Week 8 - Webb Ch. 4

Chapter Four - Addressing the Youth Violence Crisis

The first thing in this chapter that really caught my eye was Scott's viewpoint on page 56. He talks about the high school freshman who has not future for college, but can sell drugs to make money. The way he explained his viewpoint was very interesting, and I found it hard to argue with. It would take an immense amount of willpower to overcome the urge to take the easy way out, especially for a 16 year old. I thought Scott's reasoning was very well done.

"Multicultural studies brings new and broader conceptions of literature to teaching. Reworking traditional philological approaches, scholars recover oral and popular traditions and stress the importance of understanding literature in cultural and historical contexts. (Webb 59)"

Within the section on Multicultural Studies Webb discusses the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. I used this in my Black American Literature class at Western and I found it to be an amazing text. The way my teacher used the text in addition to interviews, reviews, and jazz selections enhanced the anthology and made me interested in the selections. It was one of my favorite Literature classes at Western.

I'm interested in the section of Mass Media. It's something I want to incorporate into my final project. "Creating their own media "texts" sharpened their literacy, their understanding of language, texts, and images, and their ability to read and "deconstruct" the world that surrounds them. (Webb 66)" I think incorporating the PostSecret blog, having students make their own postcards, and creating our own blog will enhance the students learning.