Raising the Stakes for 21st Century Texts

Mrs. Naylor’s final project for her senior selective, 21st Century Texts, was to create a project that would answer the question, “What is the role of media and technology in how we make meaning?” Students were instructed to select a medium to help answer the course’s essential question. They explored different forms of media, such as news, television, streaming, platforms, and social media to support their opinions about how the role of media affects our generation. They researched each of these forms of media and reflected on how each of them influences the everyday lives of students. They showed how students use these mediums in all areas of life, including making decisions, creating and maintaining relationships, and for enjoying entertainment.

Students put together numerous types of presentations — varying from photo essays to periodicals — to showcase their research. Throughout the course, students were told to find mentors to help with their creation of their projects. Students went out and found different mentors to guide them and help them with the creation of their medium. They found professionals of all genres, from photojournalists to graphic designers. Instructors from various types of work were brought in to help with the creation of this project.

The students presented their projects in front of a panel of judges for their final grade. Naylor explained that she wanted to work more with project-based learning. By turning the project into a competition, she sought to “raise the stakes.”  The judges, who were chosen because of their professional occupations, were a panel of professionals who worked with the same mediums students selected for their projects. They evaluated the completeness of the project and if the answer to the essential question was clearly presented. After seeing all the projects, it was difficult for the judges to determine a final winner. In the end, they came to the conclusion that not one presentation should be the winner, but three. The winners were Nick Bartlett, Quentin Picard, and Irene (Yuyang) Deng. These students used the form of infographic and photo essay to complete their projects and give a persuasive argument about the effects of media. The end goal of this project was to learn how to use different mediums to answer a question; however, Naylor said she was most impressed with was the presentations her students created. She was thrilled to see the end results and the hard work her students put in to complete this course.