Grade 3: Thursday, April 4, 2013

What is Advertising?

Magazine Advertisment

Billboard

Packaging (physical package)

Lots of companies make the same type of product. Each company wants you to buy their product instead of a product that another company makes. So each company will use advertising to try to convince you that their product is best.

Let's look at some pasta and pasta sauce companies try to advertise their product. They all want you to buy their product. Who does the best job? Which pasta or pasta sauce would you choose

-        Hamburger Helper: http://vimeo.com/55669396 -        Kraft Dinner: http://vimeo.com/49739246 -        Ragu Sauce http://vimeo.com/44897163           Chef Boyardee: http://vimeo.com/30385732

Definitions

You will find the definitions of the Media Literacy concepts we have discussed in class here. They are organized by grade. Definitions are from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

Media Literacy Definitions

Basic Concepts

Means: a way or method
 
Medium: a means (as newspapers, radio, or television) of communication with a message

Message: a means of communication of an idea

Convention: the physical or design characteristics of a text that clarify and/or give support to the meaning in the text (e.g., title, headings, subheadings, bold and italic fonts, illustrations, moving images)

Technique: the specific method of doing or performing something

Bias: not belonging to or taking any side

Neutral: an inclination or preference that influences judgment

Types of Media

Glog: online interactive poster

Blog: a slang term for Web log. An online forum where people share personal journal entries, opinion articles, and/or photographs with others on a regular basis.

Poster: a large temporary sign made of sturdy paper or cardboard posted in a public place for advertising or displaying information, or a similar sign or artistic print used for decoration in a home or other non-public place

Movie Trailer (Preview): excerpts from a film or television program, shown as an advertisement

Video: television as a medium of, or medium for recording, entertainment

http://www.wordsmyth.net/

Grade 3: Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Media Purposes

Television commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIPKiFnemYk 

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Book:

 

Television News Show:

--> http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=896478&playlistId=1.1220475&binId=1.815892&playlistPageNum=1

Recipe: 

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-turtle-cake/20fb6793-6b6c-4dd2-82f1-96787d229b50 

Grade 4/5: Tuesday, April 2, 2013

--> Let's apply the concepts and defintions we just looked at to this media:

http://www.google.com/landing/nose/ 





 

Grade 5:

Type of Media: Video (informational fake, parody)
Features: music, facts, real people, experts, actors, subtitles for the experts, example, visualizations (diagrams)
Intended Purpose: to fool you and make you believe it was real (April Fool's Day)
Intended Audience: people who use Google a lot
Message: We gotcha yah!

TASK:

1. Finish webquest
2. Typingtest.com (2 entries) if finished.

Leader in Me Prezi: http://prezi.com/zahogzhlb2yt/leader-in-me-unit/

Grade 4:

 

Type of Media: Video (informational)
Features: moving pictures and sound, people, music, real life, illustrations, hear and see at the same time
Intended Purpose:  to fool people 
Intended Audience: everyone who uses Google
Message: Happy April Fools

Grade 5: Thursday, March 28, 2013 (Spanish Students Websquest 2)

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Names:

Grade:

Date:

 

Webquest Part 2: Escuela Sierra Nevada

 This is your webquest to complete in the Media Lab.

A webquest is an online scavenger hunt where you have to follow the clues and go to different websites.

The website you will be exploring for this webquest is: http://www.esn.edu.mx/ This is the official website for Escuela Sierra Nevada.

Follow the following links and answer the following questions. Copy and paste this post into a Microsoft Word document. 

1. Click on who are we. Click on history.  Read Sierra Nevada's history.

Who founded the school? When?

Who took over in 1983? What additions did he make to the school?

2. Click on extra-curricular activities. Click on activities. Read about the extra-curricular activities Sierra Nevada offers.

What extra-curricular activities does this school provide for its students?

Does Wesley offer the same or different activities?

Wesley Students: What activities would you like to try?

3. Click on espiral. Read about Sierra Nevada's magazine.

What is Espiral Magazine? 

What topics does it cover?

4. Click on Photo Gallery. Explore the photo gallery.

What rooms and classrooms does Sierra Nevada have?

How are they the same and/or different from Wesley?

5. List 2 ways Wesley is the same as Sierra Nevada. 

6. List 2 ways Wesley is different than Sierra Nevada.

Grade 5: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 (Spanish Students Webquest 1)

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Names:

Grade:

Date:

 

Welcome to Wesley Christian Academy's Media Lab!

This is the blog that our students use in the Media Literacy classroom. All the students from Grade 3 to 8 use this website during class. They find assignments, quizzes and projects here.

Your first task in the Media Lab is to complete a webquest.

A webquest is an online scavenger hunt where you have to follow the clues and go to different websites.

The website you will be exploring for this webquest is: http://wesleyca.com/ This is the official website for Wesley Christian Academy.

Follow the following links and answer the following questions. Copy and paste this post into a Microsoft Word document. 

1. http://wesleyca.com/ Watch the Wesley Christian Academy video near the bottom of the page.

Why do teachers at Wesley love to teach here?

Look at the lunch menu for today. What is for lunch?

2. http://wesleyca.com/about-us/virtual-tour/  Take a virtual tour of the school.

What classrooms and school rooms do you have at your school? Which ones are different?

3. http://wesleyca.com/about-us/our-crest-2-2/ What do the 5 symbols on the Wesley crest stand for?

Open Book:

Hand-in-Hand:

Moon:

Bread:

Cross:

4. Read through the Wesley Anthem (you will hear it on Friday morning in chapel)

 http://wesleyca.com/wp-content/uploads/marcom/Wesley-Christian-Academy-Anthem.pdf

Does your school have an anthem? What are some similarities? What are some differences?

Grade 7 and 8: Monday, March 25, 2013

Looking Through the Lens

We are going to begin a series of lessons on the lives of children in developing countries. Many of the resources are developed by UNICEF Canada. We are going to study the role that media plays influencing our attitudes and perceptions about developing nations and global development issues. 

Look at the following images. What do you see?

HOW WE PERCEIVE THINGS

Just as people learn how to read, they learn how to make sense out of the different symbols (letters, words and punctuation) and they learn how to interpret them. So, when they view them in the future they can understand them because they apply the rules they learned in the past to new situations. If we learn something wrong the first time, we often have a hard time "un-learning". 

For example, if you learn to spell a word wrong the first time you use it, you will often continue to struggle to spell the word correctly. 

Stereotyping works in a similar way. If think, hear or believe something about a certain group of people the first time we come in contact with them or the idea, we often continue to believe what we learned is true- even if it is not. We also have a hard time, changing the view we have of them.

This is often true when it comes to our perceptions of children and poverty in developing countries. 

TRUE OR FALSE ACTIVITY

Generally, how accurate were your guesses?

Why do you think this is?

How have your media experiences or lack of media experience (watching television and movies, reading the newspaper) influenced your responses? 

DEVELOPING/"THIRD WORLD" COUNTRIES

List of ideas associated with the term "developing world" or "third world". 

Where do these ideas come from?

What is missing from your perceptions? Why?

How might the perceptions differ if we had someone from this country in our class?

How do you think people from developing countries would feel about others' perceptions of their region?

Do you think these ideas are the norm or exceptions?

What roles do family, personality, experience, beliefs and the media play in how we see the world?

What other "filters" or "lenses" affect how we see the world?