From Grasshopper to Super Hero

From Grasshopper to Super Hero: A Critical Media Literacy Progression

Media Literacy Autobiography Storyboard

Clipart is from openclipart.org
Other pictures are my own.

Brainstorming my Media Literacy Autobiography

I am struggling with the protagonist in this story. I feel like I kind of just stumbled into this story only being aware of media literacy as I went through this class. Now that I am aware of it I certainly feel it is my duty to stomp out negative media and help others fight through its meanings. 

I have never been affected by media as I look back on my answers for this assignment. I always enjoy looking at it, using my imagination, creating the story, but if I didn't like it or got tired of it, I just turned it off, turned the page or walked away moving my focus to something else. So media has been more of an entertainment or escape for me. Never once did I think that wasn't what everyone else did.  I remember looking at pictures as a child and hearing, smelling and feeling everything in it. I didn't realize other people didn't do that until I had teenage children. I received a 2’x 4’ picture as a Christmas gift one year. It is one of my favorite pictures. It hangs above the stairs in every house we live in. I can sit on the stairs and look at it and become one with it. One day my teenage daughter saw me doing this and asked why I was looking at that picture that way. As I described what I was doing my youngest daughter joined in. 

My husband found the three of us like that and asked, “What in the world are you all doing?” 

We all three described it and he looked at the picture and said, "Hhmmm . . . nope, I don't hear it." As he moved down the hallway we looked at each other in awe. I believe him. Both my daughters have inquired with friends about this situation and realize that they have a special gift that not all people have or use. 

I still have the same strong reaction to at least three of the quotes I listed in my blog this semester. I now have new examples to use in support of my reactions. 

I have narrowed down my choices of Protagonist to a grasshopper -  because that is the way I think I started this journey, a detective - because I have had to gather information (or clues) in the process, and a hero - because I want to teach others how to overcome negative media. 

Digital Story -New Dog - Final

New Dog

Thank you for your comments.
Changes I made to my rough draft: I faded in and out the music at the end and made the credits a little longer to accommodate the music so it didn't seem like it just cut off. I also thought there was one area at the end that I didn't speak correctly, so I re-recorded it.

My digital story might be used to raise awareness of rescue animals. When we rescued Jethro, the shelter was full. Not only did we save his life, but he saved ours.

Animals, especially dogs, are very good for reducing high blood pressure and helping with one's general well being and good health. They can be good companions. As the old saying goes: "A dog is man's best friend." Only in my case it is "woman's" too.

I have read lately that dogs are being used to help calm those with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), generally occurring in people returning from war. My husband suffers with PTSD because of his massive heart attack while walking Jethro. That is another story in itself.  A miracle story for another time.

Digital Story Rough Draft

New Dog - A Digital Story (Rough Draft)

Hear these stories

I enjoy Story Corp. I listen to it every Friday on WVPR. We need to hear these stories.  Positive media is much better to read and hear about than negative media.  If we heard more positive stories people would think of more positive things to do. It would make the world a better place. When we hear negative stories I think some people thrive on it, try to duplicate it or think of other negative things to do. It would be great if something that started so small could take the world by storm for the good of the people. 

 Isay, Dave. "Everyone around You Has a Story the World Needs to Hear." TED. Mar. 2015. Web. 7 Nov. 2015. 

Storyboard for Digital Story

Storyboard "New Dog" Link

Digital and Media Literacy Infusion

"They worked collaboratively, strategically, to build programs that fit the needs of their students and their school communities. There's no one-size-fits-all recipe for success"  Pg. 168

Boy isn't this the truth?! I am completing my TIS (Technology Integration Specialist) Certification this year. I am in a high school of 1200+ students. Most of my teachers are willing to work with me to help them integrate technology in a meaningful way in their classroom.  This is a blessing. What works in one classroom with one subject and teacher might not work in another. I have had teachers say, "I did this last year and it went very well. This year's group of students isn't interested in it." The TIS Cohort I am in is very supportive by giving examples of what worked for them in certain situations and what didn't, in detail. We often suggest apps or programs to use or try. Even though we don't see each other we communicate through projects, blogs, e-mail and discussion groups. 

"Teachers need a community of support to aid them in exploring the full range of possibilities associated with using digital and media literacy in the classroom." Pg. 172

I think professional development in this area with specific examples in each subject area would go a long way to helping teachers integrate digital and media literacy in their classroom. I also think students are more likely to remember, learn and apply the concepts if it is integrated into the curriculum. 

"Educators should feel confident that their use of copyrighted materials for teaching and learning is supported by the doctrine of fair use."  Pg. 182

I want the teachers I work with, myself included, to be able to use video clips or pictures to demonstrate digital and media literacy.  The information about screen capturing tools for fair use is very important to me. I can also model this and explain it  while using it with teachers and students.  

Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011.

Brainstorming my Digital Story

1. Describe a positive scene from childhood  

My dad liked to work with wood, as a hobby. He was a Chemical Engineer. On weekends and evenings he would work in the 1/2 of the garage he had set up as a wood workshop. My mother parked her van in the garage and he parked his car on the driveway. My dad made things like our wooden salad bowl set, dinning room table and chairs to several chiming clocks including a grandfather clock. I would have been in the 4th and 5th grades during this time. The time I spent with my father in his "work shop" talking to him and watching him work has made an impact on my life. I remember the smell, taste, sound and feel or those times in the "work shop", both physically and emotionally. Last week I received the 1976 grandfather clock my father hand crafted from his estate. It was shipped from Texas. I'll call a clock repairman on Monday to help me put the weights in so I can wind it up and hear it chime once again. 

2. Describe a negative scene from childhood  

I was in the 5th grade on the playground with my friends. This was right after lunch, so we were only half done with the school day. My friends and I made a big circle holding hands. I believe we were playing a game of "ring around the roses" of sorts. We were on a hill as we were spinning around. I tripped in a hole and fell down landing on my left wrist. It hurt so bad I started to cry. One of the teachers on the playground came to check on me. She asked me what was wrong. I told her my wrist hurt very bad. I thought it was broken. She took me to the office and we put ice on it.  She asked if I could move my fingers and I could without pain. She decided it wasn't broken. I returned to class with the ice pack and extreme pain in my wrist. My teacher asked what happened I told her. She asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I could. She said it must not be broken. I finished the school day and rode home on the bus, which caused me great pain in my wrist. So much that I continued to cry. The bus driver asked what was wrong.  I told him. He asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I could. He said it must not be broken. When I got home and told my mother, who hadn't been called from school about the incident, she took me to the hospital for an x-ray. Even the nurse asked if I could wiggle my fingers. I showed her I could.  By this time my wrist was very swollen and it was hard to make my fingers move, but moving them didn't hurt any worse than the pain from my wrist.  The x-ray showed a broken wrist. I had a white cast put on my wrist. When I got home my father decided white was very boring. In an effort to boost my spirits he got three colored markers, red, green and blue and put stripes on my cast. The next day I went to school with the cast and all my friends and teachers signed it. The teachers couldn't believe it was broken because I could wiggle my fingers. I learned it is best to see a doctor than to rely on someone who isn't a doctor. My wrist periodically gives me trouble. At times it will "catch" and I have to shake it loose. I don't know any other way to describe it. 

3. Describe a particular event from your teen-aged years  

When I was in the 9th grade my father took a job in a different state when the company he was working for closed.  My mother made several trips to my father's work state looking for a house. She maintained our house and family while my father was gone providing the income. What I didn't know was that my parents were really separating. The impact this had on my older brother and younger sister was different than it had on me. As products of this divorce, we all three forged on through the next several years of school, each taking our own paths for reasons that resulted from the divorce. I can still see the results today and it has been over 35 years. 

4. Describe a vivid or important memory from any time in your adult years.  

After 16 years of owning a dog, I found myself dog free. A year and 1/2 without a dog freed my schedule and eliminated my boarding budget. My youngest child was graduating in May and headed to college in the fall, my oldest child relocated to Denver for Grad school, my middle child graduating from college in May and headed to Graduate school in the fall. My husband and I would have a little time to travel between the children and take little much needed trips. A little bit of freedom was in view. After learning that my husband would be transferred in July, assuming I wouldn't find a new job before school started in August, maybe another dog would keep him company during the week while I was commuting to work. Maybe it would make the move a little more bearable for my youngest child. Maybe just one look at a dog she found at the animal shelter would be okay. After all, I could always say no . . . or could I? What I could never imagine is what role this dog would play in our lives in the very near future. 

5. In looking back on your life, you may be able to identify particular “turning points”  

Sixteen years ago on Labor Day weekend, my husband and I were on a three day weekend trip with some friends of ours. My husband had returned from two weeks of continuing education in England with our 10 year old son. I noticed my husband hadn't been feeling very well and suggested he go to the doctor before our trip. He did and the doctor said he was just tired from the trip. On the trip my husband experienced several abdominal pain as well as shortness of breath. He felt so bad he missed church! My mother was staying the weekend at our house with our three children.  He drove the two hours back to our town where he went straight to a quick care facility. They told him to go directly to the emergency room. Our town didn't have a good hospital, so we stopped at home for a change of clothes, told my mother what we were doing and I drove the next hour to the hospital not knowing my husband was dying in the passenger seat beside me.  My husband couldn't walk into the ER. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I have lived differently since that day. I have seen others differently and been the recipient of the kindness of many people. This event has had a substantial impact on the way my family lives, eats, exercises, sees illnesses and helps others. 

Incorporating News in Teaching

I walked into a classroom on Friday where the teacher and students were discussing the current news of "educators dressed as welfare recipients" for Halloween and this week's reading instantly popped into my mind. This was a "bell ringer" that took over most of the class. It really turned into a teachable moment. My school uses bell ringers for every class every day.  This is a link to the article. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3283645/You-waiting-pay-day-waiting-month-School-principal-coach-husband-trouble-people-Walmart-costumes-mocking-people-welfare.html  

I held my breath as the students discussed this. I did not participate in this discussion and left in the middle of it because I was scheduled in another classroom. But I was there long enough to know the students were engaged! The class had a diverse student background economically as well as culturally. The discussion had three main focuses: the fun of costumes for Halloween, making fun of people on welfare and the principal and coach possibly losing their jobs. I am sure these students learned a lot from this without even knowing. 

On Tuesday my school will be using the Common Sense Media lessons for high school to maintain our CIPA compliance. This classroom discussion is a perfect example of digital media citizenship, our responsibility when posting to the internet and how this can affect our lives and the lives of those around us. I often use short NPR recordings from reporters around the world as suggestions for teachers to use during these lessons. 

I have always found it a little scary to just have an idea of traveling and then follow through with it. My children who are young adults do it though.  And I have taken an unplanned road trip or two in college, but never out of the country with no real safety net.  As I listened to her adventure of traveling and reporting in different countries with her friends I anticipated the line "and then the money ran out". 

They believed in what they were doing so much they could do this without thinking twice about it, or they were just young.  Sometimes I think just having the thought of doing something that might not really be possible is motivation enough. They reported about newsworthy stories from other countries that connect and inspire. When they got back to Philadelphia with their stories and organization, The Common Language Project, they were able to find people in the area that helped them by publishing their stories, fundraising, etc. I'm sure they learned a lot through this support group of sorts. You might say they were experiencing Place-based education and authentic learning to an extent. In return they are working with students to help them find stories all over the world worth reporting and helping to revive journalism in this world of digital media. 

I know that my Civics teachers employ news and current events a lot in their teaching. Most of them discuss the reporting aspect as well as the information. I was glad to see the bulleted information on pages 151 - 153 in our text. This can be utilized across the disciplines since all disciplines have some type of reporting activity each year. I am going to include the website on my resource page and in an e-mail as a resource for the teachers in my building. 

Stuteville, Sarah. "Journalism Revived." TEDx Ranier, January 17 2012. TEDx (web). 
 Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011.

Story Center

I choose this as my favorite of the stories I viewed because my children have always named our cars. They seem to take on a personality and become a part of our lives, past and present. Because they are an object it doesn't take long for the new one to take the place of the old one, but the memories live on in our minds, stories and pictures.

Point of View - This story is told in first person using a personal point of view and is narrated by the author who is the owner of "Lucinda". 

Dramatic Question - "I named her Lucinda because it was an old lady name. We were both old ladies in a way. At 22 I had a college degree, a good paying job, a marriageable boyfriend, but Lucinda surprised me."  I was hooked after hearing this.

Emotional Content - Lucinda was a trusted friend, there when you needed her, ever ready for the next adventure. 

Your Voice - The narrator's voice is very soothing. She adds feeling to the story. You can hear excitement, happiness, and sadness in her voice. 

Sound Track - Soft guitar music in the background in the beginning of the story fades to silence as the narrator weaves her story. At the end of the narration, the Bluegrass and folk music fades in and sounds like traveling music for a county road trip.  

Economy - The transitions between pictures  fade in and out giving you the feeling of life's ebb and flow with the focus in the pictures moving to the topic the narrator is discribing. The clips seem to be of equal length as the story is told in chronological order. It is easy to fill in the picture that is missing of Lucinda death "in a fabulous cloud of head gasket smoke." The screen is black during this segment. I did wonder if she could have found a cloud of smoke to represent this, but it might have been difficult and the black screen is just as effective with pause of her voice.    

Pacing - The narrator paces this story several times as she slows down for emphasis or speeds up in excitement. One example is when she is naming the states in which Lucinda has gone as she "just kept going". She speeds with excitement slowing only as she names the last state of West Virginia. 

 Marsh, Elysa. "Lucinda" STORYCENTER. 2 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2015. <http://www.storycenter.org/stories/>.