Lisa added Rational for Teaching Media
Summary of a Fictional Presentation to a Reluctant School Board (Lisa Holton)
Media is a part of our lives—like it or not. We all have a TV or a computer or the internet or subscribe to a newspaper or watch movies or listen to the radio or read magazines. Many of us do all of the above--many at the same time. But when you are exposed to media, how do you analyze what you see and hear? What guides you in making decisions about what to watch and what to think of information you’re exposed to? Can you create media? These are just a few questions students today must be able to answer if they are to be productive, critically thoughtful and engaged citizens. You are able to do these things because you have developed your senses of critical thinking and analysis. But for our students, it isn’t that easy. They live in a world of dynamic media with a static education system.
CriticalAnalysis
Finally, the students will create a product and design their own ads using images and text. These ads will be based on a positive message such as equality, freedom, health, good decisions, etc. The ads will be showcased throughout the school building.
KillingUsSoftly3 -Jean Kilbourne (clip from YouTube)
Considering Critical Approaches in the Classroom (Lisa Holton)
In considering all of the approaches as described by Beach in chapter 4, I had a difficult time separating them. Theory and analysis by definition are not one sided endeavors. I do not think that any of these approaches or concepts exist without influence from at least one or two of the others simultaneously. For example, one cannot consider a strictly rhetorical approach where images and symbols are responsible for initiating thoughts or action from the watcher/reader without understanding the semiotic concepts that a culture must share an understanding of such codes and our definitions of these codes are created, considered, and act]]>