Media Literacy in Fandom: Always Check the Source

Step by Step With Teacher Zee: Poster: I should love myself

 

What I shared with my grade 12 student on our first meeting today.

Canva is heaven sent! Now, for my methods.

1. After greeting each other, tell student of the 3 things to accomplish for the 1st meeting: a. get to know each other; b. set goals and agreements; and c. map the topics and skills to cover for the next three months.

2. T presents the digital poster and its contents. Like show and tell and storytelling, engage S in significant human experiences. The poster becomes a tool for conversation drawing relevance from a T's example and modeling.

3. S makes his/her own digital poster on Canva. T gives instructions and asks S to repeat them.

4. S presents the digital poster while T listens. T gives feedback on content, design and layout segueing into a Design principle: Form follows function. This is important in the use of rubrics later on.

5. S and T takes a HEALTH BREAK.

6. S reflects on poster making activity. Questions are focused on process and what is learned from the process.

7. S and T continue to discuss goals, objectives and mapping of topics, skills and socio-emotional responses.

Kim Namjoon, be with me!

Understanding Information Literacy the Millinneal Way

InnovatED: Learn. Unlearn. Relearn.

I will be conducting a three hour workshop on September 13, 2017 during the first National Conference on Technology in Education at the SMX Convention Center, Manila. My session's title is Media in the Time of Social Media: Necessary Skills in Navigating the Multimedia Landscape. 

The World Wide Web, as we know it, is constantly changing. It is no longer a passive  multimedia landscape where people can simply locate and access information. The Web has become a platform for interactivity and participation. A variety of media formats have merged into the Web allowing more opportunities for creativity, opening up of communication channels and collaborative projects.

This session will tackle the dual role of media as tool and message and how it merges into the different Web 2.0 technologies. Participants will be engaged in critical and creative thinking activities that will help them understand the strengths and limitations of blogs, wikis, ePortfolios and social media as instructional and thinking tools, as well as techniques in using different multimedia platforms for teaching and learning. Teachers, school librarians, allied professionals and homeschooling parents will benefit a great deal from the workshop.

For more information on the conference go to InnovatED 2017.

Program can be viewed here and the Registration  to the conference is easy and accessible.

#milclicks of the Week: MIL MOOC Unit 1 - What is Media Literacy

 Here are my notes and take away from Unit 1 of the MIL MOOC I am currently enrolled in. Unit 1 is on Media Literacy.

* Me thinks: MIL are skills necessary to understand media and information so we can construct and reconstruct meaning and message; communicate it in the context we know and in the medium we are confident in using. In the process, MIL requires us to be responsible creators and consumers of information because, as a tool, media's breadth is far reaching.

My notes:
- Media are vehicles through which something is transmitted. That something can be information in text or visual representation.

- Media are agents that transmit our shared values, knowledge and information about society and our own ability to act on that knowledge as citizens. There it is. A collective and communal interaction.

- Media is the FOURTH ESTATE. An institution responsible for the maintenance of good governance. Purpose of the FOURTH ESTATE = watchdog of democratic government. When this is corrupted and hold bias, citizens use alternative media which are blogs and social media to critique mainstream media. This alternative media comprised of blogs and social media is called the FIFTH ESTATE. But even social media is used to spread fake news and alternative facts.

Take away: If Media is an institution of democracy the same is true about LIBRARIES.

My engagement in this unit prompted me to look at Media Literacy from other sources. 
 
What is Media Literacy?  This video is made by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility of the Philippines. Presents ethical practices of media practitioners and why media plays an important role in democracy and nation building.

Media Literacy and 5 Key Questions in Understanding Media Messages I liked the 5 Key Questions. It can be used to evaluate media messages, values and information transmitted through media.

Creating Critical Thinkers Through Media Literacy A TED Talk by Andrea Quijada, executive director of the Media Literacy Project.

More links on Media Literacy and Media Education -  #milclicks Online Reading List

#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. 

Pathfinder: Media and Information Literacy

Media and Information Literacy is a trending topic these days. With the rise of fake news and alternative facts, MIL is not only a trend but a relevant set of skills needed by all to survive in this time and age. If humanity is not careful, it might drive itself crazy into destruction earlier than the projected course of human history. MIL is probably humanity's key to survival.

Inspired by the round table discussion with stakeholders on MIL policy and standardization in the country today, I wrote my MIL takeaways in the blog. Because I am still inspired, here is a Pathfinder (which I intend to further develop - see, inspiration is a very dangerous thing) on MIL for oldies (like me) and newbies.

For a good start on Information Literacy, read this -  UNESCO Information Literacy For my personal experiences on IL, I have compiled them in one blog post.  The links there are more than 10 years old, but I hope it could lend you a sense of history and background information.

This is what I found as relevant on  Media Literacy  The site has a video explaining what it is as well as 21st century literacies like digital literacy and visual literacy.

For freebies and downloadables on MIL, UNESCO and our DepEd have PDFs for your perusal.  

UNESCO Media and Information Literacy as Composite Concept

Five Laws of Media and Information Literacy

DepEd Media and Information Literacy Curriculum Guide

Recognizing that MIL education is for all, UNESCO has a document mapping MIL policies across the globe: World Media Education Policy

And, if you're waist deep in MIL and its implementation in your learning community through the school library programs and services, share it with others via UNESCO's social media campaign #milclicks. Visit the website too. It has a MIL MOOC!

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.