Suzanne's Blog

Criteria for Evaluating Students Media Project

2007-12-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

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.

My Regular Media Fixes

2007-12-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

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’.

Integration of Film/Media in the Classroom

2007-12-14T21:13:00.000-08:00

"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

2007-12-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

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)

Iraq - Beyond Media Stereotypes - My Dream Documentary

2007-12-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Favorite Podcasts For Teaching Writing

2007-12-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

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/

How to Become the Perfect Woman - in (3) Pictures (Spoof)

2007-12-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

Ben & World of WarCraft

2007-11-10T08:26:00.001-08:00

30 Rock Cleveland Montage-Critical Approaches to Media Texts-See the Link List "30 Rock Cleveland Montage"

2007-10-31T09:12:00.001-07:00

I choose the "Cleveland Montage" from 30 Rock for two reasons: The first is that I think that 30 Rock is the funniest show on television, the second is that I spent kindergarten to 8th grade in a suburb of Cleveland - Aurora, and my college years in New Jersey - just an hour outside The City (New York). It was as if this song was tailor made for me - a tale of two zip codes (!)

Now down to business. Along with sentimentality, I chose to analyze this gem using the audience/rehtorical and semiotic lenses.

Audience Anaylisis - in "Teaching Media Literacy", media texts are described as being used to "position audiences to adopt certain stances or attitudes". In spite of spurning a decent baseball team and being home to the Rock & Roll hall of fame - Cleveland does not appear in Conde Nast Traveller's list of top vacation destinations.

It's a city that suffers from a bleak self-image. When I was a youngster Cleveland's city fathers launced an image overhaul campaign - "New York May be the Big Apple, but Cleveland's a Plum"(*see link at right to 1981 Time Magazine article on George Voinovich). I remember seeing the slogan on bumper stickers and on purple t-shirts worn by older people at the local roller rink. The purpose of 30 Rock's ode to Cleveland is to leave us with the impression that Cleveland is cool and going there will be a delight for your psyche and your self-image - in the clip Liz is asked if she's a model. The police are also portrayed as very nice, asking her if she'd like to pet their horse - a contrast w/the NYPD-who in a previous scene in the episode that is was excerpted from ask her to open her purse so that they can search it.

Socialaization As Consumers, is described in "Teaching Media Literacy" as a way that audiences are "socalized by the media to think of consumption as the route to status or popularity." In the 30 Rock Cleveland Montage, the audience is supposed to conclude that Cleveland has coolness. Liz Lemon likes Cleveland because she like's herself while visiting there. She's "consumed" by feeling good about herself AND her boyfriend lives there - how cool!

Stephen Colbert + Jon Stewart at the Emmys

2007-09-19T12:17:00.001-07:00

The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, defines Satire as;

"A work of literature that mocks social conventions, another work of art, or anything its author thinks ridiculous." Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, is a satire of eighteenth-century British society.

As Gulliver's travels was to 18th century Brittania, "The Daily Show with Jon Stwart" and Stephen Colberts, "The Colbert Report" are to 21st century America.

Both shows have been well rewarded. In addition to two Peabody wards, Jon Stewarts "The Daily Show" has won multiple Emmys as well as a Grammy.

Having been on the air for two years, the Colbert Report has been nominated for Emmy awards in 2006 and 2007.

Fox executives were not un-aware of the cultural phenomenon that is Stwart and Colbert. I can't imagine it was a tough decision to include them in their list of presenters at this years Emmy awards.

What was unprecedented about their appearance however, was their 4+ minute, scripted sketch - a complete deviation from the standard presenters-reading-nominee-names-from-a-teleprompter format.

Nothing was spared. Everything from the 2000 election and global warming to the Emmy awards themselves was lampooned. They brilliantly pointed out that Nobel Prize winners and McCarther Genius Grant recipients are informed of their wins via phone or e-mail vs an elaborate prime-time television spectacle.

I am a huge fan of both the "Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report". Knowing these two would be presenting, I abandoned my standard practice of waiting until the Tivo recording was complete because I wanted to watch their interaction live.

Camera Shots
1. The clip opens with an Establishing/extreme long shot of the audience.

2. Close-Up of Jon Stewart, followed by a Close-up of Stephen Colbert with a leaf blower.

3. Medium shot - Shows Stephen and Jon walking towards each other to the middle of the Emmy stage.

4. Close-Up - Charlie Sheen, laughing.

5. Long Shot - Stephen and Jon - Stephen using leaf blower on Jon.

6. Medium Shot - Jon and Stephen discussing global warming & carboon offsets.

7. Close-up of Jon and Stephen

Lighting
The Emmy's are lit in High-Key.

Music
Jon and Stephen enter to the opening theme music for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report - we know who's comming and the show's about to get really funny!

Singapore Orchids

2007-09-06T16:43:00.001-07:00

2077, originally uploaded by SuzDeFoe.

2007 Traverse City Marathon, Start

2007-09-06T16:42:00.001-07:00

Runners Starting the TC 2007 Marathon.jpg, originally uploaded by SuzDeFoe.

Salubrious Running

2007-09-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.salubriousrunning.org/