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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Teaching Media Literacy.

1 08 2011 / 365Image by Wonderdawg777 via Flickr
As you start your school year with anticipation on how to meet all those 21 century educational goals, here are a few ideas to include when you are teaching.  Recently I blogged about the University of Florida's Skills for 2020, and in B.C. we are encouraged to be following the 2011 Horizon report.

In homeschooling situations we are often short of computers for every student, so having students teach each other applications is a wonderful way to facilitate learning in larger families.  Plus your students will become experts!

MEDIA LITERACY   How do we help teach students about how to use the media with critical analyses?  We can show students how to create blogs, podcasts, websites, videos, discover virtual worlds, and assess them the same way you would assess an essay.  Teaching website evaluation is a tool to get students to think critically about website integrity, accuracy, reliability, currency and authority.


APPLICATION:  Take students to the following applications and teach the tools related to the project you are doing in the classroom.  Ideas for incorporating media literacy include:
1.  Having your students sharing via wiki's,   Google docs,   Blogging. 
2.  Audacity for podcasts and discussions around video's from the very many wonderful educational  freebies on the web!  Or get hooked on Discovery Streaming, or Webspiration a new subscription in our library this year!
3.  Get your student's creativity working using applications such as  Blabberize, Bitstrips, Pixton, Xtranormal.   Designing a comic, developing Christian worldview in a cartoon, making a short movie clip, or creating an editorial are all ideas to get students using media for greater purposes.  Discover virtual worlds, and get your students learning and interacting with other students while building, designing, solving missions and researching. 
4.   Media Awareness Canada is a wonderful site for teaching tips on media awareness and critical thinking ideas.
5.  Teaching website evaluation is part and parcel of learning how to find sites that are not bogus, or popularity based.  Your student will be prepared for university research in the process.
6.  Encourage your students to review all materials from their Christian worldview, for example get them writing reviews on movies, books and other media.

While utilizing the internet we are called to be faithful stewards of digital opportunities, even as we are also called to be faithful in all our relationships. Creating time frames and accountability are all part of making sure that digital boundaries are maintained.

Next week I will look at technological literacy, and critical thinking skills to further encourage our students.

Blessings to you.
Pippa

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2 comments:

  1. Great post Pippa! I'm looking forward to incorporating some of the ideas above next year.

    I'm excited about glogging this year too! I had some time this summer to look into it more and look forward to my kids using this tool to express their learning.

    Thanks so much for your encouragement in the area of technology!!!

    Katina

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  2. Katina lovely to hear from you! I can see your boys loving glogging! Matt is always making me cards this way and surprising me with little audio announcements or songs:) I am so excited to start our school year, and I can't wait to see how Dane and Levi incorporate their use of technology in their school week. Have fun with Glogster, and thank you for encouraging your guys to try new things. Blessings Pippa

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