Criteria for evaluating students work on my media project:
Students use of what has been discussed in the class leading up to the final project to make the text and layout impactful and effective. Are the objectives fulfilled - is this a website that accurately depicts and discusses the events of the day in history being profiled?
Use of a wide range of techniques, video, uploading of still images, layout, color and links to other sights.
Make it look good - use whatever you need, teachers, fellow students, blogger FAQ's to make your website engaging and interesting. Consider that this is not for a teacher or a grade - your audience is the world wide web community.
Texts and images are well organized and factually substantive.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
My Regular Media Fixes
New York Post - PageSix - Celebrity news and gossip, that is often found out to be true after it appears in PageSix.
Owned by News Corporation - Rupert Murdoch
People.com - celebrity news, photos in particular - The 'Star Tracks' section is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Owned by Time Warner
CNN.com for news and sports.
Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner
Rotten Tomatoes.com for movie reviews
Owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
Comcast Cable
Owned by Comcast
Advertising revenue the is bread and butter of the aforementioned entities. I'm sure the owner's relationship with the advertisers is massive -perhaps all encompassing. John Dewey sums up my feelings perfectly.
"Talk of democracy has little content when big business rules the life of the
country through its control of the means of production, exchange, the press
and other means of publicity, propaganda and communication’.
Owned by News Corporation - Rupert Murdoch
People.com - celebrity news, photos in particular - The 'Star Tracks' section is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Owned by Time Warner
CNN.com for news and sports.
Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner
Rotten Tomatoes.com for movie reviews
Owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
Comcast Cable
Owned by Comcast
Advertising revenue the is bread and butter of the aforementioned entities. I'm sure the owner's relationship with the advertisers is massive -perhaps all encompassing. John Dewey sums up my feelings perfectly.
"Talk of democracy has little content when big business rules the life of the
country through its control of the means of production, exchange, the press
and other means of publicity, propaganda and communication’.
Integration of Film/Media in the Classroom
"Clueless" and "Emma" (with Gwyneth Paltrow) are two of my favorite movies.
I would have the students watch both movies, "Emma" first, then "Clueless". I wold design a 4 column spreadsheet having students compare and contrast the similarities and differences between each movie. That's the fun part.
I would obtain the script(s) for both and have the students analyze the text, themes, and characterization. Amy Heckerling vs Jane Austen - what did you learn about their respective writing styles? What was the reading experience like.
Local TV News Broadcast - Viewing Log
Through the magic of digital recording I was able to slowly scroll through an evening local news broadcast. My experience was that they tried to cram in as much information as they could in 30 minutes.
Stories, in order of appearance
15 year old fired a shot into the air and was arrested because a sensor called a 'Shot Spotter", new technology installed in North Minneapolis that alerts police dispatchers when shots are fired. (5 min)
Meningitis - young boy died in Fergus Falls - disease affecting our central nervous system, often a symptomatic. (1 minute)
Revaccanation Program -
Vaccines stored at wrong temperature - making dose ineffective, problem started in October, over 4,500 people exposed. (1 minute).
Drunk Driver drove into Long Lake - (10 secs)
Commuter Rail - Northstar Project - Big Lake to Downtown Minneapolis (1 minute)
Army investigation into MN soldiers death - circumstances being investigated (1 minute)
Federal Reserve Cut interest rates - stocks dropped (1 minute)
Office Holiday Party etiquette - how to act/not act at the workplace holiday party. Don't flirt, or dress provocatively. (2 minutes)
Telecommute - healthier to work from home (30 seconds)
MN Historical Society 150 Year Anniversary - behind the scenes look at items that are not displayed. A cabin and a cape worn by a bank robber who worked with Jesse James. (4 minutes)
Weather, Oklahoma - ice storm - power outage - (2 minutes)
CIA Waterboarding - Newscaster commentary on waterboarding. (1 minute)
Sports - (4 minutes)
Broadcast ended with the disclosure of 2007 Word of the Year "Woot" , an expression of joy (10 seconds)
Stories, in order of appearance
15 year old fired a shot into the air and was arrested because a sensor called a 'Shot Spotter", new technology installed in North Minneapolis that alerts police dispatchers when shots are fired. (5 min)
Meningitis - young boy died in Fergus Falls - disease affecting our central nervous system, often a symptomatic. (1 minute)
Revaccanation Program -
Vaccines stored at wrong temperature - making dose ineffective, problem started in October, over 4,500 people exposed. (1 minute).
Drunk Driver drove into Long Lake - (10 secs)
Commuter Rail - Northstar Project - Big Lake to Downtown Minneapolis (1 minute)
Army investigation into MN soldiers death - circumstances being investigated (1 minute)
Federal Reserve Cut interest rates - stocks dropped (1 minute)
Office Holiday Party etiquette - how to act/not act at the workplace holiday party. Don't flirt, or dress provocatively. (2 minutes)
Telecommute - healthier to work from home (30 seconds)
MN Historical Society 150 Year Anniversary - behind the scenes look at items that are not displayed. A cabin and a cape worn by a bank robber who worked with Jesse James. (4 minutes)
Weather, Oklahoma - ice storm - power outage - (2 minutes)
CIA Waterboarding - Newscaster commentary on waterboarding. (1 minute)
Sports - (4 minutes)
Broadcast ended with the disclosure of 2007 Word of the Year "Woot" , an expression of joy (10 seconds)
Iraq - Beyond Media Stereotypes - My Dream Documentary
My ideal documentary would be to follow a middle class, religiously moderate Iraqi family, from the inception of the U.S. invasion to today.
The inspiration came from seeing Jon Stewart at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. He effectively zinged both liberal and conservative political persuasions when he talked about extremes. Most people don't have time to pull a Cindy Shehan and go to Texas for prolonged civil disobedience. I don't remember what he said about the conservative extreme (Imust have blocked it out ). The point he made however was that the "rest of us have stuff to do", we have "families to take care of, jobs to do and lawns to take care of." We just don't have time to fight the power.
Who is that family in Iraq?
What is/are their general opinions of America/Americans? - Do they see a difference between our government and our citizenry?
My intended audience would be the Iraqi family's American counterpart, a middle class, religiously moderate family.
I would interview both families, asking their past and future views of Iraq today.
Do the Iraqi's trust their government more now or when Saddam Hussein was in power?
What would the Iraqi children tell their future children about the US presence in their country?
Same questions for the American family.
I would want the audience to walk away with a real, authentic connection to an Iraqi family - substance beyond the statistics and rhetoric.
I would anticipate some political backlash from this project - it's a very volatile issue.
The inspiration came from seeing Jon Stewart at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. He effectively zinged both liberal and conservative political persuasions when he talked about extremes. Most people don't have time to pull a Cindy Shehan and go to Texas for prolonged civil disobedience. I don't remember what he said about the conservative extreme (Imust have blocked it out ). The point he made however was that the "rest of us have stuff to do", we have "families to take care of, jobs to do and lawns to take care of." We just don't have time to fight the power.
Who is that family in Iraq?
What is/are their general opinions of America/Americans? - Do they see a difference between our government and our citizenry?
My intended audience would be the Iraqi family's American counterpart, a middle class, religiously moderate family.
I would interview both families, asking their past and future views of Iraq today.
Do the Iraqi's trust their government more now or when Saddam Hussein was in power?
What would the Iraqi children tell their future children about the US presence in their country?
Same questions for the American family.
I would want the audience to walk away with a real, authentic connection to an Iraqi family - substance beyond the statistics and rhetoric.
I would anticipate some political backlash from this project - it's a very volatile issue.
Favorite Podcasts For Teaching Writing
National Public Radio's--Wait Wait Don't Tell Me - It's a topical irreverent look at current events - it would be valuable to use to teach writing because it teaches students to see the humor and depth in their immediate environment.
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183214
The Brave New Workshop - Local, hysterical satire with roots in a home grown methodology developed by John Sweeney
Link to "Innovation at the Speed of Laughter"
http://www.speedoflaughter.com/Sweeneybooks.htm
The Podcast
http://bravenewworkshop.libsyn.com/
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183214
The Brave New Workshop - Local, hysterical satire with roots in a home grown methodology developed by John Sweeney
Link to "Innovation at the Speed of Laughter"
http://www.speedoflaughter.com/Sweeneybooks.htm
The Podcast
http://bravenewworkshop.libsyn.com/
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
