Blurring boundaries and getting real: exploring the impact of on-screen teachers on real world classrooms

Date

2011-03-17T16:15:05Z

Authors

Brach, Laurel

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Abstract

This thesis explores how teachers are shown on-screen by asking the following questions: do on-screen, fictional portrayals of high school teachers affect student perceptions of their own teachers and further, how do these perceptions affect student-teacher relations and expectations of the classroom experience? Ten high school students in grades eleven and twelve were interviewed using surveys, one-on-one interviews, and a focus group. The findings revealed that fictional representations affect students in a multitude of ways, namely in student’s expectations of teachers and schooling and in how individual identities are formed and fostered. This study also found that while the participants demonstrated many critical literacy skills, they were noticeably lacking in others, thus speaking to the need for increased critical literacy education in our schools.

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Keywords

Critical literacy, Curriculum and instruction, Web-based instruction

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