Week+by+Week

Post ideas for classes here. This can include ice breakers, viewings, logistics, etc.

Week 1: Introductions

> __Values Cubes:__ > On the first night, I like to have students do an actiivty in which they make paper cubes in pairs (an interesting task in its own right). On each face is a question they might ask about any classroom activity or educational tool. (I use the connections questions listed on the Values page). Students then throw the cubes and answer the questions that come up in relation to the activity of making the cubes itself. Did it connect them to one another? Did it connect them to the physical world? Etc. Then I have them look at a piece of technology (such as the iPod touch in the classroom ) and throw the cubes to assess that.
 * 1) Introductions -- index cards with names, email, phone, major
 * 2) What should be/ will be in schools? [|What do you know 3.0]
 * 3) How do we evaluate media?
 * 1) We've used the terms "media" and "technology" - what do we mean? Media is plural of medium -- in between. Technology from technique, skill. Originally from a term for weaving. There is a relationship to the dog the dachshund. The relation is from the German root -thahsu -- badger -- "the animal that builds" from the hut or "sett"they make.. Old High German has dahs = badger; thus, we have the dog the dachshund (badger hound).
 * 2) " I don't know who discovered water but it certainly wasn't a fish." Marshall McLuhan. Our job is to step out and see the media from without. (Leprecaun and Broken AC are examples).
 * 3) Logistics: 4-2-2's, syllabus

Week 2: Digital Nation
 * 1) Quickly go over what students have written within their 4-2-2's.
 * 2) Discuss Digital Nation
 * 3) As an activity, the class could be divided in two sides: A side that agrees and a side that disagrees. Now you will read statements from Digital Nation and students will physically move from one side or the other.
 * 4) Students can use the Education of the Future wiki to post ideas for what they would like to see education be in the future. Each instructor already has a page with 8 linked groups.

Week 3: Digital Literacy > Here is a link to Jeff's presentation about these digital literacy skills. 4. Discuss how this relates to the two articles (like fluid intelligence as discussed in 'Get Smarter'). 5. When talking about the article 'Is Google Making Us Stupid?', this video could be shown when talking about doom scenarios that always appeared with the emergence of new media. An interesting article about past doom scenarios is 'Don't Touch That Dial'.
 * 1) Divide the class in groups of 5 to 6 students and tell them to plan a trip to Amsterdam (or any place), do one cultural activity there and come back. Click on Word file for a student handout for this activity. [[file:Class activityEdited.docx]]
 * 2) Discuss the skills students needed to do this activity and how you evaluated which team was the 'best'.
 * 3) Five major digital literacy skills, as listed by Eshet-Alkali and Amichai-Hamburger (2004) are:
 * Photo-visual skills ('reading' instructions from graphical displays),
 * Reproduction skills (utilizing digital reproduction to create new, meaningful materials from preexisting ones),
 * Branching skills (constructing knowledge from non-linear, hypertextual navigation),
 * Information skills (evaluating the quality and validity of information),
 * Socio-emotional skills (understanding the 'rules' that prevail in cyberspace and applying this understanding in online cyberspace communication.

Week 4: Media Literacy and the Millennial Generation > Can it be automated? Can it be outsourced to Asia? So which are skills that computers cannot do? Which jobs cannot be automated/outsourced? How can these skills be strengthened in school settings? How can they be taught? How can these skills be tested? Are they tested now in SAT formats? How could this be a problem? 5. Connect all of this to the Considine article. How can media literacy provide a way of both engaging students where they are and developing skills they’ll need? How do you feel about deemphasizing left-brain skills? Is there a way we can have it all, utilizing the inherent interest of medial arts (and the focus on right brained skills Pink talks about) to motivate work that will expose them to a range of left brained tasks also? For example, there were a number of basic skills students needed last week (spelling Amsterdam, calculating cost, etc.) that were practiced in the context of the larger creative activity.
 * 1) Reflect on last week's activity. Start with a discussion of general reactions to the What did it feel like to do it? Would kids learn anything from it? Was it valuable in terms of what students need students to do in the future? Perhaps roll the cube a few times (just you up front) and try as a class to ask if the activity connected students to one another, to their own questions, etc).
 * 2) What skills do students need in the digital world? What is ‘digital literacy’? Show Powerpoint and talk about the 5 different skills. What are examples of each skill? Why do each of these skills matter? Put the full list on the board. Have students spend 5 minutes writing how they connect those skills to their own field – then share. This will help discussion, as each will have something to say.
 * 3) Right brain thinking. Make a list of things or skills that children/students in the North Carolina school systems need to learn. For everything they mention: Why is it important? What can they do with this later in life? Show video on right brain thinking, abundance, automation and Asia. For each skill they mention ask:
 * 1) Divide the class in groups of three and to the 'representation of moods in photography activity' with them. How can you do a similar activity related to your own field?
 * Language arts / arts / theater class (representation of words, as was done in activity)
 * Music (taking a picture that reflects mood of certain song/symphony)
 * Biology (going outside taking pictures of certain plants, doing experiments, taking pictures of growing flower/fungus etc. over time)
 * Social sciences (photography as means of depicting a community, images that represent marriage, religion, nationality, ethnicity, culture, holidays, houses)
 * Math (showing fractions by taking pictures of 7 red and 1 white chair, angles)

Week 5:
 * 1) Discuss the 24 hours without media/technology assignment for next week. It is a nice assignment to break up the 4-2-2 routine a little. Show the “[|Everything’s Amazing but Nobody’s Happy Video”] to introduce the assignment. Show [|an example of a blog] that was made earlier.
 * 2) Discuss the [|Media Analysis and Evaluation] assignment. Explain the different aspects of the assignment (letter to the parents, answering of questions related to the 7 key concepts and the production activity). Give examples wherever possible. Click here for an example of the assignment related to jingles in advertisements (music class). Click here for an example about the nutritive value of cereal and the relationship to the design of cereal boxes (math class).
 * 3) Explain media literacy key concepts. One way to do this is by discussing this PowerPoint about media literacy and blogs.
 * 4) Divide the class into seven groups and give each group one of the key concepts. The key concepts can be downloaded here. Now show one or two videos and let each group discuss one of the key concepts after viewing the video about two times. Spend about 15 minutes on each video. An example of a video that you could show is the [|Old Spice Ad]

Week 6
 * 1) Discuss the 24 hours without technology activity. Everyone will get a laptop from the laptop cart and in groups of three, look at each others’ blogs and comment to at least one of your group member’s blogs.
 * 2) Tell them to discuss common themes in their group. Have them write down advantages and disadvantages of using media and technology in your life. How do these compare to the advantages and disadvantages you found to using technology in the classroom?
 * 3) From here we move to multiple intelligences. Take them back to show the [|Media Analysis and Evaluation] assignment and show that in the letter to the parents they will also have to discuss multiple intelligences. Give them a hand out of these multiple intelligences. Then show the class a video in which these multiple intelligences are visible. An example could be a video of AMS middle school. Ask the students to write down what their best and their worst intelligence is and let them write down an example of each of these. Discuss this in class.
 * 4) Tell your students that they should come to class with an example of their own media literacy project for their media analysis and evaluation assignment.

Week 7: TK20 and Media Literacy Continued
 * 1) Spend the first hour on TK20. Ask Robert Dodd to come in to explain TK20 to your students or explain it yourself, possibly with the help of this document
 * 2) Explain the assignment for next week about the media literacy circles. Make sure they know about each of the seven key concepts of media literacy
 * 3) Show more examples and places where students can find examples of media literacy projects. Possible links are: