Renee Hobbs offers instructional strategies about teaching about and with news and currents events to students in Grades K - 6 using a series of case studies from the Powerful Voices for Kids program in Philadelphia.
Views on the News: Media Literacy Empowerment Competencies in the Elementary Grades
1. Views on the News: Media Literacy Empowerment Competencies in the Elementary Grades Renee Hobbs Temple University International Reading Association, Orlando FL May 9, 2011
15. Program Elements Summer Program for Children Staff Development Program Curriculum Development In-School Mentoring Parent Outreach Research and Assessment
18. For a few hours over the weekend, a stretch of Madison Avenue in the Flatiron district became an unlikely cash-free zone for the Sikh Day Parade. Left to right, the brothers BradhamCheema, 4, PahulpreetCheema, 7, and SamarpreetCheema, 3, enjoyed their dishes near Madison Square Park. Credit: Michael Appleton for The New York Times MORE PHOTOS
19. ASK QUESTIONS: What do you want to know? LEARN MORE: Gather new information by reading or listening REFLECT: What’s important here? COMPOSE: Share what you have learned
20. Digital and Media Literacy Competencies Engaging: connecting to lived experience and stimulating curiosity and motivation Locating: finding and selecting information Comprehending: constructing meaning through active interpretation Analyzing: identifying author, audience, purpose and point of view and examining the relationship between form and content Evaluating: making judgments about the value and worth of a particular message Communicating: composing or creating a message using the processes of brainstorming, composition and revision. Taking Action: disseminating a message to an authentic audience for the purpose of making a difference in the world outside the classroom
21. Case Studies Grade 1: Share Emotional Response to Build Empathy Grade 2: Engage and Reframe to Understand Children’s Interpretation Processes Grade 3: Create a News Broadcast to Explore the Conventions of Journalism Grade 4: Debate a Current Events Controversy Grade 5: Talk Back to the News Media
27. Case Studies Grade 1: Share Emotional Response to Build Empathy Grade 2: Engage and Reframe to Understand Children’s Interpretation Processes Grade 3: Create a News Broadcast to Explore the Conventions of Journalism Grade 4: Debate a Current Events Controversy Grade 5: Talk Back to the News Media
28. Digital and Media Literacy Competencies Engaging: connecting to lived experience and stimulating curiosity and motivation Locating: finding and selecting information Comprehending: constructing meaning through active interpretation Analyzing: identifying author, audience, purpose and point of view and examining the relationship between form and content Evaluating: making judgments about the value and worth of a particular message Communicating: composing or creating a message using the processes of brainstorming, composition and revision. Taking Action: disseminating a message to an authentic audience for the purpose of making a difference in the world outside the classroom
42. Renee Hobbs Temple University School of Communications and Theater Media Education Lab Philadelphia PA http://mediaeducationlab.com Email: renee.hobbs@temple.edu
Editor's Notes
Review history of each one. Note that all are approaches responding to the new texts, the new tools and the new technologies that are part of everyday life.
Review history of each one. Note that all are approaches responding to the new texts, the new tools and the new technologies that are part of everyday life.
Review history of each one. Note that all are approaches responding to the new texts, the new tools and the new technologies that are part of everyday life.
Review history of each one. Note that all are approaches responding to the new texts, the new tools and the new technologies that are part of everyday life.
Review history of each one. Note that all are approaches responding to the new texts, the new tools and the new technologies that are part of everyday life.
Start from the Learner’s Interests. The learning experience begins with the learner’s interest in a news event that is contemporary, local and relevant. Learners, not teacher selects the topic to examine, and they select news that’s personally meaningful to them.
Connect Comprehension and Analysis. Learners build reading comprehension and analysis skills through close reading as a means to both understand the news content and pay attention to its form and structure.
Ask Critical Questions and Listen Well. Learning and discussion centers around the practice of asking questions. Asking good questions is more important than having answers. Multiple answers are respected and valued. Learners ask questions, not just the teacher. Learners offer answers and use reasoning and evidence to support their ideas. The teacher is not the exclusive font of knowledge. The teacher listens carefully and helps knowledge to be co-constructed through the practice of asking questions, searching for new information, developing ideas, and listening with openness, curiosity and respect.
Focus on Constructedness. Careful attention is paid to how news stories are constructed: to understanding the construction process and to examining how creative and strategic choices of words, images, sounds and graphic design shape a reader’s perception of reality. A focus on the constructedness of news helps us examine the complex relationship between representation and reality.
Use Collaborative Multimedia Composition to Produce Meaningful and Authentic Communication. Learners work together to compose new messages using media genres and forms that are appropriately challenging and meaningful for them to share their ideas with real audiences.
Make Connections between the Classroom and the World. Learners benefit when the boundaries between the classroom activity and the messiness of the real world makes them consider the tensions and contradictions that exist between the ideal and real, between theory and practice.
News literacy is a vital component of media literacy education--- and it’s needed now more than ever. But we have to keep our eye on the learning process and the learning outcomes if we’re going to make it work.