Final Project

Weekly reading 12

Infusing Media Literacy Across the Curriculum

My motivations for Digital and Media Literacy

1. to strengthen discrimination skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low-quality messages.
2. to increase student motivation and engagement in the classroom
3. to build students' ability to be active, thoughtful "readers" or interpreters of the media messages in their cultural environment.
4. to promote creativity and self-expression
5. to modernize the curriculum and make it more relevant to students.

"There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for success." This is so true as I am becoming better with online classrooms and having my students turn in assignments online. I might try one way with one grade and a different way for another grade. I may not succeed in keeping up with online posts but I can create a test online and have the pc grade it for me.

"Leadership and vision are critical components of the process of bringing digital and media literacy to secondary education." School leaders can inspire teachers by helping them make large and small steps towards embracing ideas.

"A deep commitment to student voice is at the heart of digital and media literacy." Our expectations of students as thinkers and making them a part of the learning experience will make their learning experience elevated. When students are permitted to have a say in what they are studying and reading they will more likely be engaged.

reading 11

Authentic learning is what I feel is an ideal classroom and what I wanted to accomplish when I began teaching. However, during my first year I have struggled in creating this environment. I have already given too many "book made" tests. I teach them from somewhat boring textbooks and I feel behind in curriculum goals. There have been a few successes and I will continue to work on making the classroom experience better. I know there is a balance somewhere in all of the "stuff" I have to teach and the world in which we need to guide them to live in and someday run. Wait, that puts everything into perspective, someday these students will be running the day to day and the government, and schools. As educators we hope to guide our students in the ability to seek answers for themselves. We hope to help them learn where to find answers to questions and problems. Most importantly, I teach them to always question, don't just accept because that is the way it has always been done. We have to create our own path to the truth. Bridging the gap between technology, media and curriculum is key to reaching this generation. Because of technology our students can make a much bigger impact then ever before if we first allow them, guide them in the process, and let go of some of the control we think we have and let the process occur.

PSA Final

I am currently working on a unit with my 8th grade students in Health that deals with how we treat our Earth. My focus for this video was to have students ask themselves what Earth do you want to inherit? What can we do to take care of it now? I think most of my students are aware of the problems we have but we do not "live" in reality enough for it to bother us. Most of us are so isolated in our own neighborhoods that we dismiss there are real issues happening in our world. We recently had a guest speaker come and talk about clean water. When our students are thirsty they can go to their kitchen and turn a knob a few degrees and drinkable water comes out and they are no longer thirsty. My students listened to missionaries that travel to third world countries where women walk up to 3 hours one way to the nearest water source which is usually a river where the animals use. My students learned that every 15 seconds a child dies in a third world country because they do not have clean water. This was eye opening to them. We have to teach our students about real current situations that they will one day have to face. We have to guide them to want to find answers, we have to facilitate the process in which they can find solutions to real life situations. Most importantly, we have to ignite a passion within our students hearts to want to learn and seek answers instead of spoon feeding them information just so they can answer questions on a paper and pencil test.

Life Online

"It's difficult to find a balance between students' right to free expression and school leaders' need to create an environment conducive to learning."
Principals face a legal minefield when they use suspensions and other disciplinary actions in inappropriate ways.  Courts have stated that students should have the right to freedom of speech when the school day ends.  We have to speak with students honestly about the problematic situations that may occur when they post online or when sending messages. 

"Many parents and teachers feel like children and young people are the experts when it comes to online media."  Because of this adults sometimes feel it is difficult to begin a conversation about its content.  As a parent, I have had to have many honest conversation with my boys about what they may be seeing without asking for it.  They are also aware of predators that may be in the gaming world. 

"Every young person will, at one time or another, fail to anticipate the consequences of his or her communication behavior."  How many copyright laws have my own children broken?  Scary thought as I think about those pictures that were printed without giving credit.  It is a large responsibility to teach our children and students to make sure they give credit where it is deserved.  There have been many times when I have heard my students admitting to downloading a movie or had given out private information online. 

Week 11- PSA Idea

For my PSA I would like to do something about the environment and encouraging students to be aware of environmental events they may face in their future.  Three facts or statistics I will focus on are water sanitation, waste disposal, and food production.
Water, sanitation and hygiene has the potential to prevent at least 9.1% of the global disease burden and 6.3% of all deaths ¹.The impact of clean water technologies on public health in the U.S. is estimated to have had a rate of return of 23 to 1 for investments in water filtration and chlorination during the first half of the 20th century ⁵.

 http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html







 





Are we over run with garbage?  What changes can we make to make a difference?





"In its new report, Growing a Better Future, Oxfam says current trends indicate that the world's population will reach 9 billion by mid-century; meanwhile, the average growth rate in agricultural yields has almost halved since 1990. Left unchecked, the gap between food demand and supply will continue to widen.
"The food system must be transformed. By 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the planet and demand for food will have increased by 70 percent. This demand must be met despite flatlining yields, increasing water scarcity, and growing competition over land. And agriculture must rapidly adapt to a changing climate and slash its carbon footprint," wrote Robert Bailey, Oxfam's senior climate advisor, in the report.
Climate change has already driven up food prices in many areas by causing drought and desertification, Oxfam reports, and of all the factors contributing to rising food prices, it will create the most serious impact of all in the coming decades."     http://twitter.com/#%21/nattyover
http://www.livescience.com/33311-food-prices-global-hunger-skyrocket-2030-oxfam-warns.html

Media Deconstruction

I think that the deconstruction of the ad is correct but in saying that I feel most advertising is an appeal to the audience and its better sense of judgement.  This happens with most companies who I may add making a profit is the biggest concern for them.  I am not saying this makes it right but let's face it, that is what most companies are trying to do.  That is why they are in business and why they pay advertising lots of money to create an image to the public that will help bring them customers.  It is out responsibility as consumers to do our own homework and make decisions based on the knowledge we gain. 

As to the Alltel commercial- unfortunately this is all too common and we are to "used" to seeing this kind of culture depicted within media so we don't question: we accept or laugh uncomfortably.  I think the main problem with this is that our society doesn't do anything about it but has made a way for us to just accept it and move on.  This ad is too stereotypical and was not a good choice of advertising in my opinion. 

The Quest commercial tries to score points with being on your level- they show themselves as an extension of the middle class.  They are trying very hard to say we understand you and what you want from our company.  Alltel used humor to say to Americans our phones are our most valuable possessions.  I think this is sad but true to a degree.  I see too many of my students 4th-8th that would do anything to be on their phone all day.  What kind of society are we becoming?