Meeting+Log

=1st meeting - gathering Media Literacy resources and brainstorming topics=

It seemed like the time just flew by today. We started at noon, broke for lunch around 1:00pm and continued our conversation until 3:00.This is when we turned to our wiki to reflect on the experience.

We all chose different online and printed resources to browse through and realized that there was a lot of information out there. It will be a bit challenging to select the ones that will be relevant for our project.

I have selected a few ideas in the Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, volume seven, as well as a couple of sample commercials posted on the Cable in the Classroom website. I have also chosen several ads in the old magazines to deconstruct them with the students.

Danuta

Today we had an opportunity to discuss the upcoming media project and explore different media literacy web sites. Some questions I seem to be asking myself ... How can I help my students learn to think critically without them becoming cynical of all media? What does deconstructing a movie, advertisement, television program look and sound like? Am I open to student interpretation especially surrounding advertisement text and subtext?

Maria

I found the session today to be very informative and productive. The need to immerse students in technology not only to engage them as learners but to prepare them for the complex world they will be living and working in was confirmed by the articles I read this afternoon. The project my grade 2/3 class will be experiencing will involve taking a critical view of advertising, particularly advertising directed at children. They will be looking at the strategies advertising companies use to appeal to their target audience and will be able to identify those strategies when they view commercials or examine the packaging on products. The culminating activity will be to electronically design a cover for a cereal box using the strategies they have learned. The students will be using Print Shop in order to complete their project. I am excited about introducing this project to my students and working with them as a teacher/learner!

Jeanne

Today I spent my time researching the "why" aspect of teaching media literacy. I understand that students need to be media literate in order to understand how media techniques influence their perception and thinking. Since students are using the internet regularly and are communicating using high tech methods it is necessary to teach them how to read and write using the latest technology. Just as we teach our students the basics of how to write a sentence and a paragraph, we must feel responsible to teach today's students the how of digital reading and writing. My intentions are to deconstruct different media and then for them to create possibly a book trailer. I am sure my students will be fully engaged in this project.

Mary

Once again it seems like the time just flew by this afternoon. Half a day is barely enough time to go over the ideas and lesson activities we would like to use over the next few weeks. However, I feel that we have mapped out what we'll do in order to scaffold student learning.

We have decided to use the book recommended my Maria called "Have I Got a Book for You" by M. Watt as a springboard for our project in grades 2/3 and 7 and as a review of selling techniques in grade 6.

With the primary students we'll focus on advertising techniques used in the food industry, whereas with the junior and intermediate ones we'll look at the media triangle and analyze a few commercials.

Danuta

This reflection is brought to you with 0% down and 100% excitement. What an eye opening and focused meeting we had today. I say eye opening because I was amazed with some of the clips that were available for students to view that absolutely demonstrated how staged and manipulated images are in order to highlight a product. I was amazed that there is such a career as a "food" make-up artist. I felt really good about the direction the project will be going and the timeline for the project.

Maria

Once again, a very productive session. We were able to establish some timelines and discussed an appropriate introduction to the project. For my class, the book "Have I Got A Book For You" will be used to introduce the concept of advertising. Students will brainstorm places they have seen advertising and identify the strategies the main character in the book uses to promote his product. Follow up activities have been discussed and planned for the next two weeks. I am excited about beginning the project with my students tomorrow and I am confident that they will enjoy the activities that have been planned. I am interested in finding out what their prior knowledge about advertising is and what personal connections they are able to make to the material presented.

Jeanne

Today was a very informative session that has made me reconsider my plan of action for teaching the students about commercials. I now realize I need to "teach" more about the techniques of how the producers of commercials disguise the truth. I learned information I never knew before. I feel showing and discussing some hand picked commercials will teach the students to be more critical of what they are viewing. I also feel that this is a valuable experience because of the age of my students, on the brink of adolescence. Don't take anybody or anything for face value. I am looking forward to next week.

Mary

3rd Meeting- Debriefing, Deciding on a Culminating Task and Mapping Out Its Planning Stages
It definitely helped to have the whole day to work on our project. We started with debriefing and a reflection on what we have done so far, what went well and what we would change if we were to run a similar project in the future. We looked at some student samples and wondered why they did not show their best effort.

Next we pondered different culminating task options and decided on the following:

primary - designing a cereal box package using Print Shop

junior- creating a book trailer for "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinnelli

intermediate - creating a PSA on student selected topic

All in all, it was a productive day.

Danuta

Today we decided on final timelines for the project. We will be moving ahead quickly and are looking at the final project due date of May 28th. The students have been enjoying the lessons so far and are able to retain the information they have learned. The only difficulty I have had is with technology as I am still so new at it. Classroom management can be difficult when one is struggling with the computer/smartboard. I look forward to next year as I will be more confident and knowledgeable. I am finding the days Danuta is in the classroom to be very informative as I am able to assess how the students are communicating orally. Listening to them respond to another teacher has provided me with some excellent insights into their communication skills. We plan to complete the lessons on the computer this week and will move to a pencil and paper draft of the final project next week. I will be asking the students to discuss a name for their cereal box with their family. I am sure the parents will enjoy being part of this project! Following the paper and pencil design we will be ready to begin the culminating task of creating the cereal box using Print Shop. We are all looking forward to it!

Jeanne

Today was a really good opportunity to focus on the grade 7 upcoming PSA project. I was able to spend some time discussing with the group different topics and how these topics would to translate into a public service announcements. Using the general topic of "healthy living" I was able to create sub categories: body, mind, spirit and environment. I will have working groups of three (teacher generated groups) and students will be able to choose one focused topic.

Because we're working within a tight time line, one of the challenges will be keeping students on task and following the regimented time line. The first two weeks of the project will have students researching and brainstorming ideas, as well as gaining a greater understanding of how a public service announcement is different than an advertisement. The last two weeks of the project will focus on camera angles, story boards, filming and editing. I'm excited about this project, I think the students will be able to choose a topic that speaks to them and create an informational film in 90 seconds.

Today was also valuable because we had an opportunity to work with and create a quiz for the Smart Clickers. It was valuable trying out the technology and then having the time to discuss and work through any of the glitches.

Maria Once again we have had a very productive day! I feel my students at this point in our project have become critical viewers of commercials and the printed advertisements. They successfully critique advertisements/ commercials and identify the strategies that have been used to persuade an audience to buy a product. If I was to repeat this project another year, I would divide my media literacy into three blocks. In the fall, I would only critique the printed advertisement and then in term two I would focus on commercials. In term 3, students could create their book trailer using the strategies they have studied. We are now ready to begin discussing what is involved in the creation of a book trailer, and then put our skills to the test by creating a trailer for the book "Maniac Magee." I am looking forward to the next steps in our project.

Mary

4th Meeting- Assessment and Evaluation
As usual, we started with debriefing of what the students have accomplished since our last meeting. We then moved on to developing rubrics for all 3 projects. It was helpful to have time to decide on the criteria, descriptors and qualifiers and on the language to make it accessible by the students (avoiding jargon).

It looks like we'll have most projects completed by May 27th to allow us to evaluate them as a group. The intermediate students may need more time to finish their Public Service Announcements, as working with video is more time-consuming.

Danuta Today’s meeting I felt extremely focused and productive. We were able to create and map out a timeline for the PSA project, as well as review and select a project rubric.

I’m allowing for one day for groups to research (choose 4-5 interesting facts for their topics) I will provide an agency website for students to use as resources i.e. Canadian Mental Health Association for group members who’ve chosen depression as their PSA topics. Students will spend up to two days developing a script and story board. Students will have a day to practice their voice overs and tweak their scripts, think about location and camera details. Students will be ready to film by the 5th day.

It will be very important to stress with the class the importance of the timeline without them feeling the pressures of rushing to complete their work. I have a sense that the largest portion of time will be spent editing the PSA.

I’m hoping that the group dynamics will work well in this project.

Maria

Today was another productive day. In addition to discussing next steps for our projects, we were able to look at the projects as they have been completed so far and determine a more accurate timeline for when students will be finished. In addition, it was interesting to see how the students had used their time last week. It informed our teaching for Tuesday as many of the students appear to have been spending a great deal of time on graphics that won't fit on their cereal boxes once they have added the product name and spokescharacter. We created a rubric for marking the completed projects and an anecdotal record sheet which I will use tomorrow while Danuta is teaching the class. I am really looking forward to being able to spend some time observing my students while they are working on their projects.

Jeanne

Today we began with a group discussion on how our projects were progressing and we discussed the trials and tribulations of our different assignments. Individually we discussed what our next steps would be and have a proposed timeline of what needs to be completed by the end of of May. My students have basically finished their storyboards and are ready to find pictures to actually put their book trailers together. Students will use Garage Band for sounds and music. After great discussion we created a rubric to show the students our expectations for their project which should be of assistance to them as they create their trailer. I look forward to see the progression of these trailers over the next two weeks.

Mary

=5th Meeting- Using Teacher Moderation to Evaluate Student Work=

Today our group has collaboratively evaluated samples of student projects. Since each project was different in nature and we were looking at student work ranging from grade 2 to grade 7, it was necessary to remind ourselves that the primary students had limited opportunities to create media works prior to completing this task. The rubric criteria we used for grade 2/3 were scaled down compared to those used for older grades.

Teacher moderation has proved to be an effective strategy, as more eyes and more brains has certainly resulted in more objective evaluations.It also allowed us to reflect on our teaching and provided us with ideas on how to approach these projects next year as well as on what skills would need to be taught more explicitly.

Danuta

Today we worked on evaluating the media project for grade 3. What I found most interesting was the different perspectives (as teachers) brought as we evaluated students' work. As an intermediate teacher I found I needed to remind myself that the work I was evaluating was that of primary students, so the same expectations I would have for my students would not be carried over to primary. It was also interesting to see how each student interpreted the basis of media text and translate it into their work.

Maria

Today was a very unique day as we have learned another way to communicate via the computer. I found the discussion we had evaluating the Grade 3 and 6 projects insightful. There is benefit to assessing projects in a group. It is interesting to hear other professionals comment on your student's work as it can confirm your thoughts and feelings about the final " good copy" students produce.

Mary

Another very productive day. It is a great experience to be able to evaluate student work with other colleagues. The rich discussion around how the student work connects to the rubric was extremely valuable. A few technical difficulties but none that we weren't able to overcome.

Jeanne = =