Am I Media Pre-Literate?

    Media literacy is the ability to accurately analyze and evaluate media, which can be social media, books, videos, etc. For a crash course you can visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaRw5R6Da4. (I will not be using the 5 questions from this video). In my adult life, I haven't had to consider how media literate I am. I look up what I want to know, either find an answer or don't, and I move on. But this class has made me question; what is my media literacy level? Since I'm thinking about it, I should answer that question using a few more questions.

Can I assess who created the media, what they are trying to do with it, and what they want to get out of it? Yes. One point for me.

Do I assess who created the media, what they are trying to do with it, and what they want to get out of it? Sometimes but not when I am in a hurry. .25

Do (or did before yesterday) I know how to restrict my searches to give me more trustworthy sources. No, 0

Do I restrict my searches? No, 0

Do I move on to the second page of found sources? No, 0

Do I look for a diversity of opinions in media? Sometimes, I typically just look at the first couple of sources that fit what I am looking for. When I am researching a product or something that has specific relevance to me I will look at a variety of opinions and try to discern what I am seeing. .5

Can I assess media	1pt
Do I assess madia	.25
Do I know how to restrict searches	0
Do I restrict searches	0
Do I continue to 2nd page of results	0
Do I look for a diversity of opinions	.5
	1.75/6 Low Literacy

Looks like I have a small problem.

    I remember that there used to be discussion a few years back about how technology was flooding people with stimulus and an unprocessable amount of information. The discussion was mostly negative from people who didn’t grow up with all this information and connectivity available to them. They were right on many details and many were pragmatic to say that these technologies are not going away and that kids growing up now will need to be educated on how to navigate the world with all of these distractions and mass of information.

    The new generations need to be taught what they are seeing, why it is there, how to discern what is worth noting and what is not, and how to produce content in a time where production is at its easiest. And it looks like I, as well as many others slightly more removed from the age of information, need to work on literacy as well. I look forward to the capability this era gives to individual people, and I accept my responsibility to get informed and literate for myself.  

Here,There, and Everywhere!

There are so many different ways I am going to integrate technology into my classroom, and I cannot wait! After these two days of class I have so many different ideas and plans I want to bring into the 4th grade classroom I will be student teaching at this fall. I would like to integrate research for the students on a topic, say in history or social studies. I then want to assign ( or allow them to pick a country of their interest!) students a country to look through the lens of and present that to their peers, potentially in a classroom Jigsaw activity or make a presentation/movie trailer for the information they want to share with us. Another way I would like to redefine technology in the classroom is to, have the students research a critical world issue, gain knowledge on it and then FaceTime or Skype someone from that country and get their opinion on it / interview them. Not only are they gaining technological skills, but they are also gaining communication skills within a global perspective.

Two more ideas that I would like to integrate are the YouTube video and the pictures as a story activity. Just like we learned today in class, when there is a visual put in front of us we will retain the information 65% more than if there was not. I want to put photos up on the screen and have students think of a story and how it relates to the content we are learning, or about to learn. If I do this activity before a unit I can attain an understanding on the level of what the students know before starting the unit. If I do this activity after a unit I can help understand how much the students learned or if there are any misconceptions in the room I can clear them up for them. I hope to incorporate student choice and allow them to have autonomy in the classroom as well as redefining learning with the SAMR Model.

The possibilities are endless with technology!!

Lastly, I want to ensure that I reflect on the most important thing I learned in class today......LOVE YOUR STUDENTS. 

You shall not pass (if use use credible websites way more accurate than our textbooks)

"If you use Wikipedia in your essay, I'll know."

An iconic lie by three high school teachers and four college professors. This line was about as believable to us students as, 

"It'll be obvious if you don't read the book, SparkNotes isn't a good idea."

Let's be real, most people have never actually made it past the third chapter of Lord of the Flies and have flocked to sources like Quizlet and SparkNotes. 

Anyone that was born before or in this generational gap we are in would probably say utilizing those sites mentioned above is cheating. How?

We are engaging our students in the Internet of Things, they are learning valuable research skills, and at the end of the day, if they the assignment is constructed in a way that encourages critical thinking rather than simple fact-based answers, the origin of the knowledge of  the book is insignificant. 

The bottom line is that these resources are here and they aren't going anywhere. in fact, there will always be even a better and more efficient option taking their places in a blink of an eye. Instead of shunning them and kids taking extreme measures to cover up their inevitable usage. Utilize those incredible sites and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge (and even the occasional radically off base ideas) and have the kids make an impact and engage them in much bigger ideas. 

I love the idea of teaching kids credibility online by using the "World's Rubric" in Wikipedia. I think using that and having students edit those low graded pages is an incredible way to validate student work. 

Reality Check for this Digital Immigrant #ISoundLikeMyMother

"When I was in school, we walked to the library to check out books."  "When I was in school, we passed notes in class to talk to our friends."  "When I was in school..."

This past week I have repeatedly found myself thinking, "I sound like my mother, maybe even my grandmother" as big flashing lights went off in my head and I was smacked with the reality, that I have been naive to the capabilities of technology within the classroom.  Just last week I thought the role of technology was to be a supplement to learning and a tool to make information accessible to all.  I still agree with those thoughts; however, I now recognize, as a Digital Immigrant, I was limiting the role of technology within the classroom because of my own experiences.  

As a soon-to-be teacher, I face the reality that I need to "get with the times" and create a learning environment conducive to the digital age our students are growing up in.  I now recognize that social media should be exploited in the classroom not avoided.  What a great opportunity to teach students how to communicate effectively and appropriately, in a context that is applicable, in and out of the classroom.  Social media can be a great platform for teaching social responsibility and drawing awareness to the impact of an online presence.  I think it can be easy to think of a person's social life separate from their academic or professional life, when in reality, the two collide via social media.  It is important to teach student's to recognize that connection as they enter the 'real world'.


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