Revisions made to PhotoStory

I shortened the time for each slide, and changed the order of some text.  This was a great project, and I've really enjoyed viewing the videos created by my classmates.

Final Copy: Multi-layered Woman (Interview with Judy White)

DEJ Week 13: The Captain cannot Steer the Ship Alone...

Question 1: Should media education have an explicit political and ideological agenda?

Throughout this semester, I’ve been espousing that critical media literacy skills should be taught in the classroom.  If I don’t agree that media education should have an explicit political and ideological agenda, then I feel as if I would be a hypocrite.  In other words, if I’m going to “talk the talk, then I need to walk the walk”.  As an educator, I need to use my critical media literacy skills to help shape the political agenda for education.  If we say that we want our students to have a voice, to analyze, evaluate, construct messages and shape their communities, then I need to model these skills by taking part in the formation of a political agenda for our educational system.  But, I need more training and need to be part of educational forums and settings that advocate media literacy.  Also, take part in research and data collecting if I want my statements and opinions about teaching media literacy skills to be valued by a wide audience. After reading the Seven Great Debates, it was evident of how fragmented our country is when it comes to media literacy in schools.  It’s daunting.

Question 2: Based on your reading to date in this course, would you teach critical media literacy in the classroom?  Why or why not?  

 The Seven Great Debates also made me pause and reflect about how I’ve been portraying media literacy in my classroom. On occasion, I believe that I’ve been using impact mediation to teach media literacy.  Often focusing on problem areas, and trying to give my students the skills to make good decisions.  The article states that this method may be ineffective, and it made me think about how imposing my opinions and beliefs about their culture, may lead students to just adopt my position without really critically thinking about the issues for themselves.  I want my students to become “critical thinking citizens”… 

 "Summers states, “Teachers who recognize the goal of teaching thinking rather than just imparting knowledge help students make connections beyond the content of the coursework” (2005, pp. 2) She suggests teaching critical thinking by applying it to the study of media literacy. This practice gives students the skills and knowledge needed to “access, analyze, evaluate and communicate” (NAMLE) media messages."      Learn Critical Thinking through Media Literacy Education. (2010, October). In Medialiteracycolloquium'sblog: A Study in Media Literacy. Retrieved September 27, 2011, http://medialiteracycolloquium.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/learn-critical-thinking-through-media-literacy-education/Summers, S. L. (2005). Get Them Thinking! : Use Media Literacy to Prepare Students for State Assessments, pp. 2, 8, 9.

"By this point, you may be asking what does this have to do with media literacy? To educate the students, who are the future of the world and public, educators need to be brought up to speed on the present and future waves of technology that will ultimately distribute and provide news media to the masses. The educators need to be taught, so they can teach the future of the world of the news tools that are available to them. It would certainly be a work in progress, but in the far-off future, it would fix the problems of media illiteracy."     Educating the Educators. (2010, December). In Medialiteracycolloquium'sblog: A Study in Media Literacy. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from http://medialiteracycolloquium.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/educating-the-educators/

"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."

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

My conclusion from many of the readings in this course is that, yes, I want to implement critical media literacy skills.  Right now, it may be in isolation, without community, parent support or education administrative support.  But, I want to become more knowledgeable about how to get the community involved, other teachers involved, curriculum adoption committees involved, and most importantly, to be using highly effective teaching strategies that enable my students to become critical thinkers and decision makers in their communities and society.

Multi-layered Woman (final copy)

My mother watched the video last night (Nov. 16th), and she was overwhelmed.  She had tears in her eyes and just couldn't believe that I was able to capture so much in such a short video.  She was amazed that I found "images" that related to her. :)   Also, the cheerleading sweater image was actually shocking to her, because she wore the letter "r" on her sweater, to spell "RAMS".  I didn't know this, it was pure coincidence.  Her final words were, "I love it!"  My brother watched too, and he wants the link to the video.

My corrections to my video:  I added a slide that says, "My name is Judy White and this is my story...",  I understand that some might think that I (Mary Jo) am telling the story, but it's really my mom's "voice".  Also, I added that I retrieved music from itunes to my credit slide.

See the final version of my video below this posting.

Multi-layered Woman (final copy)

Multi-layered Woman (First Draft)

Dramatic Question for PhotoStory

What significant events have occurred in my mom's life to shape the woman that she has become?

Double Journal Entry # 11 " Steering the Ship"

Quote: "In summary, given the marginalization of media literacy standards/curriculum in American schools, teachers need to be able to justify the inclusion of digital tools for teaching both print and digital literacies in their classrooms. It is therefore important that teachers, particularly new preservice teachers entering the profession, learn to formulate purposes for use of digital tools to teach print and digital literacies. As teachers increasingly find that employing digital tools in their classrooms does enhance students’ use of both print and digital literacies, they will have the evidence to push for further inclusion of digital tools for teaching media literacies in American schools."

Response:  I find it disheartening that the Common Core Standards are missing critical media literacy components.  This article has "hit home", since I use digital media tools in my classroom.  I often have to defend the use of these tools to my colleagues, but my standardized test scores portray the overall outcome of using these tools.  However, many don't believe that the above average and high  5th grade test scores in RLA and Science are related to digital media tools.   I want my students engaged and ready for the 21st Century, and  if I don't provide this instruction, students are missing out on relevant skills.  The quote above mentions justification, and stating purposes for using digital tools, I need to become much better at stating purposes and formulating responses to colleagues.  Maybe I should  just have  a "planned" statement ready!

Reference:  Beach, Richard. "An American Perspective: Justifying Uses of Digital Tools to Foster Critical Media Literacy." The Journal of Media Literacy 57. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://journalofmedialiteracy.org/index.php/past-issues/5-school-20>.

Additional Resource:   Maybe I should just quote Julie Frechette...

Quote: "When I speak to my colleagues about using new social media, many educators fear that crossing the digital divide weakens their claims to authority and traditional means of power. For me, social networking provides a means of connecting with students through multimodal interconnectivity in new and exciting ways. Whereas traditional pedagogies reinforce individualized learning within classroom walls during school time, social media encourages continuous collaboration and shared knowledge beyond the classroom walls through global and local hyperlinks, blogs, and web-based content. To keep students engaged in Class 2.0, educators must learn to harness the power of the integrated web to stimulate enhanced global interconnectivity in the digital age."

Frechette, Julie. "Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls: Keeping Students Engaged in Class 2.0." The Journal of Media Literacy . Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://journalofmedialiteracy.org/index.php/past-issues/5-school-20/98-learning-beyond-the-classroom-walls-keeping-students-engaged-in-class-20>.

STORY BOARD Multi-Layered Woman

STORY MAP : The Multi-Layered Woman