Post for June 28th - Response to the Use of Teaching Agents

The two articles we read for this week were very interesting, but I have issue with the idea of implementing the types of teaching agents they discuss. These articles discuss the use of avatars as a way for students to communicate with regarding issues on a specific assignment or topic. These avatars are a form of artificial intelligence that hold a certain expertise on a select topic. The use of these agents seems like a very useful tool, although I cannot imagine the amount of time a dedication it takes to set up such a tool.

Part of the purpose of these avatars is for students to "learn with technology" (Doering, 2008). Being interactive in learning is very important, and I see how being able to learn with a technology can be beneficial. Also these avatars provide students with instant access at any hour of the day so students don't have put their work on hold until they hear back from someone. In my own experiences with technology, it can be very frustrating to hit a snag in a project, and have to wait to hear back about the issue in order to continue. On the other hand, in my experience, I always remember how to do something better when I have had to search and experiment with how to do it myself. This is one thing I feel these education agents lack. I have no experience with using these agents (and having experience with them may change my perception), but I don't see myself utilizing this technology.

As I said above, I feel seeking out how to fix any issues you have in a project or learning process will have a much more lasting impression on the student than will immediately asking the educational agent a question and receiving the answer. Seeking out the answer can be very time consuming, but it teaches the student to be very resourceful. It also seems that these agents, particularly the one used for eFolio, are similar to the "help" link that appears on almost all interactive websites. It seems clicking the "help" link on the eFolio site could have been just as informative, if not more informative, than the agent. Clicking on the link requires a little more searching around and doesn't have the friendly humanistic demeanor of the agent, but it is a way to get the same information.

Maybe I don't quite understand the true purpose of the teaching agent, or maybe it's not clear the full capabilities of this technology, but it appears that what the agents do is already available to students. I can understand having an agent that is an "expert" in a certain topic, but there are plenty of experts in the online world - this one can simply be directly controlled. I feel that helping students to learn how to be resourceful (and, of course, critical of their sources of information) will ultimately benefit the students more. It seems there may be a rising need for this type of technology, but I will have to be further convinced.

Sources

Doering, A. et al. (2008). "Conversational Agents and Their Longitudinal Affordances on Communication and Interaction". Journal of Interactive Learning Research. 19(2), 251-270.

Veletsianos, G. et al (2008). "When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom:
Conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent". Interacting with Computers. 20(3). 292-301.

Post for June 28th - Gizmoz Avatar

Post for June 25th - Two Media Literacy Assignments

Activity #1: Gender Typing in News Broadcasts

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment assignment is for students to think critically about news broadcasts on television. More specifically, students will look at how television typifies gender by looking at co-ed news broadcast teams.

Procedures:

• Students will be assigned to watch a local news broadcast that features both a male and female newscaster. During the viewing, students are to keep a log on which stories are told by the male and female newscaster. Students are also to make note whether or not the male or female newscaster received the same amount of air time and equal amount of stories. Also, students should note what the "big stories" were and who told those stories.
• After viewing the broadcast, students are to write a summary of their findings. In the summary students are to discuss the following: What types of stories did the female newscaster tell? Male? Who told the most important stories? Who claimed the most airtime? Or was airtime equal?
• During the next class, students would talk in small groups about what they found. Then as a whole class, students would discuss whether or not women are gender typed in the news: Do women tend to tell more sentimental stories? Do the men tell the more important news?
• After this discussion, the class would view a few clips of the character Robin from the TV show "How I Met Your Mother," to look at the types of news segments she's assigned to discuss and the only types of news jobs she can find. (This will require some organization and preparation from the teacher)
• After viewing the clips, students would reflect in writing on whether the scenarios parodied on the TV show hold any truth to their news viewings.

***Thanks Anna for the inspiration to create this activity!***

Activity #2: Advertising Persuasion

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is for students to demonstrate their understanding of how advertisements persuade consumers to buy their products. This activity would likely come at the end of a unit on media literacy as it assumes the student knows and understands how the consumers are influenced to buy.

A great resource for helping students to understand advertising persuasion is to watch the video "The Persuaders" from the Frontline series on PBS. This show touches on many aspects of the influence of the media, and would be a great companion to this activity.

Procedures:

• With an understanding of media influences students will utilize the techniques advertisers use today in order to make a print ad for "school."
• To help students better prepare for this assignment, students will view an assortment of billboards, posters, TV commercials, radio commercials, and internet advertisements. At this point in the unit, these forms of advertisements will be familiar to students.
  
• After viewing each ad, students will discuss the following: What is the advertisement trying to sell? How is it trying to sell it? What persuasive strategies is it using? What is the motive behind the advertisement?
  
• After viewing all of the selected ads, students will discuss the following: How are these ads similar/different? Which ones are effective? Which ones are not effective? Which ones are most memorable? Why?
• Next, students will work in small groups to make a print ad persuading people to consume education (to go to school, stay in school, etc). They will use the same techniques advertisers use to make profit, in order to "sell school." Such persuasive strategies include humor, fear, sex appeal, logical arguments, emotional arguments, celebrity sponsorship, and using popular music. Each group will choose a different strategy to focus on.
  
• After completion of the ads, students will present them to the class, where the class will answer the same questions they asked about advertisements above.
  

This activity may prove difficult for students as they are advertising and selling something that typically is not sold, but I feel it can be a very powerful activity for students. Students will get to experience advertisement from the seller's point of view. I also envision these ads being placed around the school for all to see.


Possible Modifications: Make an advertisement for a novel read in class, or do the above in a TV, radio, or online advertisement.

Post for June 21st - Teaching News vs Fake News

Rationale for teaching the below assignments:

Below you will find two activities/lessons that a geared towards teaching students about parody. To do so, these activities use a familiar source of information, and a commonly parodied medium, the news. The below assignments are very useful in that they will help students develop skills they need to be critical about where their news sources are coming from. Students will look at the practices of news broadcasts, how they select stories, and how they position a viewer. Doing these things are skills necessary for students to think critically. Using a familiar medium, such as the news, provides a good base to use these skills.

As said in "When Fake Is More Real: Of Fools, Parody, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" by Kothe (2007), "fake news" encourages its viewers to be critical of their news sources as they make fun of the news practices, relay of information, and selection of information to share. Not only does "fake news" criticize news sources, and encourage its viewers to be critical, but it also informs the viewer of actual news stories. In a world where we are continually bombarded by media messages, it is increasingly important to teach students the skills necessary to sift through the information they receive, find what's valuable, and most importantly, discover what is reliable. To be smart consumers, we need the skills to be critical of the information we receive - the below activities will help students to be critical.

Kothe, A. "When fake is more real: of fools parody, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". The Journal of American Popular Culture. 6.2 (2007). www.americanpopularculture.com.

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When I was thinking about possible assignments for this post, I came up with a couple of activities that would complement each other. The possible assignments posted below would ideally be done in succession.

Assignment #1

The purpose of this activity is for students to gain an understanding of how "fake news" such as "The Onion", relates to and parodies real news sources.

This activity may take more than one class period depending on class length and the resources available at the school.

The day before, students would each be given a news article from "The Onion" to read as homework. As they read, students are to take notes on things they notice about the stories and the reporting of the news.

During the next class, students would go online to try and find a news article that talks about the same or similar issue as their first article. Students would then read the found article and make comparisons between the two news articles. While doing so students will think about the following:

• What is different between the two articles?
• Which source seems to be the most reliable? Why?
  
• What aspect of the story does each article focus on?
  
• What does each article make you think as a reader?

After making this comparison, students would share their findings in small groups and then choose someone from the group to share with the whole class. After all groups have shared, the class would talk about the idea of parody, and how the articles from "The Onion" are parodies. The teacher would touch on the specific things the students found in their research to make key elements of parody more clear. After defining parody, the class would then look at how "The Onion" as a whole mimics and parodies newspapers and news articles.

Assignment #2

The purpose of this activity is for students to further explore parody by creating their own parodies.

This activity again may take more than one class period depending on class length and the resources available at the school.

The teacher would prepare a current episode of "The Daily Show" and several news segments/stories that appear in "The Daily Show" from other "real news" sources.

To start, the class would review the idea of parody and their findings from the previous day's activity.

Next, the class would view several "real" news segments (in the sequential order that they appear on the "The Daily Show"). While viewing each segment, students would make note of the following:

• What was the segment about?
• What information did you get from the segment?
• What information was left out?
• How do you feel about the story/situation/issue presented?
  

Students are to do so by making two columns on their paper, numbering each segment, and writing their comments for each segment on the left side.

After this, the class would view the prepared episode of the daily show (or selected segments), and students would make note about each "fake news" segment in the right column across from their notes from "real news" broadcasts. While making notes, students would look for the following:

• What is this segment about?
• What information do you hear? What information is left out?
• What aspects of the original story are being made fun of?
• How does this segment make you feel about the story/situation/issue presented?

While viewing all the clips, the teacher should give students a few minutes between each clip to finish their notes.

After viewing, students would briefly share their responses to the real and fake news segments in small groups. Next, each group would share a little bit of what they found to the whole class. The teacher would make a chart on the board similar to what the students wrote in their notebooks to visually compile the class responses.

The teacher would lead a discussion on how and why John Steward chose to parody and make fun of certain news stories/broadcasts based on the information the students found.

As an assignment related to this activity, students would create their own news parody in small groups (3-4 students). To do this, students are to choose a news source/segment to view from a newspaper, podcast, TV broadcast, or radio. They would read/watch/listen to the news segment, study it and parody it in the same style. So if students chose a local TV new broadcast, students would either prepare a skit or video to parody it. If students chose a newspaper article, they would write the parody. When finished, the projects would be shared with the class. The project would conclude with a written reflection from the group on their choice of news story and source to parody, what specific aspects of the news source and story they parodied, and their experience in creating a parody.

Post for June 18th - Activity for Critically Analyzing the News

In helping students to learn how to critically analyze the news and the value in doing so, I would bring in a video of a local newscast to be viewed as a class. I would have students take notes during the viewing - some students writing the individual segment topics/titles and some students timing how long each segment lasted. As a class, we would then look at and discuss why the news would give more time to some topics over others. Next I would bring in the local newscast of a different non-Minnesotan city and follow the same procedures as above.

After viewing both broadcasts, I would have students look at the differences and similarities between both local news broadcasts. We would look at what the Minnesotan broadcast might say/reveal about Minnesota culture, and relate those ideas to the other broadcast.

I would follow up this activity with a project where students make skits of different news broadcasts of various communities within and around the school. This would give them the chance to make selection and cater to the audience they want to serve. With this project, students would be able to experience how a news broadcast may want to tailor their stories to a specific audience, but also how they may want to be careful about their selection of news in order to maintain an audience.

Post for June 18th - Local TV News Viewing

6:00 PM Kare 11 Local News

Viewing Log

Weather/Breaking News
Story #1: Weather Storms in the Area from the night before
Time: 1:15 minutes

Weather/Local News
Story #2: Austin Tornadoes!
Time: 1:19 minutes

National News Teaser
Story #3: Music Piracy
Time: 22 seconds
Preview for 10:00 News

Local News
Story #4: Denney Hecker Lawsuit
Time: 1:47 minutes

Local News
Story #5: St. Paul Police Abuse Test
Time: 46 seconds

Local Events
Story #6: Special Olympics MN
Time: 26 seconds

Local News
Story #7: Lowry Ave Bridge Closing/Demolition
Time: 58 seconds

Entertainment Story
Story #8: Black Bears in North Metro
Time: 1:50 minutes

Visual
Story #9: Sky Cam View of Lake Calhoun
Time: 10 seconds

Weather
Story #10: Weather Report/Forecast
Time: 3:50 seconds

Sports
Story #11: Sports Report - Twins and US Open
Time: 3:22

Local Events
Story #12: Back to 50's weekend
Time 28 seconds

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Reflection on viewing:

I typically watch the KARE 11 newscast at 5:00 pm, but have never paid too much attention to the actual stories and the amount of time spent on specific segments. I typically go to "Google News" when I really want to get news information. What I found to be really interesting is the large amount of time spent on weather and sports. The weather most definitely overtook this newscast, probably because of the big storms the night before, but even with the daily/weekend forecast came up, the amount of time given to the segment was significantly longer than other segments. Sports was the next thing with a significant amount of time given for the forecast. This puts an emphasis on entertainment value (sports) and the news casters' ability to recognize the concerns of the public (is more severe weather coming? and what will the weekend look like?).

The minimal time spent on local stories such as the Special Olympics or the Lowry Ave bridge closing shows the audience how little these events are valued. The major emphasis on weather shows the importance of that the news station holds on the weather as well as the public. It was really interesting to see how little time was actually spent on news stories, and how the emphasis was on sports and weather. This show how TV news is very focused on entertainment value vs actual news reporting.

Post for June 14th - Comparing and Contrasting Professionalims in the Media & Professional Organizations

The view of professionalism from the media, as shown in my previous post, is vastly different from the view of professionalism found in various professional organizations. Professional organizations are focused on maintaining a professional atmosphere and demeanor by following a code of ethics and general professional guidelines.

Looking at www.socialworkers.org I found a code of ethics for social workers that focuses on being caring and respectful of clients (valuing the dignity and self-worth of a person), behaving in a trustworthy manner, maintaining privacy and confidentiality, and being in compliance with other general professional guidenlines (refraining from: sexual relations with clients, the use of innaporpirate lanugage, and harassment). Even though this is a code of ethics for social workers, I think these guidlines are true of any professional environment.

Another representation of professionalism I found is from a professional development company's website, www.professionalismmatters.com. This company provides opportunities for people to learn how to be professional. Aspects of professionalism they find important are: organization, time management, manners, and integrity. So not only is professionalism someone's behavior, but also how they perform in their work environment.

Lastly, I wanted to look at professionalism of a business, rather than an individual person. To do this, I looked at the Better Business Bureau's accreditation standards (www.bbb.org). To be accredited from the BBB a buisness must follow these guidelines: build trust in the marketplace, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy, and embody integrity. These aspects of a professional business are very similar to the professional guidlines from the two sources above.

So where is all this in the media? It seems the representation of professionalism in the media is very counter to the representation of professionalism in a professional setting. If you look at the TV show "House, MD" and follow the actions of the main character, House, you see he violates most of the professional guidlines above - but that's half the fun. The only real professionalism House has is his dedication to serving his patients. Otherwise, House uses drugs, is dishonest, breaks into patients homes, breaks confidentiality codes, is full of harrasing and rude comments, and does not always act in a trustworthy manner. In the show, House is a professional doctor, but part of the reason why the show is entertaining is because of his atypical professional behavior. Rarely does he feel the consequences of such behavior.

The media does not fully support the message of professionalism that the above organizations project. I don't think the writers of TV shows are concerned with projecting the professionalims of their characters, but are more concerned with ratings. To get higher ratings, a TV show must be entertaining. Seeing people act unprofessionally catches our attention because it is different from our normal everyday expectations.

Post for Jun 14th - Representations of Professionalism in the Media

For this post, I am going to be talking about a type of portrayal in the media - professionalism. I chose this topic because I am often frustrated by supposed professionals (particularily female professionals) who look like they should be in Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" music video.

http://dic.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/72/Hot_for_Teacher.jpg

In this post, I am going to look at a few different representations of professionalism on TV, discuss how professionalism is portrayed, and look at the value assumptions underlying these portrayals.


It seems that professionalism is rarely represented as, well, professionalism. Many TV shows that are set in or feature professional settings lack the qualities of the professionalism that is expected of one in the real work place. For starters, lets look at professional attire. In a show that completely revolved around the events of a professional workplace, "Ally McBeal", little actual professionalism can be seen, particularly in the clothing. In the show, Ms. McBeal's office clothing staples were mini-skirts and décolletage bearing tops. In the real workplace, such attire is inappropriate as the professional workplace is not where one should be concerned with being "sexy" but where one is focused on work. This portrays the professional working world as a place where looking "sexy" is appropriate and important. This trend of "sexy" work-ware is something I have noticed in clothing stores. I have noticed mini-skirts being sold in the "career" sections of many stores geared towards young women. This demonstrates how big an impact TV can have on culture.

Another aspect of professionalism portrayed in TV shows are relationships within the professional setting. Many relationships in the professional real that appear in TV shows are portrayed as ones based on sexual attraction/desire. In a real workplace, relationships like this can be considered inappropriate. Take for instance the TV show "Friends". In season 6 one of the characters, Ross, is a professor at a local university. In episode 18, Ross brings in one of his teacher evaluations filled out by one of his students. The evaluation has numerous praises of his teaching and a mentioning of him as a "hot professor". As he discovers who this student is, he decides to go on a date with her when he realizes she will technically not be his student at the semester's end. Even though it seems okay, there is still a need for them to hide their relationship as they date. In the end, they get "caught," but never get in trouble. This shows that having unprofessional tendencies may not have consequences.



Lastly, I'd like to talk about representations of professional behavior on television. To do so, I will look at the prime time drama "House, MD". Any avid watcher of this shows knows of Hugh Lorie's character, House, and his drug use. Throughout the show he has continual need to take drugs. His boss and employees are well aware of his problem and do things to try to help him, but he never has "real" consequences such as loosing his job. He is threatened many times, but on he goes, treating patients while on drugs. Below you will see a montage of clips of House and his drug use:



Even though he has prescriptions for some of the drugs he takes, he is often confronted by coworkers on his drug dependence, but rarely shown real consequence. This again, like "Friends", and "Ally McBeal" gives a portrayal of there being no consequences to acting unprofessionally, ultimately skewing the idea of professionalism.

With these portrayals, it seems television often portrays professionalism in a way that is not actually professional. This gives a limited view of the professional world as there is little behavior or emphasis on appropriate professional dress, relationships, and behavior. A lot of professional representations on TV show mostly inappropriate professional behavior. These representations make it seem as if there is little value in being professional anymore. Things are becoming more and more casual in our culture, but professionalism is something that is imporant to keeping the workplace productive and focused.

Shot Analysis

Below you will see a shot analysis of a Skittles commercial from a few years back. The commercial is about a man who exchanges a bag of skittles for a singing rabbit. After the exchange, the man feels the wrath of the singing rabbit and longs for the return of his bag of skittles. Below is an in-depth analysis of each shot in the 47 second video. In the analysis I attempt to create a sense of meaning for each shot in the larger sense of the commercial as a whole.

Shot Analysis of the Skittles Singing Rabbit commercial

Shot Description	Shot Analysis
Shot 1: Establishing Shot of two people standing in a backyard.	This shot sets the scene of the commercial.
Shot 2: Medium Shot of the 1st man holding and lovingly petting a singing rabbit.	This shot puts the rabbit at the center of attention for the commercial.
Shot 3: Medium Shot of the 2nd man looking at the 1st man and the singing rabbit while holding a bag a skittles.	This shot establishes that both men have brought something to their meeting and shows relationship of the two men being based on a form of exchange.
Shot 4: Close up of the bag of skittles being held up by the 2nd man as an offer.	Here the skittles act as a form of payment and the close up of the candy shows it's importance to the story.
Shot 5: Medium Shot of 1st man giving the 2nd man the rabbit.	This shot shows the 1st man accepted the offer
Shot 6: Close up of the bag of skittles and rabbit being exchanged.	This close up establishes the importance of the exchange - skittles being a payment for a singing rabbit.
Shot 7: Medium shot of the 2nd man with his new singing rabbit smiling and the 1st man looking at his bag of skittles and then departing.	This shot demonstrates the separation of the men as they both have what they wanted. The essence of their relationship is gone (the exchange) so they depart.
Shot 8: Long shot of 2nd man sitting on his bed at night during a thunderstorm with the sound of the singing rabbit.	This shot shows a sense of discomfort and despair being felt by the 2nd man as the shot is far away.
Shot 9: Crab shot from left to right of the singing rabbit in the its cage.	This shot suggests the disturbing effect the rabbit is having as the camera brings the singing rabbit fully into the shot.
Shot 10: Close up of 2nd man with rabbit blurred in the foreground.The man is staring at singing rabbit.	This shot confirms the disturbance the rabbit is causing the man as the close up shows the expression on his face.
Shot 11: Following pan of Man running in the rain with his singing rabbit.	This suggests the man is fed up with the singing rabbit because he is running the the rain at night with no umbrella or rain coat. He needed to take immediate action
Shot 12: Long shot of the man with his rabbit running up to a house.	The long shot shows the disconnection the man is now feeling with the rabbit, but also establishes some sort of new connection with the house.
Shot 13: Medium close up of 1st man sitting in his living room with his skittles bag with from the 2nd man's point of view with the singing rabbit.	This shows the new connection of the 2nd man to the bag of skittles he originally gave up. Looking into the house shows the 2nd man's desire to exchange again, but his original payment is being consumed showing no chance of a return for his purchase.
Shot 14: Close up of 2nd man's face longingly looking into the house with the man with the skittles.	This shows the man's desire to exchange and realization that he could have eaten that bag of skittles instead of dealing with the singing rabbit.
Shot 15: Close up of rabbit in 2nd man's arms. The rabbit bites the man's arm.	This close up brings the rabbit back into the center of the commercial and shows the climax of the commercial when he bites the man's arm.
Shot 16: Long shot of rabbit running away in the rain.	This shot shows the rabbit now being completely disconnected between both men as he runs away.
Shot 17: Track out of man standing by the window holding his bit arm and looking into the window.	This shows the man's own disconnection as he no longer has his rabbit or his bag of skittles. Looking into the window, he longs to have the skittles back.
Shot 18: Bag of Skittles with "Treasure the Rainbow" and "Taste the Rainbow"	This shot simply shows the a bag of skittles with the phrases to show the consumer to "treasure" their Skittles.

See the commercial here:


CI 5472 Teaching Film, Television and Media Studies
By Abigail N.

Post for June 11th -- Scene Analysis and Teaching Film Technique

Part One: Scene Analysis

Scene Analysis from the Opening Scene of There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (2008)

Scene Description
In this scene we see the main character alone in a barren desert mining for gold. The main character finds something worth while and decides to use dynamite to blow up part of the mine shaft. He goes down the shaft to collect the remains but the ladder breaks on his way down and he falls to the bottom of the dark shaft.

Scene Analysis
In this scene we first see a barren desert accompanied by string music with dissonant glissandos to set a feeling of suspense and discomfort – a feeling that is felt throughout the movie. The opening shot also sets up a feeling of isolation as it scans the horizon and all that is shown is desert. The following shot shows a single man in a dark and cramped mine shaft mining for gold alone. As there is no music in this part of the scene, the viewer focuses on the mining sounds, the lighting, and the minute occurrences of the scene. The silence, yet again, creates a feeling of isolation as there is no sense of socialization.

The lighting further creates this isolation. While he is down the mine shaft, the light comes from above naturally. Because of this, not all of the main character or the mine shaft is illuminated, creating a sense of being unknown or unseen. When above the ground, the lighting is extremely bright, and the main character blends into the desert surroundings as his clothing fits the desert color scheme. Blending into the surroundings also shows isolation as he does not stand out and is only accompanied by desert.

When the main character leaves the mine shaft, the camera angle looks up creating a sense of the mine shaft being longer. This camera angle also looks into the light creating a sense of hope for the viewer as it appears the main character is climbing into the light. This hopeful shot is followed by the character alone, silent, and huddled near the fire. When climbing down the tunnel the camera angle looks down into the tunnel to again create a sense of it being longer, but also to show the main character climbing down into a dark place of isolation. With no sound during the scene, any happenings in the scene are amplified, particularly the end where the main character is climbing down into the deep dark shaft, but instead of climbing, the ladder breaks, and he falls with no control.

In this scene, very little really happens, but the lack of music and sound makes the reader focus on the feeling the scene projects. From the opening dissonant music, barren landscape, and silent/isolated character, the viewer gets a feeling of discomfort and loneliness, two things that continually build throughout the movie. The movie can be bothersome to watch as it presents disturbing pictures of not only the oil mining industry, but also a money-hungry oil tycoon. The lack of stimulation in the scene helps to create an unusual sense drama and suspense in this drama/thriller.


Part Two: Teaching Film Techniques

In teaching film techniques and analysis of them as shown above, I would first see and activate student/ prior knowledge of film. To do this, I would show a few clips that I feel easily demonstrate various techniques in film. After viewing each scene, I would give students the opportunity to talk about what they say, what stood out to them, and what the scene might mean. As students discuss this, I would point out the “technical” names of the film techniques the students are referring to, and then make sure to later cover the techniques in more detail. We would then view the scenes a second time to explore the techniques further.

After reviewing the techniques, I would have students explore the use of them in small groups. I would have students create their won scenes by way of storyboarding or making short films (if the resources are available. I would have each group focus on a particular technique to utilize. After the creation of these scenes, I would have students present on the decisions they made and what meaning they were trying to create through the use of their technique. This would give all students the chance to see how filmmakers go about using and implementing these techniques. Having this hands on approach will help students better retain the information and have a more well rounded view of the use and purpose of film techniques.

Post for June 7th -- Rationale for teaching Media Literacy

The current curriculum at our district focuses heavily on the reading of texts in order for students to develop the skills necessary for post-secondary education. In our district, students experience a curriculum that integrates these skills: reading, analyzing, creative writing, drama, speech, computer competency, and critical analysis/thinking. Our district focuses on using expository, fiction, and non-fiction narratives in order for students to develop these skills. In our district, there hasn’t been much resistance towards the incorporation of media in our classrooms (except for the heavy internet filtering system), but there hasn’t been much enthusiasm for the use of it as well. It is extremely important that students learn the skills above, but their way of learning it doesn’t have to be solely based on the reading and comprehension of printed text. The study of media literacy is a very useful tool in introducing and developing these skills with students, but also in their ability to read the world and be active informed members of society.

It is important for students to be able to apply the above skills to printed text as it is something they will be expected to do in a post-secondary world. I find that only using printed texts in the use of the skills is doing students a disservice. In today’s world, students have the ability to be constantly in contact with the media. In a society that is becoming more visual, it becomes increasingly important for students to learn how to be critical viewers as well as readers. Students find media fun as it is something they choose to be a part of in their every day lives, typically outside of school. The large amount of time students spend with media should signify that educators need to step in to help students make sense of this world they are so involved in. Failure to do so may result in these students being manipulated by the images, representations, and messages the media send. The media has the ability to position its viewers to think certain things, persuade viewers to consume, and portray societal archetypes. With this it is important for consumers of the media to understand the purpose, intentions, and abilities the media has in order to smart consumers. With each generation being more involved and surrounded with new media, it is important to bring these studies to the education of students.

In order to help students gain an understanding of the media, students need many of the skills we already value in our district. Skills such as critical thinking, perspective taking, and analysis, do not come easy to students, particularly with difficult texts. Although it is important for students to read and be challenged by complex texts, it is also important that students see the real-world value in the skills they are building. Using the media to introduce students to these skills is a great way for students to see a need to improve their ability to think critically and analytically as they see how these skills have an immediate real world impact.

Students have an intrinsic interest in the media already, so bringing media into classrooms will grab the students’ attention. Also working with the media will help students to be introduced to these important skills as the media is something students welcome into their lives, and more easily voice their opinions on. It may be easier for students to take a feminist perspective by watching a movie that portrays a patriarchal female archetype than it would be for students to read a lengthy novel. As much as we want our students to read and comprehend texts, students are more apt to understand a visual representation. Because of this, it makes sense to introduce a skill, such as reading from a feminist lens, through a visual representation so students can focus on grasping the context of the lens rather than trying to comprehend a text and learn how to look through the lens. After students have become comfortable with the lens through some other media, students will more easily be able to apply it to a printed text.

Studying the media has many benefits to students. The media helps students to develop critical thinking skills, determine reliable/credible sources of information, learn different perspectives, think about positioning of the media, and understand communication technologies. These skills students use in studying media literacy are all skills we find are necessary for students to master in the study of English. Not only will these skills and the study of media help students to meet the standards, but they will help student to be able to comprehend the media’s messages, resulting in smart consumers and informed members of our society.

Media Literacy All The Way! -- Assignment for June 4th

For this week’s post I read the introduction and first chapter of teachingmedialteracy.com by Richard Beach. This reading brought up the importance of incorporating the teaching of media literacy into the regular curriculum – something I find to be necessary. I found the case from Eden Prairie to be quite determinate of the disparagement that may be faced as educators advocating for a media literacy curriculum. The incident brought up in this reading was a school board member who felt the use of film in classrooms was is inappropriate because it involves a “low skill level” where as reading and discussion is elite and therefore more important (Beach 2007). In the many hours I have spent in schools, I have seen this resistance to media and media literacy to be quite strong. Of the teachers that have incorporated media, many fail to also incorporate a critical pedagogy; they use movies or other media simply for the sake of using it. As educators we need to have sound pedagogical reasoning for all the choices we make – showing a movie just because doesn’t seem sound to me. I feel incorporating media literacy throughout the curriculum not only provides students with important skills they need in a world overflowing with media, but it also provides students with a medium they are familiar with and therefore more able and willing to understand and discuss it. It seems for students school is a place of reading, and outside of school is for everything media. Why not bring in this world the students live and breathe everyday and teach them the same skills they learn from reading books?

In my student teaching experience I have noticed how media continually influences the student’s lives. Students are involved with some form of digital media for nearly 7 hours a day (Beach, 2007). Students are typically in school for 6-8 hours leaving another 5-8 hours left in their day. Seeing little media interaction in school, it seems students must spend a large amount of time outside of school involved with some form of media. Why then, shouldn’t educators jump at the opportunity to help students develop skills in a form they spend a lot of time with? Why is there such refusal for the use of media?

I wonder if the strong rejection of media studies is a result of elitists who feel that there is a need to decrease the amount of television people and children watch because it “rots your brain”. I think we need to instead accept the fact that people watch a large amount of television and are engaged in many forms of media. We then need to use that pre-disposed engagement in schools as an opportunity for learning. We also need to recognize the increasing importance of teaching children to be critical of TV and other media as their consumption of those things is increasing. Educators need to help students to be aware of how media positions its consumers and shapes society, as well as the messages it conveys and the messages it leaves out.

Like many children as described in Beach’s book, I grew up in a house that had a TV for every room, even my own bedroom, although my family did not get a computer until I was in middle school, and internet access years later. As I’ve grown older I’ve ditched the cable bill and seldom watch TV, but I can’t seem to give it up, nor my precious PS3. I feel no need to give up TV, video games, or other media, as I don’t think they are mind numbing. I look at the media I consume as I do of any text, with the critical eye (or ear) I have learned and developed through my education. Sure I more often kick-back and relax, but I’m able to also take a step back, understand the constructs of the media, and see the value and place it has in our society. As I’ve become more critically aware of my media surroundings, I’ve seen my parents to be easily swayed and provoked by the television they consume. Maybe this is why I feel it is so important for children to learn and understand how the media influences and shapes us, to learn how to be critical consumers in a society saturated with medial influences. As my studies as an English major, I feel lucky to have become well aware of how the media affects and tries to affect me, but I’ll admit being critical about the media is something I am still learning more about. I feel then, that it is my job to give students access to the media through a critical perspective so they can become informed consumers and participants of society.