In Retrospect: #milclicks Posts of 2017

Curating and collecting all #milclicks post I made in 2017.

#milckicks: Where it all began  The round table discussion on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) last March 2017 prompted me to review and to look forward on plans for a MIL campaign through my blog. I wanted to blog every week on a #milclicks topic but only got to do seven in a period of one year.

I will be more realistic this year. From weekly posts, I will go for monthly #milclicks posts.

Pathfinder: MIL Sites and Helpful Links Basic readings on MIL. For starters, I recommend these links and websites.

Cultural Pluralism, Libraries and MIL One of the many terminologies that struck me in the MIL MOOC I attended last year.

#milclicks: Think Before You Click Use the library bulletin board for awareness campaign and information services on MIL.

Media Literacy and Media Education Media Literacy and Media Education are kins of Information Literacy. Know more about each of these concepts and identify library practices being implemented in school libraries in your area. Begin in your learning community. Assessment and appraisal is a good start to understand these concepts.

Unit 1 of the UNESCO MIL MOOC Sigh. Another unfinished business. Let's see if I can get back to complete this MOOC.

Digital Citizenship Where I left off last year on my #milclicks blog campaign.

#milclick Activity: Jinkee Paquiao and the Belo Ad A MIL activity I used for my session on social media during the 1st National Conference on Technology in Education.

I have more library lessons and Information Literacy activities posted in the blog. I did not include them here as I will put them in one post on Teacher and School Librarian collaboration. Watch out for more In Retrospect posts!

Priming Activity: The Hero and the Trusted Sidekick

Priming Activities help participants prepare themselves for a workshop or a learning encounter. For the facilitator, activities that prime the participants into the workshop help him or her establish a context that would make the experience more meaningful for them. On a personal note, I always put the participants above the topics for discussion. My goal is to meet them where they are at and that is a tall order for myself in a one-day workshop. But that is why I love designing and conducting workshop. I set high expectations upon myself so that I can learn from the experience too.

For the Hero and the Sidekick workshop, here are the priming activities for the participants.

A. Complete the following sentences:

I am attending the workshop because ____________________________________.

I want to know how __________________________________________________.

I want to understand __________________________________________________.

Your answers to Priming Activity A is your entrance pass to the workshop. Write your answers on a small sheet of paper with your name on it. I will collect the sheets of paper with your name and answers on it at the start of the workshop.

B. Read the blog article School Librarian: Every Educators Trusted Sidekick by Dianne McKenzie.

Go to this link:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/school-librarians-every-educators-trusty-sidekick-dianne-mckenzie. If this doesn't work, copy-paste the title of the article on Google's search box.

Write down what struck you while reading the article. If you have questions about the article, write them down too. Your answers will come in handy during the BUZZ GROUP sessions.

C. What to bring on July 4:

- an open mind and a positive attitude

- a schedule of work flow for the day

- a brief job description of your work as school librarian

- existing program on Media and/or Information Literacy, if your library has one 

- existing library instruction program, if your library has one

- for teachers: a sample lesson plan on any subject

- for school leaders: principals and academic coordinators bring a sample 3-5 year development plan that includes the library's growth and development along side the school's 

For questions, send me an email via zarah.gagatiga@gmail.com. If you are done with activity B, you may share it with me by sending your answers using my email address. Have fun everyone! See you on July 4!

#milclicks Reading List: Media Literacy and Media Education

My participation in the MIL MOOC of UNESCO and Athabasca University prompts me to read further on Media Literacy. The unit where Media Literacy is discussed has clear definitions of the concept but I feel I need to brush up on my knowledge on media education. 

I am sharing resources on media education and Media Literacy that I found online.

The Center for Media Literacy has a list of readings about Media Literacy beginning from its basic definition to curricular programs and best practices gathered from media educators and practitioners. Articles and reports, case studies and lesson plans are included in the  list as well. What I am keen on reading is the framework for teaching Media Literacy in the digital age.

Media Smarts is Canada's center for the teaching of Media Literacy. It has resources for teachers in integrating Media Literacy with Media Education. There is a section for parents where tips and strategies in raising kids in the digital age are collated and put together. It has book recommendations and reviews of websites to help parents understand media better. The section on Research is also a treasure trove of readings on media use and digital citizenship.

Lastly, the  UNESCO Media Education Kit provides teachers, parents and media practitioners with lesson plans, activities and programming strategies for the instruction of media education. The kit is a PDF and can be downloadable for free.

To become media literate, one needs to be educated about media and the technology used to make it. 

Boycotting Tanya Markova's Linda Blair

There's this interesting discussion in one of my egroups - Pinoy Teacher's Network, on the song Linda Blair by Tanya Markova. The song has some lyrics that are offensive and a story line that puts teachers in a very bad light. A suggestion to boycott the song is in discussion. I gave my two cents worth on the matter and I'm posting it here --

I do not like the song at all but my 13 year old son listens to both versions - the edited one and the original one. I have no issues on this. As a parent, I have discussed and processed the context of the song. My husband is a musician and majored in Psychology in college so I have an ally.

As a teacher, I see two perspectives on this  - one is to boycott the song and raise hell. The other is to continuously teach our students high order thinking skills -- critical thinking and analysis, creating value judgement in art and life in general, and allow them to make decisions themselves for they have a voice too. They too have rights. Every one does, actually. Even Tanya Markova has the right to express their angst towards school and teachers in particular. 

In some schools, there exist a program known as MEDIA EDUCATION where students are taught and given engagement on the different media available in the market. This would mean, teachers creating activities that lead students to think critically on the print material they read, movies they watch, TV shows they patronize, the music that they love and online resources they interface with. Such programs can be in place and implemented across curricular offerings. I have seen schools who run Media Education programs integrated in the Guidance Program. A good number of schools choose to have this under the Reading and Filipino Program or Language Arts Program. One time, in an accreditation visit, I observed a teacher who was teaching Christian Life Education on the Passion of Christ but used Michael V's song. I forgot what it was but it was very violent. One line of the song goes like -- Sinaktan mo ang puso ko! Pinukpok mo ng martilyo!

What a violent song! But the teacher successfully processed the violence that the song implies; the black humor embedded in the song; and the passion and sacrifice of the persona in the song. I was even impressed at how the teacher compared and contrasted the song's persona  to the redeeming sacrifice of Christ's love and God's message of eternal salvation.

The point is, we can boycott the song but we are not sure if our students would never be exposed to such songs -- ever. If we teach them how to critically examine the media and the different stimulus that surround them, I think we stand at a better chance in creating skilled and empowered thinkers.

Perhaps the more pro-active thing to do is to inform and educate students on songs like those of Tanya Markova. Maybe, we can learn strategies on MEDIA EDUCATION and see how we can possibly integrate this in our lesson plans. It might also help if a training session on MEDIA EDUCATION or MEDIA LITERACY be given to teachers, parents and other allied professionals.

Being a librarian as well (who owns a blog), I can post and talk about this in my blog. In my work place, I can suggest and recommend media and other learning materials that lead teachers and students to opportunities in becoming intelligent users of media and information. At the same time, have them appreciate art and culture.