Media Literacy

I feel like my language arts education was not nearly as up to date with media literacy as the articles suggested. We maybe watched a few videos as rewards for finishing a book or a play, and we never talked about media as a whole. I only remember creating one video for class and I believe that was an extra credit assignment or a independant study project. I think that I definitely could have bennefitted from a more extenseive media education.

Considering my unit plan is dealing with media literacy, there are so many possibilities that I have to use in my planning. Like I stated in my last blog, the students could use video to create a PSA. I think that maybe creating a coupel ads based on what they know about advertising could be beneficial in educating them on the basics of advertising tricks.

Assessment

Alright so we are officially continuing this media idea for our unit plan (our being my partner and me). Assessment seems to be a little tricky because there is SO much we could do and a lot of it would take a good amount of time. Having students create their own film to demonstrate what they have learned would be very time consuming, as many people have pointed out to me. Standard 8.9.7.7 is about analyzing different types of mass media, which ties in to what we will be discussing in the classroom this week. Ideally, we WOULD be able to allow students to create their own films, but like I said, this is a little bit of a stretch. A short film in the form of a public service announcement, however, would be a good idea for a final assessment. This way, the students will be able to focus on what goes into making a PSA - the vocabulary, the script, the strategies used to influence viewers, the technology available, etc. All of these components will be able to be broken down into smaller assessments - vocab quizzes, writing of a script, demonstration of identifying strategies by providing their own examples, using the technology themselves to create their film. All building up to that one, short, PSA.

Unit Plan

Trying to come up with a topic for a unit plan was a little difficult for me. Being able to pick anything at all always leaves a lot of room for me to want to change my mind. That being said, this is a work in progress, but this is my potential unit plan idea: Students will be learning about film and how it is able to confront issues and convey messages to an audience. The unit could explore using film to pose important questions or commentary on current social issues. During the unit, I'd like for the final 'project' to be a short film that the students can create on their own. This way they'd be able to explore writing a script, using different technolgy to create a film, and doing their own research on good examples of films that they believe carry a strong message. I guess an important question would be how I could easily relate this directly to my students: why should they think this is useful information? That might be a little hard to communicate directly so I'd need to work on that. Also, what exactly would the grading rubrik look like for their final film? How can I judge their creative process? Like I said, a work in progress, but I think that it has potential!

Individualism...is it bad?

As I get further along in my practicum, an issue in teaching reading comprehenstion to adolescents presents itself to me over and over in the classroom. In previous education classes we're stressed how all students are different: all students learn differently, study differently, understand things differently. We've talked about how we can try to cater to different learners - visual, audio, kinisthetic. But all of this still seems to barely have an effect on the fact that, especially in the ELL classroom I'm helping out in, every student is at a much different knowledge level then the other.

How do you cater to every student's needs in the classroom?

Even yesterday at practicum, we were doing a root word activity: the one where you write the root at the bottom of a picture of a tree and then use different suffixes and prefixes to create words for the branches. The student I was supervising, although understanding the concept of what a root word was, was unable to figure out how to construct new word, even with both the teacher and I trying to explain it to him. Even when using the dictionary for help, he still failed to spell things correctly, or know the definitions.

Scenes like this are discouraging, especially when you look around and realize that each student is having a different kind of problem with the assignment, and some have already completed it no problem. So, once again, my question for you is this: how can you help students individually in the classroom?

Too Much Technology?

The first day of praticum, I was presented with something I had never seen before: an iPod cart. Each kid got to use their own iPod Touch to go through prefix flashcards. The first thought that crossed my mind was that this was pretty slick - students get to mix education with technology that they would usually associate with fun. Of course it seemed like a good idea!

The more time that passed using the iPods, however, the more I saw flaws in this idea. There were other applications on the iPods, so we were constantly telling the students to exit out of games and go back to the flashcard application. There were way too many distractions. Also, when I returned to South two days later, I heard that one of the iPods had been stolen that day, and was still missing.

Maybe this is one of those instances where the old is more practical than the new. Regular paper flashcards do the same job as the iPod one, without the distractions, and without the temptation of being stolen.

Web English Teacher

While browsing the internet for vocabulary teaching tips, I came across a website made especially for English teachers, which is perfect for me. You can find this website at http://www.webenglishteacher.com/. The statement of the website is as follows: "Web English Teacher presents the best of K-12 English Language Arts teaching resources: lesson plans, videos, e-texts, technology integration, crtiticsm, and classroom activities."

What I liked most about this website is that it provides plenty of other links to helpful sites dealing with vocabulary (or other aspects of the English classroom that an ELA teacher might find usefull). The variety is appreciated because most articles only reviewed one or two techniques, where this website presents the reader with plenty of different options to choose from when it comes to teaching vocabulary.

Important Guidelines

After reading through multiple rules written by multiple bloggers, I've chosen a few that I feel should be followed by everyone:

1. As stated in Blog and Wiki Etiquette: "Thou shall stick to the subject at hand." I know I mentioned this in my first entry. Don't get caught up in tangents and personal subjects. Stay on task and stay focussed. This could also help to keep the entries shorter.
2. In the AHS Blogging Policy article, it states that "The use of blogs is considered an extension of your classroom." I thought this rule was good at summing up a lot of the other ones. It implies that anything NOT appropriate in a classroom is also not appropriate on your blog. Inappropriate language, topics, comments, etc. are all a no go. Also, it encourages propper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
3. This one is very important and was repeated in many blogs: don't share personal information. We all know that, even though a blog may be created for a certain audience, anyone can access it. Putting up personal details could be dangerous.

Overall, the guidelines seem pretty straightfoward and easy to follow. They will make it easy for anyone to have a successful blog.