed by participants on MySpace in terms of language, images, intertextual links, and topics employed" (17) is all well and good until you realize that the majority of the tenured teacher at (for example) the school I work at don't know what the hell MySpace is or do not give a rats ass about it. [This leads to a huge discussion about ongoing teacher education/qualification and the tenure system which we do not have time to get into here.]

Okay, so I am on Facebook all the time and I used to be on MySpace all the time, I can easily talk to kids about this stuff. But 1) I can't find a freaking job for the life of me that will let me and 2) How much can I get away with when it comes to keeping to the standards, the curriculum, the material, the district, the parents, the board, the lack of technology, etc, etc, etc.

I can sense where my mind is going and I can tell what kind of discussion we might all be having if we were in a classroom right now . . . I really want to bring up the fact that I simply think it is important for students to learn about all the classic material presented in schools as well. So how do we bridge the gap? My cooperating teacher is an astounding teacher, but I fear that he might be losing his touch with the middle of the road students, the ones more prone to zoning out and reaching for that radical Palm Pre . . . sometimes I sit back and think: yeah, you know what? I would rather play a bowling game on my phone right now than listen to me talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald.

So, how do we compete/incorporate/utilize and optimize everything in the classroom without overkill . . . I mean seriously: more than 8+ hours a day of media in their lives already?

Wow, so I just scrolled down a little on our assignment page and realize that my above tangent may not hit on the exact specifics of the assignment. So I will add some more of my thoughts below:

It is because of the media over-saturation in our students' lives - the pervasive and unavoidable abundance of media in their lives - that a class where media is scrutinized, studied, utilized, created and manipulated is necessary to understand and positively interact with the complexity of our 21st century universe.

One of the most profound goals of the course would be to have students "engage in critical inquiry-based learning" where they could dissect issues in their lives like "the environment, poverty, schooling, racism, sexism, class bias" and more and "critique the institutional forces shaping the issue, as well as media representation of the issues." Students will ultimately "formulate alternative strategies for addressing the issue, with the goal of effective change" (18).

It is in this way, students will understand that they are not merely mindless consumers for media purveyors to feast upon, but capable responsible citizens that demand to have a voice in the 21st century conversation over values and social responsibility - a conversation they are often left out of. In order for students and the youth to respect themselves and the freedoms granted by such powerful technology, we must first treat them with respect and value their voices as well as understand that they are learning and growing and need guidance in their journey.

A media studies course, lead by an able teacher (one who is also looking for work, hint, hint) would be one where creative solutions are thought up and open discussion is held.