Mahar,
LA 81:2
Bringing
the Outside In: One Teacher’s Ride on the Anime Highway
Mahar
was introduced to the world of Anime through her seventh grade students. In defining Anime, she offers,"While anime is sometimes erroneously referred to as a genre,
it is in reality an art form that includes all the genres found in cinema or
literature, from heroic epics and romance to science fiction and
comedy" Mahar describes engagement with Anime as a
literacy acitivy that involves making meaning through codes, conventions and
tools. She realized that she needed to
understand this art form more fully as it was informing her students personal
reading and writing as well as some of their school-based compostion.
The bulk
of this article describes her interactions with two particular students and an
anime club that spontaneously formed in her classroom during lunch while she
was investigating the art form with students.
She describes their approach to Anime, what they see it as, and the
kinds of interactions that the students have between themselves and the various
forms of Anime.
She
observes that these students applied literacy strategies they were learning in
class to their interaction with anime.
The student interactions with this medium were complex and engaged
higher level thinking than would have been expected of them in the
classroom. Interestingly, most of the
students expressed dislike for the usual teacher-directed lessons because they
are ““meaningless in the real world.”
Mahar
concludes that it is valuable for a teacher to be aware of pop culture and the
messages that pop culture contains.
This culture can be used as a scaffold for further learning and a bridge
for deriving meaning in more traditional disciplines. She notes that the teacher can be a valuable guide to students to
help them to evaluate the messages in all kinds of media.
I
wanted to read this article because the genre of graphic novels has come to my
mind several times in our discussions of multiple literacies. I was first introduced to Anime and graphic
novels by my 21 year old daughter who LOVES them, and is equally enamoured with
Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. She
insisted that there is really a lot to them … I’ve had to overcome my
prejudices and investigate!
In
the sidebar, there is a discussion about using popular culture in education as
a means of developing inquiry and awareness.
Some excellent questions for helping students evaluate the messages of
media are offered. The site for the Center of Media Literacy (www.medialit.org)
is referred to as well. I have used
this site in the past and found it to be an excellent resource.
What
I’ve found, is that Anime has come a long way since “Speed Racer” when I was a
kid. The plots and themes are complex
and relevant to today’s youth. The
technological orientation appeals to the techie element in today’s youth
culture.
I
appreciated this teacher’s thoughtful entrance into the world of her students
and her recognition of the literacy skills they were using to engage with this
unconventional medium. Once the teacher
validated their interests by her desire to learn from them she seemed to have
anime enthusiasts pouring into her classroom which indicated that there was a
hidden sub-culture in the school. She
made an excellent point about helping students to identify the messages that
are contained in whatever medium they are engaged in.
I
found it interesting that the great majority of these anime enthusiasts found
other aspects of school to be pretty irrelevant. It is hard to know whether their attitude generated an escape
into fantasy or whether their engagement with this form of fantasy is so
compelling it makes other things seem irrelevant. The girl who said that teacher directed assignments are
“meaningless in the real world” may just be reflecting predictable teenager
angst. I wanted to ask, “And the world
of Anime is real?” But a better
question to ask is , “What makes Anime meaningful to these students and
why?”
It
seems like it would be pretty easy to become consumed with this “other world”
and it is nothing new, really. Star
Trek fans and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts have similar sub-cultures that include
similar “literacies”. As a matter of
fact, some Trekkies extend their literacy to Klingong.
I
found a couple of interesting articles about using graphic novels and comics
with struggling readers …
http://www.noflyingnotights.com/MWworkshop.html
www.bama.ua.edu/~jstallwo/Articles/Using%20
Is
there anyone else out there who has used these forms of text in their
classrooms? What kind of response have
you had?
For
more background on what Anime is check out:
www.lkwdpl.org/anime/introanime.php
For
a list of graphic novels appropriate for kids try: http://www.noflyingnotights.com/MWworkshop.html
Sample
lesson plans for the graphic novel Castle Waiting (reading level gr. 4-6):
http://bookshelf.diamondcomics.com/lessonplans/castlewaiting/castlewaiting.html
CROSS-TALK
for Article 2- my posting
Date:
Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:23 am
Author:
Christie, Reba <[email protected]>
Subject:
Re: MAHAR: Bringing the Outside In...Anime
I'm
really interested in the idea of Anime in the classroom, although I think that
the main idea behind it is 'making learning meaningful' to all students. The
push to use contemporary culture in the classroom aslo has many virtues, as
students can further explore and learn from their immediate world. However,the
idea of classical education also has virtues by expanding that world, which I
believe
is
also extremely valuable as it opens and extends students minds and gives them a
broader perspective beyond their own family and contemporary worldview.
"I
wanted to ask, “And the world of Anime is real?” But a better question to ask
is , “What makes Anime meaningful to these students and why?”"
You're
response made me smile- the same situation could be applied to Harry Potter or
to a number of other ideas, but the point you made remains- what makes these
things meaninful to students? I would also add "how can we make other
topics meaninful?"
~Reba
Author:
Gentry, Pamela <[email protected]>
Attachment:
heros_journey_outline.doc (38912 bytes)
Subject:
Re: MAHAR: Bringing the Outside In...Anime
Yes,
I think that classical literature is classical because the themes contained
stand the test of time. They touch people deeply.
Those
themes don't really change across time or even across cultures, so much. What
does change is the packaging and the approach to finding solutions to the Big
Problems in life. Our challenge as teachers is to a-tap into that concern for
the Big Ideas in life in each child and b-help them to discover them in all
kinds of reading.
Look
at some of the big hits in movies that people go back to see again, and again.
The Matrix trilogy and the Star Wars series are just two examples...and
interestingly, both of those series were intentionally built/written upon
classic themes. There is nothing like a good Hero Quest wrapped around the
struggle between good and evil. THIS is what teens and folk of all ages will
identify with
every
time.
I've
used the works of Campbell to build some excellent literature units for teens
that offer an intersection between different periods of literature and media.
Attached is an assignment done by a 9th grade student comparing Campbell's Hero
Quest description with Star Wars (an intentional application by the author)
Homer's Odyssey, a generic modern adventure film, and the turn of the century
journal writings about the ship Endurance which was crushed in the ice of
Antarctica.
Also
FYI - check out the following website for more ideas:
http://www.yourheroicjourney.com/Journey.shtml
The
Hero's Journey...
Sorry
to write so much, I get excited about this topic :-)
CROSS-TALK
for Article 2 – others posting
Date:
Thu Oct 21, 2004 9:01 pm
Author:
Dyer, Kellie <[email protected]>
Subject:
Bringing the outside in
Discussion:
I
find ideas like this very interesting. I am curious if anyone uses this genre
in your classroom? These kinds of things are very difficult for me to
incorporate into my classroom. Our district is one that wants everyone to
really stick to the curriculum. If it is not on the curriculum, don’t teach it?
Do you agree with this or
not?
I find it very difficult and frustrating to teach to the needs of my students
with these strict guidelines. If I am covering the TEKS, should it matter how?
Should we teach to our students or the curriculum? Won’t the students be more
engaged in learner if it is something they love?
Date:
Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:34 am
Author:
Gentry, Pamela <[email protected]>
Subject:
Re: Bringing the outside in
I
think you could do a tie-in from Anime that the kids are familiar with to Anime
as used in a graphic novel...or even several graphic novels. Maybe approach
this as a genre lesson. Then you'd be involving the students in critical
thinking and literary analysis, certainly within the standards of TEKS? I read
this article, too.
Check
out some of the graphic novel websites that I found. have fun!
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