Political Cartoons in the Classroom
The project that I read was about a high school in Sheboygan, Michigan that utilized visual literacy during social studies lessons. In this classroom, a lesson at the beginning of every class period would be for the students to try to analyze and discuss a political cartoon that the teacher or an assigned student had shared with the class. The students, every day, would use the information that they had learned in each proceeding class to interpret the meaning behind each cartoon. The overall goal for the students was to be proficient in comprehending the messages, themes, motifs, and symbols in political cartoons.
The technology being used in this lesson is visual literacy. Visual literacy is a picture that tells a story. A political cartoon is an aspect of visual literacy because a political cartoon usually includes an agenda, a protagonist, symbolism, and themes. All of these components are present in written literature as well.
I feel that this lesson plan could be considered controversial. While I, personally, am a supporter of educating our students on both sides of the political spectrum, many other people do not share my view. It would be completely understandable for a parent to not want their child to participate in a political cartoon activity because of the messages that they send. Many political messages include moral themes and values that parents do not want to expose to their children. Granted, this teacher had approved all of the student's cartoons before they displayed them to the class. However, the teacher can never be sure what might offend a certain child, parent, family, or culture. The smallest subtlety could go overlooked with ease. I feel that this lesson is controversial, but very educational as far as technology is concerned.
Visual literacy helps children to express themselves in many other ways than just words. Visual literacy allows students to understand and become proficient in the areas of themes, motifs, symbolism, and personal propaganda. Students are given another very creative way to express themselves, and how they feel about certain issues. In this example, the subject is politics. Political cartoons are very prevalent in our society, and can have a very powerful effect on the populous. Visual literacy is a great type of technology to teach to students of the high school age, as long as the subject material is appropriate. It is difficult to use political cartoons that express no bias or prejudice, so this type of lesson is undoubtedly controversial. However, I think that the students will benefit from this lesson by developing story writing skills, and gathering an understanding of the world that they live in.
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I like that you chose this topic becuse it gets to the heart of the dilema teachers face. They have to meet the needs of the parents and the needs of the what the state says we need to teach and the need of the student to be interested in the topic. This topic really is controversial. I believe it is important for parents to feel comfortable about what is being taught to their children in the classroom and that certain political views being represented by these cartoons could raise the hackles of some parents and rightly so. Political cartoons are meant to do just that. They ask people to think critically in a way they might not have done before. Therein lies the the importance of using political cartoons as a teaching tool. I think it can support critical thinking and is the perfect venue for discusing political perspectives. However, teachers would need to stick to that purpose and not allow one perspective overtake another. The classroom would need to be a "neutral arena". For some parents there is no "neutral arena" when it comes to political views. To approach this possibility teachers will want to inform parents of what they are planing to do with an emphasis on the point that all views will be considered equally. This is difficult to do but with planning and the proper preparation I think it can be achieved. The idea of students "gathering an understanding of the world they live in" is an important enough reason to for teachers to attepmt to use this teaching tool even though it will take that extra planning. Cool topic Nick!
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