The role of media (and media literacy) in instruction

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The role of media (and media literacy)in
instruction

• Frank W Baker media educator
• fbaker1346_at_aol.com

MS Bailey Elementary SchoolFebruary 27, 2007
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The role of media (and media literacy)in
instruction
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Young people and the media
Young people are exposed to 40,000 ads a year.
SourceAmerican Academy of
Pediatrics (Dec. 2006 AP News Story)
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Incorporating the media

• 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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Young people and the media
Generation M multi-taskersaka Digital Natives
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• "Today's students need to be critical thinkers,
  problem solvers and effective communicators who
  are proficient in both core subjects and new 21st
  century skills.

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(No Transcript)
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SC Teaching Standards

• Revised ELA Standards
  Guiding Principle 8
• An effective English language arts curriculum
  provides for literacy in all forms of media.

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Media literacy

• Take the next few minutes to draft a definition
• What is media literacy?

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Media literacy

• Short definition
• The ability to Access
• Analyze
  Interpret
• Produce
• communication in a variety of forms

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Media literacy

• 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. 

Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of
Education Ontario
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Media literacy in action

• Assignment Media Literacyvideo

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5 Key Concepts

• All media are constructions
• Each medium is a language with its own set of
  rules
• Media convey values and points-of-view
• Audiences negotiate meaning
• Media concerned with power and profit

Source Center for Media Literacy
Key concepts
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Critical thinking/viewing questions

• Who created the message?
• For what purpose?
• For whose eyeballs?
• What techniques are used?
• Who or what might be omitted?
• How do I know what it means?
• What lifestyles are conveyed?
• Who benefits?

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Suggested approach

• Still images (visual literacy)

Media which incorporate images(e.g. ad
techniques of persuasion)
Moving images (languages of TV, film)
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Visual literacy

• Lets apply the critical thinking/viewing
  questions to some images

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Incorporating the 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 JacobEd Consultant
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Languages of TV/Film

• Cameras
• Lights
• Sound (including music)
• Editing (aka post production)
• Set design
• Costumes actor accents

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Camera angles

• Where is the
  camera?
• Why is it positioned
  there?
• How does it make you
  feel?

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Deconstructing an ad

• Cell phone commercial script
• Toy commercial
• Cinderella

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Language of film

• Look at the example of a screenplay(from To
  Kill A Mockingbird)
• Read the first two pages of the novelBecause of
  Winn Dixie
• Prepare a storyboard from your POV

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POV clip