Transcript Critical thinking (& viewing) about media

Engaging Students With
Critical Thinking & Media Literacy:
21st Century Skills
Frank Baker
media educator
[email protected]
Media Literacy Clearinghouse
www.frankwbaker.com
March 12, 2007
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
With the advent and popularity of YouTube,
Current TV, and similar venues, young
people have become media producers.
DIY (do it yourself)
Multitasking
“digital natives”
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“Our students are growing up in a
world saturated with media
messages…yet, 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
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
"With an ever-increasing range of media
messages in so many forms, students
need to understand the process by which
authors convey meaning about socially
constructed experience. The use of digital
media and popular cultural texts not only
stimulates young people's engagement,
motivation, and interest in learning, but
enables them to build a richer, more
nuanced understanding of how texts of all
kinds work within a culture."
Source: “Reading The Media,” R.Hobbs
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
"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.
I urge educators, business and community
leaders and policymakers to work together
to create a 21st century skills initiative for
every school district in America. We owe
our school children nothing less."
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“Students will be able to use technology
tools (e.g. multimedia authoring,
presentation, Web tools, digital cameras,
scanners) for individual and collaborative
writing, communication, and publishing
activities to create knowledge products
for audiences inside and outside the
classroom.”
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“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 sound..the
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.”
NTCE Resolution on Visual Literacy
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“We are faced with the
consequences of not
teaching our children to
decode the content. The
persuasiveness of the
Internet will lead to more
and more students
potentially being
manipulated by the media”
Alan November
author:
Empowering Students With Technology
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
Recommendation:
Becoming smarter about new
sources of information.
“In an age of overflowing
Dec. 10, 2006
December 10, 2006
information and
proliferating media, kids
need to rapidly process
what's coming at them
and distinguish between
what‘s reliable and what
isn't.”
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
"In school, we
spend 13 years on
reading and writing.
That's great, but
how many years do
we spend on media
Dr. David Thornburg,
Senior fellow of the
literacy? It's
Congressional Institute for
the Future
virtually zero. It
seems like a missed opportunity."
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
What is “media literacy?”
Take a few minutes to draft a definition.
Consider its relevance in your
curriculum area.
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
"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
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“A growing body of research suggests
that media literacy instruction improves
student reading, viewing, and listening
comprehension of print, audio, and
videotexts; message analysis and
interpretation; and writing skills. As
students progress, they develop
transferable analytical tools for learning
and gain concrete connections between
the curriculum and their experiences
outside of school.”
Media Matters, Access Learning, March 2005
Engaging Students With Critical Thinking &
Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
“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, from
The English Teacher’s Companion
video
Six Key Areas of
Media literacy education
1. Who made this text and why? (Agency)
2. What sort of text is this? (Category)
3. How was this text produced? (Technology)
4. How do I make sense of this text?
(Language)
5. Who is the intended audience of this text?
(Audience)
6. What does this text say about its subject?
(Representation)
Five core concepts (U.S.)
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All media are constructed
Media are languages with their own
set of rules
Media convey values and points of
view
Different people experience the same
media messages differently
Media are concerned with power/profit
Source: Center for Media Literacy
All media are constructions
media construct/represent reality
Media use their own languages
The Language of IM
BRB
Be Right Back
PIR
Parents In Room
LOL
Laughing out Loud
The Language of Film
Cameras
Lights
Audio (sound, music)
Editing
Set Design
Costume
Actors’ expressions
Makeup
Cell phone language
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ROAMING
(is this about deer and buffalo?)
SMART PHONES
(are there dumb phones?)
DROPPED CALLS
(is everybody dropping their
telephones?)
Media: values and points-of-view
Audience negotiate meaning
Media= Power + Profit
The Big 6
News Corp (FOX)
GE (NBC/Universal)
CBS
Disney (ABC)
AOL/Time Warner (CNN)
VIACOM
Purpose of TV?
This program is brought to
you by the sponsor.
Purpose of TV?
You are brought to the
sponsor by the program.
Engaging Students With Critical
Thinking & Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
Revised ELA Standards
Guiding Principle 8
An effective English language
arts curriculum provides for
literacy in
all forms of media.
Engaging Students With Critical
Thinking & Media Literacy: 21st Century Skills
Current ELA: Communication: Viewing Grades 9-12
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Demonstrate the ability to make connections
between nonprint sources and his/her prior
knowledge, other sources and the world.
Compare/contrast:
different viewpoints/treatment of a given
situation or event
Media literacy ideas for ELA
Non-print texts (TV, film, music)
 Understanding bias & stereotypes
 Analyzing techniques of persuasion
(for example– in advertising)
 The language of TV/film
(camera work, lighting, music)
 Visual literacy (photography)
 Blogging; graphic novels
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Media literacy: Social Studies
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Analyzing editorial cartoons
Examining historical photographs
Studying past/present propaganda
Understanding bias/stereotypes
History of American broadcasting
Understanding US communications
policy
Analyzing political advertising
Editorial Cartoon
Media literacy: Health Ed
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Body Image
Marketing/advertising of food
Tobacco, alcohol advertising
How media influences sex behaviors
Media literacy-critical inquiry
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Who created/produced the message?
What was the producer’s purpose?
For whose eyeballs is this intended?
What techniques are used both to:
a) attract attention b) increase believability
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Who or what might be omitted and why?
Where can I go to verify the message?
Approaching media literacy
Still images (visual literacy)
Messages which incorporate images
(e.g. advertising)
Moving images
(languages of TV, film)
Visual literacy
Applying the critical thinking/viewing
questions to historical and other
images
Images in Advertising
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Who created it?
For what purpose?
For which audience?
Using what techniques?
What lifestyle is promoted?
Where (what publication)
might you find this; why?
How does it make you feel?
How might I change the
message?
Moving images: TV & Film
The languages of TV & film include:
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CAMERA
LIGHTS
SOUND
EDITING
SET DESIGN
Moving images: TV
TV Commercial: Cell Phones
(audio and video)
Everyone listens
(with their eyes closed)
At the conclusion, open your eyes and
write down everything you HEARD
Script
Moving images: TV
VISA commercial
Critical analysis & deconstruction
 Setting; Time of day
 Role of music
 Facial expressions as customer
meets cashier
 Implied message intended by VISA
Process of film making
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Would your students know the
process of film making?
Script or screenplay
Storyboard
Production
Post production
Film in the classroom
"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
Film in the classroom
Martin Scorsese
Film director
“Movies are a door to
knowledge — knowledge
of society, knowledge of
history, knowledge of
art…..movies (taught to)
students (makes them)
think critically about film
and it provides them with a
deeper understanding of
this uniquely influential art
form.”
Moving images: film
Docu-drama
Novel Adaptation
Opening techniques Opening
Activity
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TKAM screenplay excerpt
Read the opening to
Because of Winn-Dixie
In your group, storyboard this scene
from your POV
Student media production
Animaction: Anti tobacco PSA messages
One camera video production: Vermont
Workshops
Invite Frank Baker to be a part of your next
professional development opportunity.
[email protected]
(803) 254-8987
Media Literacy Clearinghouse
www.frankwbaker.com