U.S. PRESERVICE TEACHERS AND THEIR MEDIA WORLDS

Stephanie A. Flores-Koulish

Loyola College in Maryland

sfloreskoulish@loyola.edu

Background/Purpose of study

• To create a portrait of how a group of undergraduates in elementary education experienced and conceptualized the media.

• To provide teacher educators with these students’ “subject matter content knowledge” (Shulman, 1986)

Methodology• 25 undergraduate elementary education majors at

two MA private institutions responded to an on-line survey about media usage and analysis.

• 5 of these participated in in-depth interviews and discussion groups

• Specific methods and perspectives came from – Grounded Theory, – Naturalistic Inquiry– Critical Ethnography

Preservice Teachers and Media Consumption

• They claim minimal participation both in their pasts and currently.

• They do not feel that media play(ed) a big role in their lives.

– SO WHAT?

• They do not seem to recognize the ubiquity of media, and thus are less media literate.

Details in the portrait…

Teaching about media as they were taught

• Minimal exposure to media usage K-college• Rare opportunities for analyses and production• When present it was congruent with Hobb’s (1997) description of

media for non-educational purposes.

– SO WHAT?

• Their school media histories portend their future teaching (Lortie, 1975; Feiman-Nemser, 1983; Grossman, 1990; Britzman, 1991; Nespor, 1987) unless teacher education intervenes.

Understanding the media’s power

• They believe the media are highly influential and we as participants/viewers are powerless.

• They acknowledge possibilities for multiple interpretations• They believe the media serve as an escape from reality.

– SO WHAT?

• They have a passive acceptance of the hegemony of media.• The media at school and at home are an “escapist curriculum”

Protecting our children• This category emerged strongly as a theme.• Intense feelings for parental involvement • They provided multiple illustrations of how parents should protect

their kids from elements like Britney Spears, Eminem, etc.• By the end of the study, after indirect exposure and conversation

around media literacy, they endorse it highly.

– SO WHAT?

• Confirms Masterman’s (1997) ideas that most teachers have a “deep-rooted mistrust” of the mass media.

• They require a deepened understanding of cultural studies to discover that protection is not the best approach.

• Media literacy is enticing to these preservice teachers.

Implications & conclusion• This group of preservice teachers’ content knowledge of media

literacy is rather slim.• More research is needed with this population.• Among new teachers, content knowledge and pedagogical content

knowledge seem to be needed to forward media literacy more effectively within K through 12 schools.

• More involvement from the teacher education community needed.• How prepared and able are schools and departments of education

to include media literacy?• Should it be a stand-alone course or embedded within various

courses like multiculturalism has come to be?• How can the inclusion of media literacy into US preservice teacher

education strategically occur?• How will NCLB affect this pursuit?