Media Literacy Recap

For the Media Literacy Project, Megan and I focused on how relationships are portrayed and constructed through sex and sexuality. We set our lesson up to be part of a larger unit. Each lesson would focus on one aspect of media: news/newspapers, reality TV, music, sitcoms, and commercials/advertisements. The lesson we introduced to the class was on Reality TV.

For the unit, Megan and I created a WebQuest (which is still underproduction). Students would complete analysis tasks for homework that would correspond to the following class day's lesson. The analysis tasks would ask students to view a certain pre-selected aspects of media, then respond to questions in a blog. Their analysis would then help them in lesson projects, as well as the unit's culminating project.

For each class, depending on the media we were focusing on that day, students would work with a technology program to develop a small project (either individually or with a group), using that media and showing how it corresponds/relates/influences their lives. For example, for the lesson on Reality TV, students would be working with iMovie. After reviewing a YouTube clip from homework and discussing it as a class, students would get into groups of three, search for Reality TV related pictures or video clips, and create their own iMovie film. The photos and clips will have to show/explain how they see how relationships in their lives. Groups would then briefly explain why they chose the images they did, and how they think Reality TV may or may not influence their view of relationships based on sex and sexuality.

The mini-projects during the lessons will help students int he unit's culminating project, in which students must use several aspects of media to define, show an understanding, and analyze relationships in their lives as constructed through sex and sexuality. Students will also choose a way to present their projects; the mini-projects during lessons will have allowed students to practice using different programs. After completing the projects, students will present the projects, explaining why they did what they did and integrating important vocabulary learned and used throughout the unit.

Megan and I also created a short iMovie to show with our Media Literacy Project, which is actually out Project Block 4 creation. The movie compared relationships in the media and relationships in "reality."

Just Some Late Night Thoughts...

I actually went back and read one of my first posts today on Camden, NJ. I remember thinking at the beginning of the semester "how can we include the material we are going to learn in this class, in a district like Camden?" I honestly couldn't come up with answers at that point in time. The positive part of Camden, among ever harsh reality their city faces, is that there are many students there who want to learn, want to succeed and better their lives.

A group of us in the AEN program received our student placements for the Fall. I'll be student teaching in Syracuse, which was not a surprise for me since I requested that general vicinity. But realizing that I will be teaching in the inner city at Henninger HS is overwhelming; it doesn't frighten me, but rather makes me apprehensive: I have heard horror stories of Syracuse schools, and I have to remind myself that I need to create my own opinion of them after I participate in the learning environment. But, if these students truly do not want to learn, unlike those in Camden, how do I teach? What do I do? How can I perk their interests? Sometimes there is just more to consider than we can ever know, and we have to have answers to questions that don't even exist yet (someone else said that, I don't remember who. I'm sorry I cannot cite it properly).

Regardless, reality is here. The girls I have spent the past two semesters with will be doing their own thing next semester; no more classes together. The community we built together is changing. Sure, we can keep in contact through emails, blogs, the Colloquium, the phone... but something is different now. The "letting go" is sad, nerve-racking, and exciting. And I know that I will always have, at least, eight other people I can contact and confide in.

Tonight we, those of us going into our Student Teaching, had dinner with a few of our professors: more community. That's what we have been building all along at Cortland. We have the classroom, the study groups, and now, thanks to media literacy and our educators' persistence to integrating blogs, the internet, and the Web in our learning.

Dr. Stearns asked me earlier tonight, at dinner, if I felt I have learned anything in 307. Of course I have. You can't be thrown into material you don't understand and be expected to explain it to others without learning about it yourself. But, besides the programs, I have learned more about myself in 307. Last week we participated in an impromptu "interview" scenario. Everything we had worked on in 307 was put to test-- we just had to choose one aspect and run with it. It was through this that I realized that I have something more to offer, and that I can create lessons not solely focused around a text. I also learned that I have so much else to learn: from my professors, my fellow classmates, and my own students.

In all, part of me wishes this semester wouldn't come to an end, because I know that that's what it could bring to so many areas of my life. On the other hand, it's time to move on, and everything I have learned, studied, produced, and applied from the beginning will now exercised in a school environment-- it's what we, as English Adolescence Education Majors, strive for. Might as well make the best of it and take away from it as much as you can, right?

20 minutes... What a Rush

For our class project today I created a WebQuest that will focus on the construction of teenage life in the media.

The Unit will be called "Teenagers: Fact and Fiction." www.freewebs.com/jbrown14580

So far I have created a main page, which briefly explains the unit, the culminating activity, the blog assignments, the resources, and the media. I also began creating the first media page (television shows).

The Media Literacy Award

I found this on YouTube. It's not in English, but the concept is interesting. Apparently "mediamanual.at host annually a competition - the media literacy award® (mla) - for the best and most innovative educational media projects in European schools" (YouTube). Take a look.

Media Literacy and Hobbs

While reading Chapter 8 of Hobb's Reading the Media: Media Literacy in High School English, I felt a lot of what was being said was repetitious. With that in mind though, I did find a few elements of the chapter both interesting and pertinent to my education and future as a teacher:

1. Multiple Forms of Literacy
In this section, Hobb's states that "literacy must be reconceptualized to include these new message forms and to exploit their potential to help students master the demands of reading more sophisticated texts" (131). "These" refers to "visual, electronic, and digital forms of expression and communication" in such literacies such as visual, critical, informational, and digital (131). To continue, Hobbs explains that students use technologies to "create their own messages" (132). This is where it made sense. Students creating their own messages... If students are actively involved in something they like, involving technology they know, they will be more motivated in the work they do.

2. Learning that Connects Literacy to Life
Since media literacy can connect what students learn to what students live, it can increase student motivation and learning. This coincides with what was said above: creating own messages, life relevance, content that connects to students lives. Hobbs confirms that critical think skills, reading comprehension, and writing skills are all impacted (positively) by media literacies.

3. Students' reflection on their Literacy Learning
This is something that we-- students and teachers-in-training-- take part in consistently during the semester. Every course we take is likely to have us reflect on our work, and 3007 alone has us reflect on our work with Media Literacy and Literacy Learning. As students reflect on their work, they can understand what they have learned, how they have learned, the amount they have learned, and what else they can learn. They also begin to understand the material they have learned and why it was presented in such a way. For example: "what critical decisions were made about certain shows/songs/commercials/etc, and what impact does this have on my life?"

Second Life

Alright... well... Megan and I decided to create Second Life characters/profiles. Yea... It was more fun than I thought it was going to be and I feel like a huge nerd. But that's OK. I created my profile, and had SUCH A HARD TIME coming up with a name. Every name I wanted was already taken; it was frustrating and disappointing. But, eventually I decided on one-- it's such a stupid name but it's all in good fun: Kiti (as in Kitty... but I couldn't have THAT spelling...) Koba. I wanted Roxie Rossini or Lily Lilliehook, but they were taken, along with every alternate spelling I could think of. Anyway, I created the character, then I fiddled with my character's appearance. It's hard to make it look as much like you as possible, but I tried. I doubt I succeeded. Anyway, Megan and I found each other on Second Life and joked around a bit; she sat on a car while I drove it around. We actually had trouble finding each other at first. The game puts you in orientation worlds and we were put in different worlds; so i had to send you an invitation to the world I was in. Anyway, that was our first adventure as nerds on Second Life :)