Sesame Street

'1) When was your technology/media tool invented?'

The concept of Sesame Street was first conceived of in 1966 by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett . After collaboration and workshopping, it finally aired for the first time on November 10, 1969 on PBS. [1]

2) When was it first used in education (and how)?

“Sesame Street” was developed with education in mind during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Looking to create a television show that provided “a pre-school education model that could reach a great number of inner-city children”, television executives collaborated with a variety of educational professionals and network staff to make a show that utilized the best of what television had to offer - high quality writing, high quality sets, and the ability to be in every home every night with the whole family tuned in. [2]

The show utilized television's addictive trait to educate families with regards to developmental psychology, early childhood education, and cultural diversity. It also provided an additional way to add foundational and accessible education to the masses that could be a enjoyed by children of all ages as its original target audience of pre-school children expanded to include all children. One of the shows purposes was to provide children in lower socio-economic situations an equal opportunity for education.

3) How did the technology/media tool (re)reshape educational practice and teaching/learning – or transform literacy learning and/or social-institutional-classroom organization? (Changing roles in classrooms, changing positions of authority, power relations, modes of exclusion or inclusion, ideology and modes of social action or creativity)?

→ Taught cultural literacy and social literacy alongside reading and writing (letters, numbers, etc). Social norms and cues - politeness

→ Allowed inner city children to see themselves depicted on the scene in a neighbourhood disconnected to time, super diverse, similar to their own neighbourhoods

→ Acknowledged the stresses of children and their needs to be acknowledged and listened to in a healthy manner ( challenging the Freire method)

→A more palatable form of delivery that can be delivered before higher thinking is even capable - taught a lesson before you recognize what it is. Internalizing a value at a young age.

→Consistency: the ideas stay the same, but the components and that actors hav changed. Progressive and experimental in how it utilized pedagogy, but technocratic in its unilateral approach approach to values and what should be taught. Revolutionary in its approach to societal issues that

→Connected Oral, Cognitive, artistic approaches to education by live demonstration

→Commercialization of Sesame street made it come from the screen into the home with children identifying their ‘friends’ from Sesame Street that they learned from

→Children didn’t have to be viewed in terms of access and privilege. The shows format allowed for learning and enjoyment from all socio-economic backgrounds

→Diversity of cast allowed for racialized people to see themselves as worthy educators

→Learning was no longer confined to inside a classroom and in textbooks. Was an early example of experiential education pedagogy

→Challenged societal stereotypes of educators (racialized citizens), fears (monsters were seen as friends), communities (sesame street neighbourhood resembled city borough not sunny suburbia),

→Leveraged popularity of celebrity to increase ratings and support for public broadcast program (also provided good PR for celebrities)

4) If possible, try to connect your analysis to the literacy paradigms (de Castell & Luke, or Multiliteracies).

Sesame Street occupies an interesting space in relation to the literacy paradigms. On one hand, by utilizing music, rhythm, movement, and oral traditions, Sesame Street makes heavy usage of modes that were used well before literate culture. On the other hand, Sesame Street also leans heavily into the Progressive paradigm: the focus on these artistic forms and exploration through movement and music is highly Progressive, yet the elements of pushing written culture remain (through segments, song, and didactic skits that teach viewers the Alphabet and different numbers in order to read).

→teaching in a more nuanced structure that uses multimodality to teach in the first place. without structure, or in a more palatable structure: viewing your education and hearing your concerns aired, versus the technocratic ideal of standardized education being prescribed.

→By taking education outside the classroom and textbooks, was an example of progressive literacy paradigm and applied learning. However, wasn’t too progressive to cause controversy (due to being publicly funded)

→Provided technocratic foundational learning with a standard curriculum and demonstrated how they could be used in everyday life

→Provided a utopian look at society where everyone got along and was accepted, even those who were different (e.g.. Oscar, Telly, Cookie Monster, etc.)

→”using the power of media and our beloved Muppets to meet children’s development needs with critical early education, social impact programs, and a large dose of fun!”