Week 6 D.E.J.

"Instead of focusing lessons on specific test topics like reading, writing and mathematics, and other subjects, Summers believes that “educators must integrate critical thinking into all curricula to generate a lasting impact” (2005, pp. 2)."

Thinking back on the teachers who made the greatest impact on my life, I realize that those who I remember were those who really challenged me and taught me critical thinking skills that I could take outside of the classroom and into real life. I believe that most teachers want to make this kind of impact on their students, and provide them with these skills. However, the realities of the pressure to "teach to the test" and prepare students for the WesTest often overwhelms other goals and outcomes teachers want to accomplish. It seems unfair to both the teacher and the student that the success of the whole school year is dependent on a few days of high stakes testing. Teaching critical thinking skills through critical media literacy is one way to help students prepare for these tests, while also teaching important skills that will benefit them in the future as well.

Learn critical thinking through media literacy education. (2010, October 25). Retrieved from http://medialiteracycolloquium.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/learn-critical-thinking-through-media-literacy-education/

Does the "No Child Left Behind" Act and State Testing Mandates Improve Schools and Increase Educational Opportunity?

Berlak, H., (March 2005) Retrieved from http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/Resources/NCLB_short.htm

Week 6 Lesson Plan

I chose the following lesson plan: Using Pictures to Build Schema for Social Studies Content.

This lesson plan meets WV CSOs
SS.O.4.5.2: chronologically organize and explain the influences of individuals and events discussed in the stories of Native Americans, explorers, settlers and colonists in North America through the Revolutionary Period.
SS.O.4.5.8: chronologically organize and categorize the major events leading to and during the Revolutionary War; examine and explain why and how these events influenced choice made by different groups (e.g., Patriots, Loyalists, Native Americans) during this period.
SS.O.4.5.12: select, analyze, interpret and use information from various sources for reconstructing the past (e.g., documents, letters, maps, photos, newspaper articles) and prepare short reports that explain who, what, when, where, how and why events occurred as they did.

Can integrating media literacy into your classroom activities help prepare your students for taking the WesTest?
The answer is yes, integrating media literacy in the classroom can improve students' critical thinking skills, which will positively influence their WesTest scores.

Week 5 D.E.J.

"Girls need to learn that their identity is tied to more than their physical beauty and shape. Oliver (2001) asserted that adolescents ought to be educated in how to criticize texts and images that purport to contain facts about their bodies."

This statement really stands out to me because I have a twelve-year-old daughter who is often influenced by media images regarding what makes girls beautiful.  Before seeing my daughter's reaction to models on the covers of magazines, I really didn't think much about the impact that these images can have on young girls.  Once she started pointing out the cover models and stating that she wants to look like them, I cancelled my subscription to Glamour.  I know that I can't keep her from seeing and being influenced by the overwhelming media influence, I have made a point to explain to her that the models are made up and photo-shopped to produce the unrealistic product that shows up on magazine covers.  I also point out qualities and characteristics that make her unique and beautiful - both physical and otherwise.  I believe that critical media literacy is critical to allowing young people to see beyond the message that media sends regarding physical beauty and success.  They should be able to determine their own standards and also be accepting of others who look different and have varying goals and interests.

Sauer, H., & Robles-Pina, Ph.D., R. (2003). Magazines: what adolescent girls are reading and the way they shape body image. Advancing Women in Leadership, Retrieved from http://www.advancingwomen.com/awl/winter2003/SAUERR~1.html


This video explains the Photoshop process that takes place in magazines and shows a real-life example of the process.

The photoshop effect. (2008, June 16). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM

Week 5 Magazine Cover

Week 4 D.E.J

"A reconceptualized vision of new literacies education would include an explicit effort to enable students to acquire the ability to understand how visual media work to produce meanings. This effort would strive to develop literate people who are able to read, write, listen, talk, analyze, evaluate, and produce communications in a variety of media, including print, television, music, video, film, radio, hypertext, and the arts."

This article stresses the importance for today's educators to teach students how to create and evaluate all types of media.  When students are better prepared to observe and analyze the numerous messages they receive each day, they can make better decisions about how to handle the information, as well as what is valuable information and what to ignore.  Students today are met with such a deluge of advertising, peer pressure, and a huge variety of messages that surround them in so many different forms that it is important to teach them how to discriminate between what is important or valuable to them and what is "noise" that can be ignored.  Whether we call it "media literacy", "visual literacy" or "information literacy" is not important.  What is important is that the concept is defined in a way that can be easily explained and relayed to students.

Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading Online, 5(4). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html

http://www.edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy

This is an interesting interview with filmmaker George Lucas, and his view of the importance of visual literacy in education.

Daly, J. Life on the screen: visual literacy in education. Edutopia, Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/lucas-visual-literacy
 

Deconstructing Magazine Covers

The person on the cover of this magazine (Arnold Schwarzenneger) is very fit and confidant.  He appears very intimidating, like he expects other to be afraid of him, and as if he can physically overpower anyone who challenges him.  The purpose of this magazine is to promote bodybuilding and fitness.  Its intended readership is men who are interested in bodybuilding and how to improve their appearance and become "tougher".  Some values and viewpoints that are omitted are those who are interested in improving their health, and not their appearance, those looking for family-oriented content, or intellectual stimulation.

These two magazine covers portray the same person in two totally different ways.  While the first one focuses on Arnold's strength and tough-guy attitude, the second cover portrays him as more approachable, as a politician running for office who wants to be your friend, as opposed to someone you should be scared of.  The colors and text on the covers of the two magazines represent the magazines' purpose.  The color red on the cover of Muscle & Fitness and the text is in bold capital letters represent power and strength, while the text is softer, which appeals to a wider variety of readers.  The readers of Esquire are more likely to be interested in business and politics, and the text on the cover refers to Arnold's run for Governor of California.  In the Muscle & Fitness magazine, the articles noted on the cover are about workouts and the article about Arnold is about one of his movies and his workouts.  On the Esquire cover, the articles are about music and books, more sedentary interests.  The Esquire cover also includes a black and white picture of a beautiful woman, and though she's got a lot of skin showing, it's done in an artistic manner.  Esquire's intended readership is probably males in their 30's-50's, who are in professional careers and higher incomes who are interested in the finer things in life.  Although the same person is on the cover of both magazines, he is portrayed in totally different roles, although both are stereotypes of those roles.  In the first cover, he is the stereotypical action hero, while in the second, he is the stereotypical politician, ready to shake your hand and pat you on the back.

Week 3 - Deconstructing Commercials

CenturyLink

I do not believe that this ad itself is an attack on the American workforce.  The add seems to be an attempt to make the new customers feel welcome and more connected than they were in the past.  While it may be misleading, as it does not mention CenturyLinks's reputation for poor customer service, or the fact that many workers may lose their jobs as a result of this merger, I don't see that as an attack.  I do believe that it is an example of manipulative advertising, but I also believe that, in general, Americans are skeptical of large companies such as CenturyLink and many people will not see this change as an improvement to their service.







This is a Volkswagon commercial designed to encourage people to purchase their product.  The target audience for this commercial is middle-class professional families in their mid 30's-40's.  These are people with families who are concerned about maintaining a certain lifestyle.  This is suggested by the child in the Darth Vader costume who is the main character in the commercial.  The family lives in a nice house, where everything is new and well-maintained.  The mother obviously stays home and takes care of the children, while the father is a professional who provides for the family.  The target audience would be people who grew up watching (and probably playing) Star Wars themselves.  The text of the message is a child who is playing dress up and trying to use "the Force" throughout the house.  The father comes home in his Volkswagon, and the child, who seems about ready to give up, tries to use the Force on the car, and his father, watching from inside with the mother, uses the remote to play along and make the child think they finally succeeded.  The subtext is that driving a Volkswagon will help to attain the seemingly "perfect" life, and from the child's point of view "the Force will be with you."  The lifestyle presented is a middle-class lifestyle, with a successful, professional father providing for his family.  The mother doesn't appear to work, and they live in a very nice home.  The idea is that if you want to appear successful, you will drive a Volkswagon.  It is a very "keeping up with the Jonses" mentality.  Some of the tools of persuasion used in this add are association, where the Volkswagon brand is associated with success and happiness, beautiful people - the family depicted in this add are very attractive and "perfect", and nostalgia - the viewer remembers role playing in childhood, and probably even watching the Star Wars movies and playing with Star Wars-themed toys.  The positive messages presented here are success, happiness, and fun, and there really aren't any negative messages.  It is designed to empower successful people who are able to go out and buy a new car, but it disempowers those who are struggling to make ends meet, or single parents who are trying to provide for a family on their own.  This serves the media maker's interest because people who want to appear successful will buy their product, even if they can't really afford it.  The part of the story not being told here is the cost of the Volkswagon, the performance and safety and resale value.  This information can be found on the company's website, Kelly Blue Book, or an auto magazine that provides information and comparisons between similar vehicles.

D.E.J. #3

"There is an expanding recognition that media representations help construct our images and understanding of the world and that education must meet the dual challenges of teaching media literacy in a multicultural society and sensitizing students and the public to the inequities and injustices of a society based on gender, race, and class inequalities and discrimination."

Before taking this class, I had never really considered the concepts of "media literacy" and "critical media literacy".  One thing that really speaks to me about this quote is the power that critical media literacy provides the audience to not only become more aware of these "inequities and injustices" but to take action for social change.  One example of this is Twitter, where people can "follow" people or organizations who strive to identify and address social injustices or inequities.  Followers are then able to take action, whether small or large by spreading the word or becoming actively involved.  In this way, critical media literacy enables the audience to determine the motivations and reliability behind the message.

Kellner, D & Share, J(2005). Toward critical media literacy: core concepts, debates, organizations and policy. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 26(3), 369-386. Retrieved from http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2005_Kellner-Share_TowardsCriticalMediaLiteracy.pdf

Related Resource:

https://twitter.com/#!/Kiva_org

Kiva's Twitter page is an example of an organization that addresses social injustice and a forum where the audience has an opportunity to take action.

D.E.J. #2

"Explicit teaching of 21st-Century literacy metaskills can position students to analyze and evaluate news reporting in today's visually drenched world."

It seems to me that teaching students critical 21st-Century literacy skills will not only better prepare them to "analyze and evaluate" news reporting, but might also cultivate more of an interest in what they read.  It seems to me that many times students skim over articles and stories and see them as boring or irrelevant because they don't have the skills necessary to elicit meaning from them.  If students are taught how to analyze and evaluate what they read, it will then have meaning to them and they will develop an interest in materials introduced to them in the classroom or online.

Abilock, D. (2003, November/December). A seven-power lens on 21st-century literacy. Multimedia Schools, Retrieved from http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/newsmedia/PowerLensSingle.pdf


This video explains the meaning of 21st Century Media literacy skills, along with an explanation of how media literacy has historically been handled in the education system.  This appears to be a student-created video, however, it is well-made and very informative, although the audio is poor at times.

kfreudiger. (Producer). (2010). Media literacy: 21st century literacy skills. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8vqc8RAXSk

Week 2 Photo Analysis

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