Digital Literacy News May 23, 2011

Mount Vernon Digital Literacy News
May 23, 2011

Digital Literacy Workshop Digital Literacy Workshops are finished for this school year and will resume next Fall. There is still an Open Lab each Monday for teachers wanting to get help with technology integration or work collaboratively with others. Open Lab: 2:30 - 4:00 Monday Afternoons, District Office Tech Lab. Clock  Hours are available. Links to Explore Google Teachers Academy Coming to Seattle!!! :  This is a highly sought after honor to become a Google Certified Teacher.  And it is happening right in our own backyard.   24 TED Talks for Math Teachers SpiderScribe.Net : Neat online brainstorming tool where you can use maps, images, text and more. Computer Lab Favorites: Spin the wheel and find a learning game to play. Present.me:  Neat way to share a powerpoint with a video presentation added. SnackTools:  Some nifty tools for creating things for your blog or website.  I like the slide show tool. Science on the Simpsons:  A collection of video clips from the Simpsons and ideas about how to use these in Scientific discussions. JellyCam:  Stop Motion maker

Media Literacy photo © 2010 Joelk75 | more info (via: Wylio) Literacy is of course the cornerstone to learning and the skill most prioritized in schools.  It is important to know as our language changes and our culture evolves that so does literacy.  Teaching students to read, write and comprehend media is an important skill for students as they navigate the world we now live in.  Students need to be able to think critically about print, video, web pages, audio and more in order to better understand the world they live in and make good decisions.  Not only do students need to be good consumers of media, they also must learn how to use media to effectively communicate with others.  While it is still important to teach students how to compose a strong 5 paragraph paper.  It is also important for students to work with media as collage.  Modern media includes a collage of not only text, but images, sounds, colors, video and more.  Students need to learn how to “read and write” in this collage form. On Friday, Kristen Downs, Dave Elliot and I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Media Literacy.  This workshop was aimed at tobacco and alcohol prevention, but the message of being smart consumers of media was the prevailing theme.  As I have mentioned earlier in the post, there is much more to media literacy than learning how to think critically about advertising, this is a great way to start and show students the power of media literacy and how effectively advertisers use media to persuade.  There is great power in words, and by far even more power in words combined with other media.   Our presenter who represented the Media Literacy Project, shared many great examples and resources and modeled how she would work with students to help them deepen their understanding of the power of advertising and media.  Below are a few of the resources she shared. Media Literacy Project tobaccofreekids.org adbusters.org teenhealthandthemedia.org commercialfreechildhood.org Media literacy skills can help children, youth and adults: • Understand how media messages create meaning • Identify who created a particular media message • Recognize what the media maker wants us to believe or do • Name the "tools of persuasion" used • Recognize bias, spin, misinformation and lies • Discover the part of the story that's not being told • Evaluate media messages based on our own experiences, beliefs and values • Create and distribute our own media messages • Become advocates for change in our media system (excerpt from MediaLiteracyProject: Introduction to Media Literacy) Video of the Week This is a commercial for Chrome, but I like the message.  There are so many great ways we can be using free and accessible technology in our classrooms and our life. Think of the possibilities. Tech Triumphs Dave Elliot at LaVenture is doing a beautiful job with Media Literacy.  Each day, his student produce a video bulletin.  The next day, the class spends time reflecting on the video and talking about what worked, what didn’t and what ideas they have for future projects.  The students are highly engaged, learning lots from each other and getting great practice at reflective thinking and learning. Digital Citizenship Stalking in English Class: Clarence Fisher shares a creative lesson on Digital Footprint that he did with his English class.  Student went online to find out as much as they could about a few Ed Tech Gurus.  See what they learned from this activity.

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