Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning Frank W. Baker fbaker1346@aol.com Media Literacy Clearinghouse http://www.frankwbaker.com March 13-16, 2007

Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning With the advent and popularity of YouTube, Current TV, and similar venues, young people are anxious to have their productions seen and heard. DIY (do it yourself)

Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning Students "spend lots of time chatting, looking at pop culture web sites, and downloading MP3s, but they don't deal with critical evaluation of information." Donald Leu, lead researcher UConn News Story: Study Aims To Improve Internet Literacy Donald Leu University of Conn. Teaching With The Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times

Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning “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

Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning “From an early age, students are very sophisticated readers and producers of multi-modal work. They can be helped to understand how these works make meaning, how they are based on conventions, and how they are created for and respond to specific communities or audiences.” 2005 Declaration, NCTE Executive Committee

Media Literacy: Critical Thinking For 21st Century Learning “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.” NCTE Resolution on Visual/Media Literacy

Media literacy in SC Curriculum Teaching Standards ENGLISH SOCIAL STUDIES HEALTH Communication: VIEWING Demonstrate the ability to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the techniques used in  non-print sources for a particular audience. Propaganda Mass media Economics the influence of advertising on consumer choices Food Selection Body Image Alcohol & tobacco advertising and marketing techniques

Endorsing media literacy American Association of School Librarians Annenberg Public Policy Center Carnegie Commission on Adolescent Development Center for Substance Abuse Prevention  College Board Standards for Student Success International Reading Association  National Board for Professional Teaching Standards National Council for Teachers of English  National Council for the Social Studies  National Middle School Association  National PTA North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NcREL) Partnership for 21st Century Skills White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

SC ELA Standards: Viewing “Every day, students come in contact with media and technology. The challenge is to help them make sense of it all and respond personally, critically, and creatively.The inclusion of viewing recognizes the powerful force of visual media in the 21st century. ..”

SC ELA Standards: Viewing “…..Teachers must be comfortable with integrating viewing into instruction. This can be achieved by teaching, for example, how to read a photograph, the techniques of persuasion in advertising, the language of film, critical television viewing skills, information/ technology literacy and more.”

multi-taskers digital natives Generation M multi-taskers digital natives

What are they doing on line? 87% of U.S. teens between 12 and 17 years of age use the Internet; just 66% of adults do so; 81% of teen Internet users play games online; 76% get news online; 51% of teen Internet users say they go online on a daily basis; 43% have made purchases online; and 31% use the Internet to get health info Source: “Teens and Technology: Youth Are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation” (2005) & "Life Online: Teens and Technology and the World to Come," (2006)

“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.” R.Hobbs, Journal Adult & Adolescent Literacy, February 2004

“While more young people have access to the Internet and other media than any generation in history, they do not necessarily possess the ethics, the intellectual skills, or the predisposition to critically analyze and evaluate ……. these technologies or the information they encounter. Good hand/eye co-ordination and the ability to multitask are not substitutes for critical thinking.” Dr. David Considine, Appalachian State Univ.

Writing activity What is media literacy? video

Defining 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, 1997

Media literacy: key concepts All media are constructed Media use unique languages Media convey values and points of view Audiences negotiate meaning Media: power and profit Source: Center for Media Literacy

All media are constructions of reality

Media literacy’s rules Media are constructed using unique languages with their own set of rules Language of Instant Messaging BRB= be right back HW= homework TTYL= talk to you later LOL= laughing out loud

Media literacy’s rules Media convey values and points of view

Media literacy’s rules Audiences negotiate meaning

Media literacy’s rules Media= power & profit FOX (News Corp) NBC (NBC/Universal) CBS ABC (Disney) CNN (AOL/Time Warner) VIACOM

Critical inquiry: asking questions Who produced/created the message? For what purpose was it produced? Who is the ‘target audience’? What techniques are used to attract attention; increase believability?

Techniques

Techniques

Techniques Katie Couric “slimmed” for CBS promo

Techniques How do you know this is a fake?

Product placement techniques

Critical inquiry: asking questions Who or what is left out; why? Who benefits from the message being communicated in this way? What lifestyle is promoted? How do you know what it means? Where can you go to verify the info?

Let’s take a look at some images

Teaching in the 21st century   "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 April 2004

The languages of TV & Film Cameras a) Movement b) positioning c) use of lens Lights Audio (includes music, sound effects) Editing (post production; special effects) Set design Actors: wardrobes; expressions

Examples Cell phone ad script Film: Over The Hedge Because of Winn Dixie

School/district workshops: Frank Baker Fbaker1346@aol.com Media Literacy Clearinghouse http://www.frankwbaker.com