In a global political climate of fear, oppression, and increased nationalism, how do we make the English language arts classroom a space for political and civic inquiry? How can we explore technology as a means to leverage social action and engagement?
These questions guided a semester-long teacher inquiry study that Kara Clayton, a media teacher at Thurston High School, and I undertook. We investigated how secondary students in Clayton’s digital media course used video production and participatory action research as a nexus for what some may call “participatory politics.”
Through a curricular scope and sequence that invited students to work through genres like public service announcement and documentary, students examined a range of topics. From highlighting the contemporary “sounds of silence” in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) school violence to studying the intersections of racial justice, meritocracy, and academic achievement in Detroit, students used video to create counter-stories of the urban metropolis. Below, I highlight one project and its potential in mobilizing youth digital media production as civic action.
“My City, My Story: Reel Communities”
The “My City, My Story: Reel Communities” assignment was a remix of CSPAN’s StudentCam competition. The following is a brief overview and description:
“Riffing off of StudentCam’s theme, this semester you will work collaboratively to produce a 3–5 minute documentary related to the theme “My City, My Story.” Using elements of storytelling and narrative, video production, and independent research, you will work together as a group to collect and synthesize data about how your topic is produced, mediated, experienced, subverted across local, state, and national contexts. Your message should focus on a contemporary local issue that has equity and social justice as one of its goals. Successful videos will thoroughly explore a variety of viewpoints related to your chosen topic, including those that may oppose the filmmakers’ points of view.”
Through brainstorming, shooting film, interviewing local stakeholders, and producing video, groups tackled complex issues that were paramount to their local contexts and communities. Youth interviewed community and school leaders, used “expert” film to amplify their argument, and inspired response through calls to action.
A Critical Case of Catfishing: Using Digital Media to Talk Across Sex Trafficking
One group used the reel communities project to highlight the real but lesser known consequences of “catfishing” (the practice of luring someone into a relationship through a false identity) in their community. Zeroing in on one aspect of the digital offense, students began to see that an unlikely, but potential pitfall of catfishing youth is sex trafficking. Brainstorming alongside of group members, Clayton and I worked with the students to situate the larger pandemic of catfishing with the problem of sex trafficking. Working with community law enforcement, students used video to not only survey the story of sex trafficking in their community, but to draw attention to signs that predators often exhibit towards youth. The full video is available online here.
Outside of the written rhetorical force and digital production, youth used multimodal literacy and semiotics to enliven community action. Through digital media production, students engaged in and cultivated new core practices of civic and political engagement. My City, My Story: Reel Communities offered new understandings and more nuanced narratives about urban youth using participatory politics as tools for direct civic engagement and resistance.
As a teacher educator and digital literacies researcher, I invite you to examine how digital media and video production can facilitate deeper learning while augmenting civic action in your classroom. As your school year closes and the summer amps up, consider the following: How does technology offer a new vocabulary for cultivating engagement in your English language arts classroom and local community? How can video production help students to not only develop a compositional fluency in multimodal writing, but to grow their knowledge and grammar of community organizing, pluralism, and social action?
Jon M. Wargo is an assistant professor of literacy at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA.