The following is part of an assignment for students in my sections of

ED 381

The Phantom Curriculum - 

Connecting teachers, schools and learning to the real world

 

It has long been a general premise that teachers should help prepare students to live in the real world. Also longstanding is the assumption that schools be safe places, where, to an extent, children are guarded and shielded from some of the tumult, conflict, and chaos that is so very pervasive in these times. Today many educators are confronted with the task of balancing exposure to information and media with selective educational experiences and deciding what is appropriate for inclusion in schools and what is not.

 

In this light it is doubly important for teachers to be aware of what is going on in the world at political, social, and economic levels so they can make informed decisions as to what to bring into the classroom and what to leave outside. Public concern for physical safety of children, as well as concerns for their developing minds and psyches, does not mean that schools should be impermeable fortresses removed from the influences of the real world. In an Information Age this would be impossible anyway, and so there is no immunity for teachers "not to know." There continues to be  a strong public expectation that educators be knowledgeable and aware about what is happening. This expectation also holds true on exposure to different types of media.

 

Media and its uses have become important issues in schools.  Exposure to different types of media often provides illustrative contexts for class discussions, relevant examples, and common icons and metaphors that make learning and content more meaningful to the real lives and interests of today's students. In an Information Age media has become a very strong type of curricula over which teachers and  parents have little or no control. This type of learning has a name and definition. It is called the phantom curricula. It can be defined as - "The messages prevalent in and through exposure to any type of media. These components and messages play a major part in enculturation and socializing students into the predominant meta-culture, or in acculturating students into narrower or generational subcultures."  

Assignment Specifics - Because you too are exposed to massive amounts of media, I devised this particular choice assignment to connect you with broader issues -- political, economic, social -- that will affect you and your students in times to come. I believe that teachers are "keepers of the future", and as such should stay attuned to, and informed about what is going on in the world. Like never before, through e-access and e-commerce, our world is connected in many different and unusual ways. It is like an uneven cloth interwoven with many irregular threads. This semester I would like to have you explore the warp and weft of the "phantom curriculum," to see where it leads you in thinking analytically, critically, practically, and creatively about some of the big issues of our times.

 

Your primary discussions forum conversations will be private and informal, both among your peers and with me in a designated D2L space for those of your who choose this portion . Over the course of the semester you all will allocated time to strategize and decide either singly or as pairs or in small groups what you want to investigate. Yours may be online discussions based on an agreed upon common agenda or topic, through a shared experience, possibly an examination of an event, or triggered by something read in the news. It may be a whole group investigation, or something divided and done in pairs or triads, or it may be a collection of individual pursuits tied together through emerging themes and your online discussions.

 

As the semester progresses your investigations should involve at least 6 phantom sources and their related issues. It is an opportunity to connect with a broader world and others through sharing ideas, thoughts, impressions, and opinions. Your investigations should revolve around things that are significant and important to the larger world. You will find some suggestions below. 

 

While I will allocate D2L discussion space, you can also just use e-mail. In either medium you can discuss your reactions to observations, readings, and investigations and share the questions and activities you develop to explore creative, analytical/critical, and practical thinking without worrying if someone from the outside is peeking in.  In your groups discuss your findings, resources, and opinions. Afterward, decide on how to best summarize your findings for presentation in the Forum Form. You will then meet in small groups to share your findings and group summaries during class time. Use the Forum Form if you need some structure in developing a coherent group or individual summary. 

 

When selecting topics and materials, please remember that the primary intent of this exercise is to push awareness and then bring it back to the future and schools and learning issues. On those films based on true stories, seek to find information that may corroborate or refute the ideas presented in the film.

**You are not limited to my suggestions below, as they are simply places of where you might begin, but please let me know which films you will be substituting.

 

Print Materials:

You may wish to read something different that makes you think about the world, others, or issues in new a different ways.

• Peruse current issues of popular news magazines - -US News; Time; Newsweek; The Atlantic. These publications often have articles about schools, learning, child development, children's health issues, or youth issues that may be pertinent to the future.  

• See online issues of publications like EDUTOPIA (George Lucas Foundation -- online subscriptions and hard print versions are free! Or, The Washington Post as it frequently has feature stories about education. See sample and links on the hot topic of  "charter schools."  And the best thing is they have a downloadable video library about hot topics in education See EDUTOPIA Videos. 

• Read the New York Times, finding articles that in some way will impact the lives of children, educational funding, schools, educational policy, curriculum, or you as a teachers or as a concerned citizen of the world. We have a campus subscription to the NY Times, so you can pick them up all over campus for free.

• Anything by Jonathan Kozol as he addresses how poverty influences children's abilities to learn, or works by Ruby Payne who also addresses generational cycles of poverty and educational issues are appropriate.

Movies, Video, and Projects that Make Us Think About the World in Broader Strokes

• American History X - Fictional and frightening as Edward Norton is extremely convincing as a Neo-Nazi skinhead. This piece offers insights into the depth and intensity of hate crimes and how successive generations are adversely affected by intense violence and bigotry.

• Blood Diamond - While fictionalized, the movie is based on the very real politics of Western Africa and the diamond trade used to support civil war, violence, slavery, and illicit activities. 

• Born Into Brothels - Oscar winning, sensitive and hopeful documentary about children in Calcutta's red light district and how they see their world. Offers many insights into the power of one person to change the lives of others.

• The City of God - Extreme poverty among extreme wealth - subtitles. 

• The Constant Gardner - Academy award winning performances in this powerful movie about how corporations actively manipulate social or political issues for profit.

• Crash - Oscar winner for best picture, this is a circuitous story about the many faces and shapes of bigotry.

• Door to Door - A TNT movie based on the real life of a top salesman, Bill Porter, who suffered with cerebral palsy. Wonderful story with a great caste. 

• The Inconvenient Truth - Academy Award wining documentary about global warming. While this topic may not excite, it is an extremely engaging film, and ask yourself after all - Where else to we have to go?

• Finding Forrester - Poverty - Young basketball star from the inner city develops a relationship with a reclusive writer who helps him improve his writing.

• Glory Road - Bigotry - Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA championship. If this appeals you might want to also watch another classic sports' movie based on a true story about bigotry and the human spirit Remember the Titians.

• Good Night and Good Luck - McCarthy was a real Senator from Wisconsin who spearheaded a wave of suspicion and oppression. Major themes deal with the loss of constitutional freedoms in a democracy.

• Hotel Rwanda - This movie based on the real life of Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu who managed a hotel in Kigali. Centered around the true events in Rwanda in 1994 as the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups clashed during the genocidal conflict.  A brutal and potent reminder of how hate and prejudice propels humans to do horrible things to one another, and how the power of individuals can make a difference.    

• Hustle and Flow - Poverty mixed with dreams. This is a raw and powerful film about poverty and the attitudes and dreams it breeds.    

• Mad Hot Ballroom - How can ballroom dancing help children in schools. This is a movie about a program started by Pierre Dulaine in NYC. The adult version is Take the Lead. T the L has a after piece that is important to watch as is about Dulaine and his program. Mad Hot Ballroom as of 2007 has become part of the Milwaukee Public School curriculum. Watch either or both of these to see why. What does ballroom dancing teach kids? Or, the Hollywood fictional version Take the Lead.

• Murderball - Documentary about what handicapped athletes can really do for themselves when they are motivated. 

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• October Sky - Based on the true story of Homer Hickham, a kid from West Virginia who with his friends tries to escape the poverty of a coal mining community through building a rocket and winning a science fair. Gives watchers insights into the space race, pervasive during the late 1950s, and how they affected students and schools.

• Radio - Bigotry - Another true story about tolerance and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of vicious bigotry.

• Syriana- Corporations manipulating social or political issues for gain and profit.

• Water - Beautifully told, filmed, and acted, this film follows the life of an 8 year old girl as she is placed in a home for widows. This movie reveals the shame of the treatment of women in a social structure where they are grossly undervalued.  Available in both English or Hindi (subtitled).

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Media that matters - A series of short films devoted to strong views world and social issues. The following selection numbers are simply recommended for viewing. You may watch those that you want. Make sure your volume is adjusted before you begin. As you scroll over selections descriptions will pop up. Please note that when you bring up each film there will be a series of hot links under the play window for additional or contradictory information. Several of my graduate students (practicing teachers) are now using these shorts in their classrooms.

Set #5 (3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, and 16).

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Set #6.

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(1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 16)

 **For earlier or later festival sets, use your own discretion. 

 

Audio: NPR Story 322: Shouting Across the Divide - Replayed broadcast about the devastating bigotry a Muslim family suffers in schools after 9/11.

Art that changes our views:

In many of his recent works Chris Jordan, a photographic artist based in Seattle, addresses the issue of meaningless meta-numbers.  As a population can we really wrap our heads around statistics that say things like "every 5 minutes American consumers use 2 million plastic containers" or "every 30 seconds we discard 106,000 aluminum cans?" In his exhibitions like Running the numbers: An American self portrait Jordan shows us what that looks like on large canvases. Two million plastic containers on a 5X10 canvas look like lots and lots of dots, but suddenly viewers are confronted with a visual representations of the enormity and  magnitude of our waste.

Important Social Issues:  

21st Century Slavery - We have an international program that goes to Thailand over winterim and works in the shelter established by Sompop Jantarak. Joseph's work is a result of that experience.

 The Thailand Project - UWSP student Joseph Quinell uses his passion for art to make a difference in the lives of children. Related site on founder of the center for rescuing prostitutes and abused or enslaved children.

Recommended by Joseph, and in our LRC:

• Daughters and sons - A documentary on combating children in the sex slave trade.

• The New Heroes - Disc 2 (Episode 4) Power of Knowledge

• Children for Sale - NBC Dateline goes undercover to expose sex trafficking  

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Copyright�  Leslie Owen Wilson, 2006