Media Literacy: One of the 21st Century Skills For Student Success

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Media Literacy One of the 21st Century Skills
For Student Success

• Frank W.Baker
• media educator
• fbaker1346_at_aol.com
• Media Literacy Clearinghouse
• http//www.frankwbaker.com

October 29, 2007
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• NCTE Books
• November 2007
• Book companion
• CD-Rom
• Covers grades 7-12

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Media literacy 101

• What do we want students to know about the media?

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Media literacy 101

• It would be a breach of our duties as teachers
  for us to ignore the rhetorical power of visual
  forms of media in combination with text and
  soundthe critical media literacy we need to
  teach must include evaluation of these media,
  lest our students fail to see, understand, and
  learn to harness the persuasive power of visual
  media. NCTE Resolution on
  Visual/Media Literacy

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IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts

• 6. Students apply knowledge of language
  structure, language conventions, media
  techniques, figurative language, and genre to
  create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint
  texts.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and
  information resources (e.g., libraries,
  databases, computer networks, video) to gather
  and synthesize information and to create and
  communicate knowledge.

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Media literacy 101

• Conventional Read --------------- Write
• Contemporary Analyze-------------Produce

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Media literacy 101
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Media literacy 101

• Almost all students in grades 4 to 11 have access
  to a computer at home
• over 60 per cent have high-speed access
• almost 70 per cent have access to a cell phone
  -Kids spend more than 6 hours per day using
  media, often using different devices
  simultaneously
• -Preschoolers are the fastest growing group of
  online users
• -Almost 70 per cent of kids under two in the U.S.
  spend roughly two hours a day watching television
  programs or videos.

Source Vanier Institute
(Canada) study- October 2007
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Media literacy 101

• Our students are growing up in a world
  saturated with media messagesyet, they (and
  their teachers) receive little or no training in
  the skills of analyzing or re-evaluating these
  messages, many of which make use of language,
  moving images, music, sound effects.
  Source R.Hobbs, Journal Adult Adolescent
  Literacy, February 2004

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Media literacy 101

• American Association of School Libraries
• International Reading Association
• Natl. Board of Prof. Teaching Standards
• National Council of Teachers of English
• National Middle School Association
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• State Ed Tech Directors Assn.
• White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

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Media literacy falls into the Information, Media
and Technology Skills areaSource Partnership
for 21st Century Skills www.21stcenturyskills.org

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Media literacy 101

• What is media literacy?
• OR
• Why should your students become media literate?

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Media literacy 101

• Understanding how media messages are constructed,
  for what purposes and using which tools,
  characteristics and conventions.
• Examining how individuals interpret messages
  differently, how values and points of view are
  included or excluded and how media can influence
  beliefs and behaviors.
• Possessing a fundamental understanding of the
  ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and
  use of information

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• Media literacy is concerned with helping
  students develop an informed and critical
  understanding of the nature of mass media, the
  techniques used by them, and the impact of these
  techniques. More specifically, it is education
  that aims to increase the students' understanding
  and enjoyment of how the media work, how they
  produce meaning, how they are organized, and how
  they construct reality. Media literacy also aims
  to provide students with the ability to create
  media products. 
  (Source Media
  Literacy Resource Guide,
  Ministry of Education Ontario, 1997)

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What media literacy is

• Set of skills, knowledge, abilities
• Awareness of personal media habits
• Understanding of how media works
• Appreciation of medias power/influence
• Ability to discern critically question/view
• How meaning is created in media
• Healthy skepticism
• Access to media
• Ability to produce create media

video
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Why teach media literacy?

• Media dominates our political and cultural lives.
  
• Almost all information beyond direct experience
  is "mediated."
• Media provides powerful models for values and
  behavior.
• Media influences us without our awareness.
• Media literacy can increase our enjoyment of
  media.
• Media literacy can make a passive relationship
  active.

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Media literacy in SC ELA

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  WRITINGProducing Written Communications In A
  Variety of Forms6-5.4 Create persuasive
  writings such as print advertisements and
  commercial scripts that develop a central idea
  with supporting evidence and use language
  appropriate for the specific audience.

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Media literacy in SC ELA

• READING Understanding
  Using Informational Texts7-2.8 Exemplify the
  use of propaganda techniques (including
  glittering generalities and name calling) in
  informational texts

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propaganda techniques

• Glittering Generalitiesuse of emotionally
  appealing words and phrases by candidates which
  can mean different things to different people
• Examples
• 1992 George Bush's phrase "a kindler, gentler
  nation"1996 Bill Clinton's phrase "a bridge to
  the 21st century"

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propaganda techniques

• Name calling
• attaching a not-so-kind label to an opponent,
  hoping that the label will stick in the mind of
  the voters
• Examples2000 Opponents said-"Al Gore is a
  tax and spend liberal" -"George W. Bush is an
  elitist who's in the pocket of big oil
  companies."

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Media literacy 101

• Movies, advertisements, and all other visual
  media are tools teachers need to use and media we
  must master if we are to maintain our credibility
  in the coming years.Jim Burke, fromThe
  English Teachers Companion

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Core Concepts

• All media are constructed
• Media are constructed using unique languages with
  their own set of rules
• Media convey values and points of view
• Audiences negotiate meaning
• Media Power Profit
• Source Center for
  Media Literacy www.medialit.org

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Critical thinking questions

• Who produces/pays for media?
• For what purpose(s) was it made?
• For which target audience(s)?
• What techniques attract attentionincrease
  believability?
• Who or what is omitted and why?
• How do we know what it means?
• Does it contain bias or stereotypes?

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Applying critical thinking questions to examples

• Visual Literacy

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Visual literacy photographs

• Photographs, like writing, communicate
  information as much by the way a subject is
  photographed, as by the content that is chosen to
  be photographed.

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Language of advertising

• Print advertising

Activity
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Languages of TV-Film

• Camera
• Lights
• Sound/Audio (including music)
• Post production (editing, SFX)
• Set design
• Actors wardrobe expression

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Teaching the process of media

• If video is how we are communicating and
  persuading in this new century, why aren't more
  students writing screenplays as part of their
  schoolwork?

Heidi Hayes Jacob Ed Consultant
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Deconstructing Commercials

VIDEO AUDIO

Cell Phone ad Cell Phone scriptVISA Adrefer
to questionsToy AdHillary Ad
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LUNCH

• After lunch
• The language of newsThe language of film

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Newspapers/Scripts
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The Language of film

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The Language of film

• Best actor
• Best director
• Best cinematographer
• Best set design
• Best costumes
• Best music/sound
• Technical awards

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The Language of film

• Symbolism
• Point of View
• Lighting

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The Language of film

• SCRIPT/SCREENPLAY
• STORYBOARD

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The Language of film
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Group brainstorming

• Spend a 10-15 minutes thinking about how
• media literacy fits into your ELA classroom.
• Be prepared to share.

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Evaluation

• Please complete the one page evaluation found at
  the end of the handout THANK YOU!Frank Baker
  fbaker1346_at_aol.com