Media LiteracyConnecting For Success 2010Wednesday, June 30 10:00am

Stephanie WeinfurtAssabet Valley Regional Technical High School

What is “Media Literacy”?• Understanding the media

that surrounds us and being able to filter it properly

• Teaching students how to recognize media as it bombards them both visually and aurally

• Teaching students how to utilize media effectively and not have it use them

• Teaching students how to be safe when using the internet

What do students know already?• Based on a class survey,

most students know how to get on the internet and do basic searches, how to IM and text, how to check email, and how to use a computer to write papers.

• From class discussion, most students were not aware that mass media includes all forms of communication to large groups of people: television, radio, newspapers, and the internet.

• Many students also did not know the reason for most media

What do students need to know to be “media literate”?• Radio, television, and the

internet are primarily advertising media – not entertainment venues.

• Advertising historically has been geared toward the primary household purchaser and the primary holder of the purse strings

• Advertising now is highly geared toward children who make demands of the purse string holder

Artwork by Heidi Cody

Children as Consumers…

• The internet is a resource for learning as well as a minefield of misinformation

• Anyone can publish a webpage

• There are ways to help determine legitimacy of websites

• The internet is full of strangers who may seem like friends

• Just a little personal information can reveal your true identity (and put you at risk)

• The internet can be like those baby pictures of you in the bathtub that your mom has – but now everyone can see them, forever

Website LegitimacyQuality Criteria:Your job, when looking at any web site, is to find as much information as possible about the site itself to make judgments about its validity as a whole.  1. The following questions should be able to be answered. Sites that do not contain the following information may be suspect (but not always – and not all sites that contain this information are to be considered perfect!):Author (and an author that can be contacted via email is even better)Sponsoring organization (sometimes this simply means going to the base website: eliminate the words/characters after the .org, .com, or .edu)Sponsor’s real address (PO Boxes are okay usually, too) for contact purposesDate of last update (a recent one is always best – some information changes over time)A reliable or common extension like .edu, .org, .gov, or .com. A domain extension like .tv or .net is not usually as reliable. Please understand that not all .edu addresses are sponsored by the college or university – if there is a ~ in the address, that means it is a personal page or a department page, which may or may NOT reflect the college/university completely. Please use caution with these! Sources cited section. Look at the sources cited, as well – some may be as suspect as the site itself! 2. You should also look at the sponsoring organization or author’s information about itself if available, especially if this is on a controversial topic! Some .org domains are held by groups that may have views different from the traditionally accepted views on controversial topics; as long as they are not for profit organizations, they can get a .org. 3. Check to see what websites link to this website (use the Advanced Search option on any search engine, like Google). If reputable sites link there, you may be safe.  4. Use your common sense as well! It is your best weapon once you’ve exhausted the other avenues.

Internet Safety• Personal information

should never be given out• Even small amounts can

add up to a true identity• Tagged pictures can mean

strangers know what you look like and, possibly, where you live

• Phishing scams can lead to identification fraud/theft

• Teens tend to believe strangers online and are less careful than adults, leading to danger

Teresa's Story

Web 2.0: The good, the bad, and the ugly• Blogs, wikis, and a variety

of other online tools can be great teaching tools

• Students can interact with teachers and other students outside of class but still in an educational forum

• Students who do better writing than speaking up in class can demonstrate their knowledge and interact with the class at the same time

• Students can help each other learn

• Social networking responsibly can be a good way for students to learn from each other

• Social networking can also be used for bullying and harassment

• Inappropriate content placed on the internet by students or their friends may follow them indefinitely (pictures especially)

• Students need to “Google” themselves to know what is out there about them

Course ContentTelevision, the Internet and You

Week Strand Topic Standards

1 ELA Reading & Literature ELA Media

Media background: news and information ELA: 8.26 ELA: 26.5

1-2 ELA Media Media: television and print advertising ELA: 26.5, 27.7 2 ELA Media Media and Culture ELA: 26.5, 27.7 3 ELA Media

Technology Literacy Advertising for the 21st century ELA: 26.5, 27.7

TL: 2.10 4 Technology Literacy Media Regulation; Copyright Laws TL: 2.3, 2.4, 2.7

4-5 Technology Literacy Internet Safety TL: 2.1, 2.2, 2.13, 2.14 6 Technology Literacy Internet-based research: database searches; Citing

sources (MLA) TL: 1.27, 2.5, 2.6

7 Technology Literacy Internet-based research: Advanced search features, Boolean language, validating sources

TL: 1.27, 1.28, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

8 Technology Literacy ELA Media

Web 2.0: blogs, wikis, podcasts TL: 1.7, 2.6, 3.6, 3.8 ELA: 26.5

Major Course Projects/Assignments• Advertising Discovered

▫ Students look for ads in newspapers, magazines, internet sites, or television and report on them

• Disney Movie Project▫ Students watch an animated Disney classic and review it for its

portrayal of gender, ethnic, and class stereotypes• Product Placement Assignment

▫ Students watch a recent live-action movie and look for product placements, and then they write a report

• TV Viewing Log and Essay▫ Students log all television viewing activity for a week and write an

essay on what they have learned about their viewing habits• Personal Internet Search

▫ Students “Google” themselves to see what information and images they can find

TV, Internet & You Blog

Content from this course comes from a variety of sources, including Carrie McLaren

Questions and Answers

Thank you