1. COVER STORY
18 November/December 2016 | LITERACY TODAY

2. y knowledge is only as big as the bus
window, but these traditions are ancient.”
This beautifully poetic line comes from a
documentary my students produced on our trip to
Vietnam last year about the religion and spirituality of
the country. It’s a line that not only encompasses the
literal reality of our field trip but also calls attention
to the way in which each of us views the world: a
perspective limited by our position in the world and
in society.
“m
Promoting empathy, equity, and cultural literacy
through digital storytelling
By Michael Hernandez
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN
A DIGITAL AGE
We might define social justice as seeking justice or
equity in terms of wealth, opportunity, power, and
privilege in society. I’m convinced that a literate
society is equipped to handle these challenges and
find creative solutions to new ones.
WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE?
With so many elements of society
seemingly breaking down and with such
polarization politically and culturally,
I’ve been reflecting on my role teaching
students and what part I play in this
growing lack of understanding. What
can we do as educators to identify
and address inequity and prepare our
students to tackle the big challenges of
social justice now and later in life?
I was first made aware of the
need to address social justice topics
when my journalism students
repeatedly pitched stories about how
it was unfair that minority students
“have an easier time getting into
college.” This lack of empathy grew
not from a place of
racism or selfishness,
but simply from a
lack of understanding
and experience.
It was then that
I began planning a
series of projects,
including our
international
documentary trips,
to make my students more culturally
literate and to empower them to
address these issues themselves.
LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2016 19

3. Literacy is tied
to social justice
Literacy and social justice are
inseparable concepts. Access to
literacy has historically been a way to
reinforce—or mitigate—inequity in
societies stratified by race, geography,
and economics. And although we still
struggle with these concerns, we might
also consider a broader definition of
what it means to be literate.
Cultural literacy—an awareness
of and sensitivity to diverse cultures
and lifestyles—and media literacy—a
knowledge of how to decode and
produce media messages—have
become the default means by which
we understand our world and interact
with it. And it’s more important for our
students’ success than ever before.
“As we prepare our students for
a global economy, social justice is
imperative for global awareness,” says
Christine DiPaolo, instructional tech
innovator at Square Peg Consulting.
“It’s important to see and understand
the world from all different lenses and
points of view so we can prepare to
compete in a global marketplace.”
This past summer, Facebook
Vice President Nicola Mendelsohn
predicted that in five years, the social
media company would be “mostly
video.” It’s hard to dismiss a media
powerhouse where users consume
100 million hours of video on mobile
devices every day and that fields eight
billion views daily, according to Forbes
magazine. Text messages are on the
decline.
“Literacy goes beyond reading
and writing,” says St. Louis–based
multimedia instructor and ILA member
Don Goble. “Students now must read
images, online text, videos, and other
media to make sense of their world.”
Buildingempathy
We’re often unable to acknowledge,
let alone solve, problems in the world
because we simply don’t see them. So the
first way to begin addressing inequity is
with empathy. When we can understand
the concerns and plights of others,
we can start to find solutions to these
problems.
Building empathy is a process
and mind-set we can apply universally
to many challenges. There are many
exercises to develop an empathetic
mind-set, including games like The
Extraordinaires, that help frame
discussions and prepare students to
wrestle with topics they’re passionate
about. But one of the best ways we can
create empathetic students is to have
them tell stories.
Socialjustice
throughstorytelling
Marginalized voices and perspectives
underlie many inequities in society,
so allowing those voices to be heard is
fundamental to social justice literacy.
We can begin with personal stories,
allowing students to talk about their
passions, whether it’s their own lives or
the problems they see in the world.
One of my favorite projects for
my cinema students is a personal
essay documentary. A visual poem/
documentary, these stories have allowed
students to talk about their struggles
with having gay parents, with gender
identity, and other concerns. Although
extremely personal in nature, their
audience members now see them as valid
points of view coming from someone
they know. And it’s hard to dismiss the
concerns of others when they come from
your friend or the person sitting right
next to you in class.
Goble believes that when students
are empowered to tell their own stories,
learning becomes energized. “The role
of authentic authoring means that the
student has an immediate connection,
interest, or passion to the subject.”
Allowing space for personal stories
also makes learning meaningful. Having
a choice in their learning allows students
to realize that their point of view is
valid and it empowers them to make a
difference.
“Storytelling from experience
and understanding are the keys to
awareness,” says DiPaolo. “Students
need to learn that the impact of the
stories they tell the world is important,
and that they can author using their own
authentic voices.”
I teach at a school in a wealthy,
privileged Southern California
neighborhood, but social justice is
a concept that affects all members
of society. One day my students will
vote and will need to be prepared to
work with others to solve problems
of inequity.
“Having a global perspective
and awareness helps move us past
race and religion,” says instructional
tech innovator Christine DiPaolo.
“Regardless of socioeconomic
status, becoming aware of other
cultures through experiences in
and out of the classroom is more
effective than studying for a
standardized test from a textbook.”
MY STUDENTS
ARE WHITE AND
PRIVILEGED. WHAT
RIGHT DO WE HAVE
TO TALK ABOUT
SOCIAL JUSTICE?
Above, Don Goble’s students filming in Ferguson. At right, Goble’s student creating a project on
stereotypes. All other photos are of Hernandez’s students abroad.
20 November/December 2016 | LITERACY TODAY

4. Living in St. Louis, Goble was near
Ferguson, MO, when Michael Brown was
shot and killed by police in 2014. Some of
his students who had lacked motivation
previously were galvanized by the events
that followed the shooting. They decided
to produce a news story about Brown’s
funeral (the clip can be found on Goble’s
YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/
dgoble2001) and interview community
members about the incident. This created
a learning opportunity for the students
that they never had before.
“I’ve found that an issue a student
may want to explore is not directly
tied to the curriculum,” says Goble. “As
educators, it’s important for us to guide
students to make connections, whether
it’s a social justice topic or another area
of interest.”
Listeningtothestories
ofothers
The process of telling your own story
automatically becomes one of listening
to and decoding the stories of others.
Publishing written and multimedia
stories beyond the classroom, online for
example, encourages reading of these
stories and an openness to critique from
other points of view.
A documentary produced by one of
my students following our trip to Cuba
received a critique from an unlikely
audience member: a Cuban citizen. After
publishing her doc on YouTube, the
sophomore noticed a scathing rant in the
comments section of her post, calling
her out for missing the problems of the
political system in the island nation.
“I was stunned and, honestly,
a little embarrassed,” says Morgan
Montgomery, the student director. “But
it made me realize that I was missing
something I hadn’t even considered. It
opened my eyes to other points of view
and how people might be affected by my
work.”
Howtoteachsocialjustice
Empowering students to have an
impact on the world beyond the
classroom is a critical responsibility
we have as teachers, but it can be
challenging to accomplish when
our curricular plate is already full.
Rather than trying to add on another
unit and content, weave social justice
concepts and processes into your
existing curriculum. Having a separate
lesson might also give students the
impression that social justice is
extraneous and not related to the rest
of your curriculum.
DiPaolo agrees: “Look for ways to
embed social justice into lessons subtly.
Don’t think so much about the topic but
rather in the ability to hear stories about
how people contribute to the equality of
our communities.”
Consider the purpose of your
assignments and the prompts you
give students. Allow them to choose
the best way to tell stories—an online
class blog, a podcast, a fiction or
documentary video—and focus instead
on purpose rather than medium. The
choice will encourage your students’
passions and show that you trust them
to make good decisions. Writing is
the underpinning of all multimedia
projects, so you can still satisfy your
existing ELA curricular requirements.
Goble says, “Don’t worry about the
logistics of ‘what’ device or ‘how’ they
will do it. Students will figure out this
process on their own. The teacher’s
focus should be on the ‘why.’”
Howbigisyourbuswindow?
How big is that bus window of your class
or school? How much can our students
really see and understand about the
wider world and each other? And what is
your role in widening that window?
If we agree that we’re here to
prepare students for success later in
life, if we agree that there are inequities
in society that underlie many of our
problems, and if we agree that we should
empower our students to develop a voice,
then we need to address social justice in
our classrooms.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
RESOURCES
Scan this QR code to check out
resources for lesson ideas and how
to create and evaluate multimedia
projects, and to see examples
of student
social justice
projects,
including those
mentioned in
this article.
Michael Hernandez (cinehead3@gmail.com), a new ILA member,
is an award-winning cinema and journalism teacher in Los Angeles,
CA. He speaks regularly at conferences like SXSWEdu and ISTE on
topics ranging from digital storytelling to social justice to technology
integration in schools. Hernandez is an Apple Distinguished Educator
and PBS Digital Innovator. Follow him on Twitter @cinehead.
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