Social Activism

The second documentary produced in my fall of 2006 learning community demonstrated the potential for student excellence in the realm of student documentary proposals.

The group of three young women in the "Save the Planet, Now" community, instead of taking an environmentalist approach to the theme, opted on taking a social activist approach to the documentary project. Inspired by her Jewish faith, one student felt a strong desire to take action and educate students about the devastating genocide that is occurring in Darfur, Sudan. The other group members were also compelled by this argument, and the result is a student documentary project that is a deeply moving, inspirational call to social action.

The girls incorporate still photography, text, maps and charts, a haunting soundtrack, emotional and informative interviews, and a personal message proposing how college students can make an impact and enact social change.

The composition classroom as a forum for critical, social activism is an exciting prospect. Using multimedia texts to that end is a rational step in this process. In 1996, the Harvard Educational Review published an article/manifesto entitled, "Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures." Written by a group of scholars calling themselves The New London Group, this article illuminates the social impact that multiliteracies have on the future. They write:

If it were possible to define generally the mission of education, one could say that its fundamental purpose is to ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community and economic life . . . literacy pedagogy now must account for the burgeoning variety of text forms associated with information and multimedia technologies. (1-3)

The New London Group goes further to suggest that multimedia technologies demand a new pedagogical approach:

Mutliliteracies also creates a different kind of pedagogy, one in which language and other modes of meaning are dynamic representational resources, constantly being remade by their users as they work to achieve their various culture purposes. . . . Indeed, these are fundamental issues about our future. In addressing these issues, literacy educators and students must see themselves as active participants in social change, as learners and students who can be active designers-makers of social futures. (4-5)

Liberty


By asking students to develop a proposal argument in their documentary projects, students are able to become, as the New London Group suggests, "active participants in social change." The outcome is stirring and memorable. >>

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