English SOL Institute Secondary Media Literacy Strand

1. English SOL Institute • Secondary Media Literacy Strand Freyja Bergthorson, NBCT English SALT & Lead Mentor Farmwell Station Middle School Loudoun County Public Schools

2. This presentation is an adapted version from the Abingdon and Fredericksburg SOL Institutes. • Student videos have been removed, and links to professionally produced public service announcements have been added. These links are not under the control of the presenter or VDOE.

3. I teach media literacy using public service announcements because they – • are short (allows for variety / breadth) • Engage students • Use effective techniques of persuasion • Are easy to find • Are free • Contain positive messages • Are ‘real world’ / relevant to students • Allow me to cover reading and writing SOL

4. Media Literacy Enhances Reading and Writing Instruction. • Media Literacy involves many of the same critical thinking / analysis skills we want our students to bring to non-fiction reading and writing (source, purpose, mood, tone, main idea…). • When taught as ‘media literacy’ skills, students readily understand them, and can then transfer these skills to text.

5. Secondary Media Literacy What does it mean to be literate in the 21st Century? Having the capacity to understand, analyze, interpret, and create messages using multiple media. 5

6. Secondary Media Literacy • VDOE - Key Points in Media Literacy • Embed Media Literacy throughout content • Pair with research to create a research “product” • Pair with persuasive/analytical reading and writing

7. Secondary Media Literacy • VDOE - Key Points in Media Literacy • Distinguish between fact and opinion • Identify author, audience, content, and purpose of media messages • Compare/contrast auditory, visual, and written media messages

8. Secondary Media Literacy • Key Points in Media Literacy • Review media for persuasive or rhetorical devices • Provide opportunities for collaboration and use of 21st century skills • Opportunities to write/analyze blogs, Web sites, Pod casts, wikis, etc.

9. Which 3 most concern you? Discuss with your table. • Embed Media Literacy throughout content • Pair with research to create a research “product” • Pair with persuasive/analytical reading and writing • Distinguish between fact and opinion • Identify author, audience, content, and purpose of media messages • Compare/contrast auditory, visual, and written media messages • Review media for persuasive or rhetorical devices • Provide opportunities for collaboration and use of 21st century skills • Opportunities to write/analyze blogs, Web sites, Pod casts, wikis, etc.

10. Secondary Media Literacy National Council of Teachers of English 21st Century Student Literacy • Develop proficiency with the tools of technology • Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally • Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes • Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information • Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts • Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments 10

11. Secondary Media Literacy National Council of Teachers of English 21st Century Student Literacy • The Virginia Media Literacy Standards of Learning contain the same key concepts as those identified by NCTE, and other nationally recognized groups concerned with media literacy. 11

12. Secondary Media Literacy Key Student Understandings Common to ‘Best Practices’ in Media LiteracyMedia messages are constructed to influence viewers.What or whose views are included?What or whose views are excluded?What techniques are used to influence the viewer? 12

13. Secondary Media Literacy • What barriers / problems make teaching media literacy challenging? • (Discuss with table)

14. Secondary Media Literacy • Main concern – time! • It’s not ‘extra / additional’, it reinforces the reading, writing, thinking skills from the SOL.

15. Timeline of Public Service Announcement Project • Introduce topic • Define terms • Brief History (covers reading standards) • Analyze professionally produced PSAs • Plan and write script / storyboard • Produce PSA in small groups • Share projects with classmates and others (Feedback) • Self-evaluate learning

16. Use the PSA Analysis Sheet to evaluate the following PSAs. • In-class discussions reap great benefits – let the students generate the information, don’t ‘lecture’.

17. House Hippo – Canadian PSA about advertising • Key features – Use of humor, features of documentary film, camera angles/use of close-ups • Vintage PSA – Your Brain on Drugs • Key features – limited visual field, creation of tone, efficiency of message, use of metaphor

18. Great American Smoke Out • Key Features- Use of humor, unexpected event, ‘copy-cat’ PSA • Ad Council’s Cheerleading Dad • Key Features -Simple message, humor, use of sound and images, use of the unexpected

19. Ad Council’s ‘Alone’ PSA about returning soldiers • Key Features- Use of simple technique to express idea, turning point, music / tone • Global Warming ‘Tic’ • Key Features- Effective use of repetition, creation of mood, use of close-up, simple /reproducible technique

20. Global Warming – ‘Train’ • Key Features- Use of visual image as a metaphor, simple text, reduced message, shock value • Pete’s Couch – Above the Influence • Key Features – Use of visual image as a metaphor, irony

21. Next step? Students work in small groups to create their own Public Service Announcements. Check my website for forms and resources.

23. English Companion Ning

24. Secondary Media Literacy

25. Secondary Media Literacy • Free video kits can be ordered from -

26. Sources and Resources • Ad Council • YouTube Videos – Search Public Service Announcements • PSA Research Council • National Council of Teachers of English - Read, Write, Think • National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)

27. Sources and Resources • Center for Media Literacy • Media Literacy Clearinghouse

28. Contact Information • FreyjaBergthorson • Freyja.Bergthorson@lcps.org

29. Disclaimer Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.