Draft for Final Project

I chose to list key insights I learned from EDUC 6810 through a PowToon.  I could have used much more than the 5 minutes PowToon allows for the free version.  I wanted to additionally touch down on self-expression gone too far in social media.

Brainstorm Final Project

Reading and Discussion #1 ~ Students as responsible and literate "digital citizens"

Brainstorming

• "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection"

I think this is a "to-the-point" point and very valid in creating a responsible digital citizen.  This will be a point that I expound on.  

Reel Works: Reading and Discussion #2

• Is not something I think many adults would believe was created by teenage minds. I think often we forget they have a voice on important issues such as illegal immigration or gang violence but after watching the videos - it is pretty obvious that they do.   I think projects like Reel Works creates an outlet that allows teenagers to develop their thoughts in a creative way.

This is from my own writing and I still find it true.  Students have a voice, we need to show them how to express it.  

• Reel Works has also figured out how to take video making from the classroom into "real world" applications as is such in the HBO 8 week course in documentary making and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp for girls, which mixes STEM based careers with videography. As with any learning experience "learning by doing" is considered one of the most effective ways to teach in the 21st century. Authentic learning has become the preferred way for students to learn and teachers have noticed a propensity towards student motivation in learning when given a real-world problem. 

Authentic learning goes beyond the textbook to show students why they are learning a subject.  Without context many students lose their way and begin to wonder why they are sitting in the classroom.  This is something I work hard to avoid.  

Brainstorming

Reading and Discussion #3: Navigating Popular Culture

• However, Moore reassures the educator that they don't necessarily have to have a grasp on current pop culture to be able to utilize it to help students identify credible sources. He does warn teachers that celebrating or criticizing students in regards to their choices in pop culture does not lend to a constructive learning environment…

Moore brought reassurances into some of my fears with today's pop culture.  I know I am not the cool teacher with all the updates on current pop culture but that doesn't mean I should lack compassion.

Reflecting on our Love/Hate Relationship with Media

• The biggest idea I saw in the digital media board is that it promotes creativity. It helps us create unique material for personal and professional reasons.

I think this quote from my reflection basically sums up my revelations as to how multimodal media increases and promotes creativity.

Deconstruction of a Magazine

During deconstruction of a magazine, I learned how to critically analyze content in a magazine from the color, boldness of lettering, agenda behind the magazine, targeted audience, techniques to hold and attract attention, who is benefiting from the message, subtext, etc… All of this will help me guide my children and my students to viewing media from a critical point.

Weekly Reading #7 ~ The Power of Representation

Brainstorming

• It is the information age. Our students are inundated with media everywhere they go. It has become a dominant force in our culture. Making sure our students are media literate will arm them with the tools they need to be responsible citizens that are knowledgable on a variety of topics that could positively and negatively affect their lives.

This reflection from my reading follows the same logic of making sure our students can think beyond what is being put in front of them and gain a better perspective.  Common Core curriculum promises to follow these guidelines.

• I agree that students across America should have the opportunity to receive the same high quality education.

This seems to be a side note but Common Core offers to bring everyone to the same level.  I do believe that all students deserve the right to the same education.  I'm not sure Common Core has all the answers but I understand the logic.

• I am having trouble with the creative aspect in Common Core... but at the same time I believe all students should have the same high quality education… but at the same time - am I not capable of picking the right things for our students to learn that will make them high level, critical thinkers who can decode situations and scaffold their knowledge? See my issues?

My thoughts on Common Core are still the same - I feel we will sacrifice creativity (highly needed in the global market) and the time I need to create critical thinking skills.

Weekly Reading #8 ~Composing with Media Across the Curriculum

• "Some of the best project-based learning assignments using media and technology give students a combination of structure and freedom, where they can develop communication skills and exercise their creativity but have some constraints that omit and shape their work" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 86)

This quote goes back to utilizing multimodal text to bring out creativity as well as the thought process in an assignment.  Multimodal text gives students the tools they need to go beyond paper writing skills to express themselves in several literacy modes.

• It goes on to mention that teachers are having a hard time distinguishing between imitation and self-expression.

I think it is par for the course to expect students to react in various ways if we want them to use self-expression.  I think we need to be ready to read, see, and hear things we don't find "acceptable."  But this give us an additional learning experience to teach students what is acceptable for social media and our society and what is not.

Weekly Reading #9 ~ Protection and Empowerment

Brainstorming

• "It was challenging for Mrs. Jenkins not to betray her shock at the very serious sense of engagement and connectedness her seventh grade students were revealing" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 108).

I think this proved the point that if you make learning authentic and students can connect to it, then the lesson will be more engaging.  

Media Deconstruction

In this particular reading we were looking at T.V. ads and the motives behind them.  We pointed out true motives combined with metonymy and metaphor to make the ad more visual.  We pointed out prospectives used to sell a product such as cultural stereotyping to make the buyer laugh.  We also pointed out unrealistic situations to make the product more attractive.  Decoding ads to sell a product is one more important step in making our students media savvy.  

Weekly Reading #10 ~ Life Online

• "A middle-school student in Costa Mesa, California, created an online group on Myspace with the title, "I Hate Classmate's Name." There was an expletive, an anti-Semitic reference, and a post that read, "Who here wants to take a shotgun and blast her in the head over a thousand times?" (Hobbs, 2011 pg. 125)

Part of making a lesson authentic is exploring all avenues.  I think one topic that is always important to talk about is Human Rights and the boundaries of those Rights.  Tackling media and literacy will lead to where self-expression and slander cross those lines and are no longer protected under Freedom of Speech and Expression.

• "...The Internet is not a separate place a person can go to from the real world. The Internet is the real world. Only faster" (Hobbs, 2011 page 139).

The only way our students are going to understand that the Internet is bigger than their family, classroom, network of friends, and even their community is to teach them just how big the Internet is.  Students need to understand the global ramifications of publishing on the World Wide Web.

• "Teens may have thoughtful and often sophisticated reasoning processes that reflect their decision making about what's OK and what's not. Dialog about these issues builds critical thinking skills and gives teens a chance to reflect upon and articulate their values" (Hobbs, 2011 page 136).

I like this quote in particular because I do think teens have thoughts on issues that should be taken seriously.  I think we also have the power to focus these thoughts into productive reasoning.

Weekly Reading #11 ~ Teaching with Current Events

Brainstorming

• Hobbs pointed out that News is a responsibility.

News has the fantastic ability to deliver information to people quickly and remotely.  Often the ability is used, misused, and abused.  But I think it is one more avenue we can bring our students to if we teach them the responsibility that it holds.  I believe if we are teaching them to post responsibly young, we may be able to produce News Journalist that want to do the same.  And of course, it also boils down to…

• If we focus on news today, beyond celebrity news, we help our students decipher more relevant news.

Weekly Reading #12 ~ Infusing Digital and Media Literacy Across the Curriculum

From least to greatest the five that are most closely related to my goals and motives for integrating digital and media literacy in my classroom are:

1.  To improve students' writing and communication skills by enabling them to use a wide range of message forms, symbol systems, and technologies.
2.  To develop students' skills in using digital technology tools.
3.  To promote creativity and self-expression.
4.  To help students use their own voices for advocacy and social change.
5.  To strengthen discrimination skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low quality messages.

**The above 5 motives derive from all the reflections I made above in previous posts across my blog over the last semester.  I am sure I could add more.  But what I have learned is that multimodal tools provide our students with a creative outlet to express themselves and their thoughts.  Within this context we can take their self-expression and bring it to a point that is productive and logically based.  We have that ability as their educators and within this context we should use it.    

Weekly Reading #12 ~ Infusing Digital and Media Literacy Across the Curriculum

Your Motivations for Digital and Media Literacy

From least to greatest the five that are most closely related to my goals and motives for integrating digital and media literacy in my classroom are:

1. To improve students' writing and communication skills by enabling them to use a wide range of message forms, symbol systems, and technologies.
2. To develop students' skills in using digital technology tools.
3. To promote creativity and self-expression.
4. To help students use their own voices for advocacy and social change.
5. To strengthen discrimination skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low quality messages.  

Three Quotes from Rene Hobbs' Chapter 9 in "Digital and Media Literacy" that I find interesting…

1.  "Should digital and media literacy be offered as a separate stand-alone course or should it be integrated into the curriculum's existing subject?" (Hobbs, 2011, pg. 171)

Why not both?  I think there should be a class that specifically touches down on digital and media literacy for various grade levels.  AND then it should be backed up in different subjects as an integrated model.  That way the subject stands out as a significant part of today's literacy AND how it is interwoven into various real-life core subjects.  I think the integrated portion should play a heavier role because it is going to be a heavy hand in adding an authentic approach to teaching such as looking at science from a media standpoint and having the ability to pinpoint the bullshit…  

**Thank god there was a real scientist present when this politician decided to share his knowledge on "Global Wobbling."  

But there is a limit to the amount of digital technology can be added to a core subject before it starts to lose its meaning.  If we can also introduce Digital Media and Technology as a class, then we can touch down on the subject on a more generic and larger scale.  It would be a great way to analyze various technologies, digital media influences, cultural impact, etc… Just as we have in this course.

2.  "For nearly 15 years, this course has enable every student in the school district to develop the kind of critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills that are described in this book" (Hobbs, 2011, pg. 173)

Clapping Hands

15 YEARS!!!  I had no idea there was a school out there that had been focusing on cross-curriculur media literacy into the existing subjects.  It seems so revolutionary to me today but that's because my eyes have not been open to this idea for very long.  I've only been out of high school for 20 years.  I can't believe that 15 years ago there was a high school in New Hampshire that delved into media literacy head first and have been producing digital citizens that have the critical thinking skills needed in the 21st Century.  BRAVO Concord High School!

3.  "A deep commitment to student voice is at the heart of digital media literacy" (Hobbs, 2011, pg. 175)

Student Expression

I feel as if over the last 4 years in my various digital technology classes at FSU, I've seen how digital media can bring forth creativity and self-expression.  Every time I watch a classmates video or view a digital product he or she has made, if feel as if I get a better idea of who they are and their stance on a subject.  And it is always an interesting peek into their thought process.  I know the product is probably something they are proud of and it they probably researched the topic a bit more, just to make sure the final product was polished.  As such, I'm sure they gleamed more from the ideas behind the topic, then merely reading a text book.

It has been this way in the classroom for me as well.  I have always looked forward to what the student produces in the end - each being unique and each reflecting the way the student feels about the subject. It is that 3rd dimension that is added to the product.  

Weekly Reading #11 ~ Teaching with Current Events

Before I begin the connection between Hobb's chapter 8 in her book Digital and Media Literacy and the Tedx video below.  I want to begin by talking about a the WVSTA Conference (West Virginia Science Teacher) I attended this weekend.  First as an employee NASA's IV&V Educator Resource Center supports the WVSTA Conference every year in more than one way, which essentially means I go every year and get to meet some pretty awesome people and experience some amazing Keynote speakers.  This year's Keynote was Dr. Fredric Bertley from the Franklin Institute and his powerful speech called The Bridge to the Future, and it revolved around the scientists of today (not yesterday), their contributions in technology today, and how much we know about them. Here is an example of one of Dr. Bertley's slides:

He asked, "Which of these individuals do you recognize?"  This was an animated slide, therefore the phones were not visible.  Of course, everyone in the room recognized Morgan Freeman.  He is a pretty awesome actor.  No one recognized Prof. James West the co inventor of the foil-electret transducer that revolutionized cell phones, hearing aids, microphones, and other acoustical equipment.  His technology exists in almost ALL of these devices.  Why don't we know who he is?  Is it because the media chooses to focus on sensationalizes Hollywood instead of the heros of today's STEM-based inventions?  Does anyone know who created the touch screen we use on everyday on our various Smart tablets, computers, and phones?  Have you ever thought about who he or she even is?  I know now after Dr. Bertley's speech but only because he pointed these individuals out, not because of my curiosity of ever wondering who these present day inventors were.  Maybe I should blame the media but I don't like pointing fingers.  As an educator I need to start pointing out who these people are.  Hell, maybe I'll create a sensation and the media will want to report on these individuals more than celebrities.  For Dr. Bertley's full presentation click on this link:  Dr. Franklin Bertley ~ The Bridge to the Future.


TEDxRainier - Sarah Stuteville - Journalism Revived

Sarah Stuteville is a different kind of journalist.  She and her friends where able to see the direction of journalism as well as the death of the art of journalism.  They sought out a way to travel the world and deliver the news on individual and groups of individuals that were making a difference in the world.  Telling stories they felt the world should know.

Hobbs pointed out that News is a responsibility.  We all know that bad news is good for business.  Although I don't actually understand this concept.  Case and point - when I talk about the creation of NASA's IV&V Facility in West Virginia, I refer to watching the Today show in 1986 when the News included more than just celebrity news.  I avoid the news at all cost.  I want to see relevant news not just celebrity and "bad" news.  I want to see inspirational news.  I want to see news that brings the unknown forward.  News such as Stuteville brought forth like the former child soldier that works to rid his country of explosives that he once was forced to plant.

As Hobbs points out that once we reveal news, then action can take place.  If the environmental disaster of the shrinking Aral Sea in Asia would have come forth sooner, then action to stop over irrigation could have started sooner.  Instead, we watched its death in the end.  Today nearly nothing is left and it has been labeled as the worst man-made natural disaster.  I attempted to use the Aral Sea in the classroom as an example of a real world problem and future career option in conservation and ecology. Unfortunately it really is too late to correct the Aral Sea disaster, so my students are not going to be able to gather efforts to stop the degradation of this precious sea.  I can be proud in the fact that I opened the eyes of my students to this sort of news so they can seek it on their own.  But I do have to ask, where is all the News to make the public aware?

If we focus on news today, beyond celebrity news, we help our students decipher more relevant news.  Once again, how many of our students know who today's heroes in technology are?  How often do our students question where their technology was born from?  This is Civic Based engagement in the Science Classroom.  Sure Einstein was an important scientist in our PAST but who is the scientist today that has made strides in Einstein's work?  Anyone?  There is a key scientist TODAY that has furthered Einstein's work but our students don't know who he is.  That is relevant information today.  THATS the news our students need to hear because anyone of them could become the next scientist who furthers a past scientists work.

Student Self-Expression PSA

My Public Service Announcement (PSA) is focused on Student Expression - the RIGHTS and Responsibilities of this powerful tool.  I did attempt to show a balance in my PSA by pointing out what the First Amendment does not protect an individual against.  That's because while I believe our students should be able to express themselves, we should be showing them the correct usage of the First Amendment - how to be a respectful and responsible citizen.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this PSA is the student.  My beginning title frame shows an individual with their mouth taped shut, the American Flag, and the words, "Freedom of Expression:  A Student's Right and Responsibility."  These 3 items together are intended to produce shock value because at least 1 item (the picture of the woman with her mouth taped shut) seems contradictory.  I also used a suspenseful and inspirational song - Epic Story by the artist Dreamer to hook the audience.  The question:  "What is student expression?" on slide 2 was intended to pull in not only the audience but specifically a student audience.  I also added specific cases, along with dates to show that this is an issue that is being questioned by the law.

Persuasive Techniques

I definitely used fear as a persuasion technique.  We are terrified of losing our Freedoms and basic Rights.  I touched down on a fairly hot topic - Freedom of Speech, our First Amendment.  I upped the intensity by highlighting, using bold type, and special fonts to point out Freedom and Rights deficits.  I used plain folks that were tied up in loss of the Freedom of Speech by pointing out specific cases from 1969-2010.  I used symbols such as images that show loss of freedom (taped mouths, screaming students, and abused student) to by out intensity.  Timing is involved in this message but only because there are certain Freedoms that we are defensive about.  Freedom of Speech arguments seem timeless since it is a basic human Right that has been argued since Socrates mentioned it in 399 BC.

As a Mother

As a mother, I try to make sure my kids can express themselves reasonably.  Often that means they like to wear artistic images of skeletons and dye their hair unnatural colors - all of which falls under gray laws in student self-expression in schools and are susceptible to suspension and expulsion.  This worries me in a day and age when we finally realized that creativity is the key to becoming a successful adult that can think outside the box in our growing international economy.  However, if our students are not free to think for themselves, then we essentially stifle their creativity and produce students who have trouble with critical higher level thinking skills.

Citations

Calister, D. (2011, June 3). 7 things you can’t claim first amendment rights to say. Retrieved from http://debmcalister.com/2011/06/03/7-things-you-cant-claim-first-amendment-rights-to-say/

Center for Public Education. (2006).  Free speech and public school.  Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/The-law-and-its-influence-on-public-school-districts-An-overview/Free-speech-and-public-schools.html

DoSomething.Org. (n.d.). 11 facts about free speech. Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-free-speech

FindLaw.com. (n.d.). First amendment - u.s. constitution; first amendment - religion and expression. Retrieved from http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html

First Amendment Schools. (n.d.). Speech. Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/faq.aspx?id=12994

First Amendment Schools. (n.d.). What are the free expression rights of students in public schools under the First Amendment?  Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/faq.aspx?id=12991

Kritsonis PhD, W. A. (n.d.). Student expression. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Will1945/student-expression-dr-wa-kritsonis?related=1

Life Online Public Service Announcement

My Public Service Announcement will be focused on Freedom of Expression and Student's Rights.  My audience is actually going to be the student.  I've always felt that the school system purposely hides Student Rights from students to keep them from objecting.  Although, I will admit it is easier when you can sway and mold a minor in the way you want them to behave - it is not something educators should be practicing if we want our students to become responsible and successful citizens.  I think we can actually limit outbursts and unexpected behavior on a higher level if we teach our students from the beginning on how to act out on their expressions.  I think we have a group of frustrated students that feel their voice cannot be heard or simply - no one is willing to listen.  At the end of the day - the creative minds we are seeking to create that can think at a higher level and will bring America to the cutting edge with foreign industry... we just squashed by taking away what we consider disgusting behaviors and opinions by our standards.  I think we often forget what it was like to be that student.  I don't.  I remember being that frustrated student.  And though often I think I was probably somewhat rebellious, opinionated, and my thoughts were young/immature maybe.. angry at times- there should have been a mentor there to help me develop my creativity.  Turn it into something fruitful.

Evidence

Supreme Court Decisions
I think there are enough cases across history that clearly show a violation of Freedom of Expression that went as high as the Supreme Court.  Due to this the Supreme Court has to develop a three test rule based on some of the more popular cases (First Amendment School).  In my own opinion, some of these cases go too far in censoring our students' Rights.

1. The Tinker Standard - 3 students protest the Vietnam War with black arm bands.  The school responds with a "no armband policy."  The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court in which they ruled that if student expression did not disrupt school learning, then the questioned student expression could not be banned just because the admin didn't like it.
2. The Fraiser Standard - A high school student during an assembly used vulgar terms and sexual references in nominating a classmate to school council.  The use of vulgar language was announced by the Supreme Court as prohibitive:

"the freedom to advocate unpopular and controversial views in schools and classrooms must be balanced against society’s countervailing interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior."

     3.  The Hazelwood Standard - 2 students write articles on teen pregnancy and divorce, to which the Supreme Court ruled that the admin did not go too far in banning their articles.  Furthermore they stated that the school is responsible for setting a high standard.

"educators do not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns."

The problem I have with this statement, besides the obvious, is that female students have been discouraged in class for speaking about Womens' Rights when male students groan and moan about this topic.  Controversial topics such as Womens' Rights, teen pregnancy, divorce, etc… should not be stifled in the classroom. These are real world topics that students have to deal with.  If we, as educators, cannot broach these topics then what are we teaching our kids - Shame?  Silence?


Student Writing
My second piece of evidence is going to focus on the First Amendment in Schools.  The First Amendment according to FindLaw.com in a nutshell states:

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

At the First Amendment Schools website I found an interest piece of information:

From a legal perspective, schools can restrict student speech in the name of safety if (1) they can reasonably forecast substantial disruption under Tinker, or (2) the student expression is a true threat.

The issue around this statement is:

• How far is to far if the First Amendment can be broken in the name of school safety?
• If we want our students to write to strengthen their literacy skills, then can punishment be so severe that we expel them from school the moment they reveal emotions.  

As a parent I have to worry about this even more so.   What if my child produces a piece of work that is only a story?  What if my child produces a piece of work that is a cry for help and he or she is punished for this cry for help?  In the case of Lavine vs. Blaine School District, James Lavine wrote a poem called "Last Words" in an attempt to understand the various school shootings that have happened over the past 10 years or so.  His poem resulted in immediate emergency expulsion.  I have serious issues with this because writing is a way to work out problems that we have.  And if indeed, it was a cry for help, then as mentors why wouldn't we seek a way to help him instead of expelling him?  I cannot make sense of the course of action that was taken.

Risky Internet Behavior Involving Freedom of Speech
Where is the line drawn?  It must be fairly fine between what is considered creativity and what is threatening to school safety.  What if what is said it blunt?  The Internet is a fairly big world and hard to monitor.  In fact, the Supreme Court stated (:

...the Internet is a protected free speech zone, calling it “the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed.” But there is a wide berth between speech that is offensive, obnoxious, and insulting—all of which is protected—and speech that places the safety of others in jeopardy. 

An instance that can be noted is when a student for Pennsylvania created a website and placed a $20 ad for a hit man.  This could be considered a joke but in recent light (the past decade or so) of school shootings, I think in this case protecting the Rights of students in the school means there should have been a consequence.  I cannot tell from the source what kind of consequences resulted.  I do know that as an adult, consequences for such a joke could range from minor to severe.  I believe that we do have a responsibility to teach our students what is a joke and what could be considered harmful intent in an appropriate manor for a student - as a lessons learned.

Citations

Center for Public Education. (2006).  Free speech and public school.  Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/The-law-and-its-influence-on-public-school-districts-An-overview/Free-speech-and-public-schools.html

FindLaw.com. (n.d.). First amendment - u.s. constitution; first amendment - religion and expression. Retrieved from http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html

First Amendment Schools. (n.d.). Speech. Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/faq.aspx?id=12994

First Amendment Schools. (n.d.). What are the free expression rights of students in public schools under the First Amendment?  Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/faq.aspx?id=12991