wk 12 activity 1

Element #1: Know your Audience

The audience was the students.  I sometimes have a hard time understanding the students voices and like the text used in the one video.  I am going to use a personal voice in my digital story because it is the story of how I got to this time in my life.

Element #2: Dramatic Question

I think that the dramatic question in the first video could have been changed or maybe they could have added more pictures of how Guam is being effected.  I did like how they made the video come back to them and showed that had a vested part of the video with the ending.

In my video the emphasis is on a little girl growing up but my ending is me today looking at a photo book reflecting all the photos I had just described.  Hopefully the viewer will get that fact.

Element #3: Emotional content

I think both videos were able to show emotion.  The videos both had a different emotional content, the first was sad and the second showed the mother’s love and wish to give culture to her children.  I have always been that mother who valued culture and tradition so I really like the second video.

Element #4: The gift of your voice

I think both videos did a good job of giving their work a voice.  I liked the second one because of the childrens’ voices and singing.  I also like using the two ladies in the first video to bring the story to life.

Element #5: The soundtrack

I think that one must be careful when using a soundtrack not to overpower the words.  I think that I am going to use narriation rather than a soundtrack.  I think a soundtrack works best with the use of words.

Element #6: Economy

I think both stories did a good job with this.  The pictures were there long enough but did not linger.

Element #7: Pacing

I thought the pacing of both videos was good.  One thing that I have found when making my PSA was how low to show the words compared to the picture.

DEJ 12

. How can documentary video production help prevent the underdevelopment of urban youth minds and spirits?

It can allows the student use something he is familiar with or wants to investigate to develop critical thinking skills and let them be successful in completing a project and feeling a sense of pride..

2. What school-based literacies does documentary video production help to develop?

Documentary video production can be a way of enhancing reading, writing and research skills, It teaches the skill of working with others to achieve a goal.  They students’ get to see language in use and need to use reading skills to research the issue.

3. What 21st century skills does documentary video production help to develop? Provide concrete examples from the chapter. Use this Wikipedia article  to help you answer this questions. 

The student had to edit their work and use critical thinking skills to do this.  The students had to decide what was important and keep a log of the film they wanted to use in the film.  They also has to work together which is cooperative learning.

Creativity and Innovation: The students making the video, designing the video and using a jornal to log what they thought was important to include are all creative.  Innovation was deciding to interview the father.

Communication & Collaboration: Johathan and Majandra working together is an example of collaboration.  Talking about topics and deciding to choose susicide was also an example of they worked together.  Communication between the two was present throughout.

Information Literacy: the research completed investigating teen suside.  Asking a boy for first hand information gave feeling and meaning

Media Literacy: the students learned what seems like it would be easy like the interviewing was actually a planned event and took work to time and practiced to make it seem unrehearsed.

Career & Life skills: Julius learned how to be a good listener without adding his own feelings into the conversation.  Jonathan learned how to compromise which is a valuable virture in the workplace.  Majandra said she would like to work in Journalism and this gave her practice.

4. Would you support a documentary video production in school or after-school program in your community? Why or Why not?

I think there is so much you could do with this and would support such a program.  I think that a documentary video gives the students a chance to take an active part in their learning while promoting their views as important and lifting them up in the process.

final DEJ

Literacy involves gaining the skills and knowledge to read, interpret, and produce certain types of texts and artifacts and to gain the intellectual tools and capacities to fully participate in one’s culture and society             ( Kellner & Share, 2005).

 Education goes so much farther than the brick school walls and I believe it is the responsibility to prepare our students for all aspects of life so that they can take active successful roles in our society.   We all want our students to be successful but how to accomplish this is the core issue.   Educators talk about 21^st century skill and a global society  but in today’s standard driven and result driven educational setting , the classroom teacher must use creative ways to both meet the standards and still prepare the students for the world outside the school’s walls.   The student is made up of all facets of their life; they come to school with predetermined ideas, problems, economic differences and cultural differences.  I believe that education should celebrate these differences and give students opportunities to explore their world.  I also think that this is an area that education today falls short. 

Steven Goodman shares this view and made this observation after working with urban youth in an after-school project: One thing has struck me in my work is the odd congruence between two very different systems; the system of global media that wants young people to be spectators and consumers rather than social actors, and a factory system of schooling that wants young people to be passive and willing vessels for a prescribed set of knowledge and skills(Goodman, 2003).  I think this is a statement every teacher should read and search their own philosophy of which view they support.  I support teaching students all the skills they need to not just be vessels to absorb presented material but to question, analyze, and make a judgment of the material presented before just accepting the material.   My discipline is Family And Consumer Science and I have always shared these views.  I always wanted my students to be educated consumers and to question advertisers ads and claims but with the influx of technology and media this needs to be revamped to give the students the skills to not only view and accept the messages of media but to also question and analyze and form a personal opinion about the message-media literacy.

It is critical media literacy that will give the student these skills.  Students today are bombarded with images, audio messages, news programs, social media, internet ads, and commercials.   Media literacy gives the students’ skills to ask who, why and what is the purpose of the message.  Business pay marketing firms millions to promoted their message and without media literacy skills our students are just pawns not informed consumers.  They are not prepared to go into society informed and able to make judgments based on their own critique of the message.  Students are often much more familiar with social media, entertainment and the technologies that they use daily, than is the teacher in many cases.  I believe that a teacher can use this fact to their benefit by giving the student a voice in explaining, sharing and discussing their views, impressions and feelings within the classroom setting.  Teachers need to be prepared to defend this view because there is no pedagogy for teaching media literacy(Goodman, 2003).

Another movement that is being used to give students a voice is the use of digital stories.  I view digital stories to be a valuable tool to give students a voice.  I think the use of a familiar format such as a story is a good method to give the students a means to share who they are.  The digital story gives students a way to show who they are, their culture, their thoughts, and their world. 

While there may not be specific courses in media literacy I can see using the digital story format in a FACS class that is discussing different cultures, friendship, dating, and teen pregnancy.  Students would not only be learning about the specific social issue but also how to tell their message.  They would have to use language skills to tell their story. 

In contrast to their traditional teacher-centered classes, students consistently report that they feel more positive about themselves, their work and their community (Goodman, 2003).  I agree with this statement and find that involving the student in the process of learning the results in greater satisfaction and participation by the student.   Giving the students’ a voice in the topic, the message, the purpose of the project not only helps them to be more involved with the planning and execution but also lets them know that their opinion and views are important and respected.  This helps the student build a feeling of respect and self-esteem.  In addition to letting the student have a voice I also believe that the student should have an opportunity to try their voice outside the walls of the school in the community.  We are preparing our students to be good productive members of society after school and what better way to prepare than to practice.  When students are giving opportunities to practice in the community both the students’ and the community benefits.   Students will learn that not all they hear and learn in the community will be good but they can use the skills their media literacy skills to evaluate, analyze and critique the message and form their own opinion about the message.  This is just one example of how the media literacy skills are carried from the classroom to everyday life.

In conclusion I am excited about the development of this field.  I can see many uses for these types of skills in the FACS classroom.  I think that while core subjects are important , developing the person as a whole is also important.  Media literacy not only gives the student a way to critique media but can be used to analyze man aspects of life.  Students are taught to question, analyze research and then make a judgment all skills that are necessary to be successful. 

Work Cited

Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production & social change. NY: Teachers College Press.

Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Retrieved from http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2005_Kellner-Share_TowardsCriticalMediaLiteracy.pdf

5 resource links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUZXBc6yRhU

I love that this teacher used making a digital story to teach how to make a digital story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjz_eiIX8k

Food styling and tricks to make commercials look good

http://medialiteracyproject.org/deconstructions

examples of deconstructing media

messageshttp://www.cmch.tv/mentors_teachers/lp_nutrition.asp

Nutrition and media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6-NuHdpC4Q

how to make a digital story video.

My Little Street digital story.wmv

rough draft digital story

storyboard for digital story

here is a link to my storyboard.  a very strange things happened when I completed this storyboard.  The story is about my childhood street and my house number was 513, when I finished the word doc the word count was 513.  What a strange thing.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2m9guXini8dMDB4ZEluclFCQnc

dje 11

  1. What are your concerns about teaching young people to make videos about social problems?

I have concerns for their safety.  When they go out into their communities and expose social issues they may be putting themselves at risk.  Another concern I have is that their story may have an opposite effect on a youth that do not live in the same type of social culture.  It may seem cool to a teen who does not live in a urban setting.  While the urban youths are discussing the hardships they face each day it may be glorified to another not living in those conditions and you now have a copycat want to be who is now at risk.

Then read Chapter 2 in the course text and answer the following questions:

1. Name a social issue specific to the Appalachian region that you think young people in your community would or should address.  The lack of employment opportunities for top paying fields causing many of the youth to just settle and not challenge themselves to strive for a better way of life or strive to make changes.

2. Find an online resource you might use to scaffold community-based  video production process.

A print source is Digital Filmmaking for Teens. Authors Pete Shaner and Gerald Everett Jones. Premier Press, Paperback, Bk&CD edition, Published December 2004, 237 pages, ISBN 1592006035.

A online source can be found at http://www.mediacollege.com/

This site gives information from very bic information and takes you through all the different processes you will encounter in multi media production.

3. Choose on of the following perspectives; teacher, parent, or community member. From your chosen perspective, would you be supportive of a school program that engaged students in community-based video production? Why or Why not?

From the teacher perspective I am supportive of any activity that gives students opportunities to use their talents.  I think that this is not only a way to be heard but to also show their talent and creativity.  I do think that the teacher must have a thick skin when sensitive topics are covered.  Teachers must remember that these students are encouraged to open up sometimes very personal issues and teachers have to realize that the language will reflect the language used in their everyday life.  I think that guidelines of how to complete the project should be given as far as the technical skills but not the content.  One way that content can be controlled is to have the class brainstorm for a central topic and then choose the topic to use but how to tell the topics story should be keep open.

I believe that these young video makers have important lessons to teach us about how to more effectively use media technologies and cultural traditions to build upon students’ skills of visual and oral expression as stepping-stones, instead of stumbling blocks to learning.

I always think that teachers can learn from their students as well as the students learning from the teacher.  I think that effective teachers are open to what they can learn from their students.   Accepting the students culture no matter how foreign it may seem to the teacher is important to bridge the gap between the real world and the educational world.  In these media projects students used their cultural language but learn how to get their message and meaning to others which means that they will need to use spoken language that others will understand while still staying true to their world.  Using their voices to tell their stories rather than studying rote words will lead to a greater understanding of language. Word meanings and communications.

Dital media empowers youth [Web]. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bbit65fO3k
Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production & social change. NY: Teachers College Press.
Mediacollege.com. (29 N). Retrieved from http://www.mediacollege.com/

DEJ 10

Chapter #1: Framing the Inner-City Teenager

1. Do you think topics that center on "frustration with official power" and "attraction for mass media fantasies would differ in  rural communities from those that inner-city teenagers focus on? How? Give some examples.  I do think that frustration with official power exists within both communities but in different ways.  In a rural community the issues may be speeding, driving without a license, underage drinking and drugs.  In an urban community life is more about survival than the risk taking events of the rural community.  The youth have to comply to the laws while survival may be doing the exact opposite.  The pressure no do right comes from official power but gangs, peers, life situations often dictate behavior that is in direct conflict with the official power.

2. How do traditional social institutions and mass media work to silence inner-city kids?

Traditional social institutions try to mold behavior into their desired outcomes without taking all the factors into consideration and fall short in helping the person.  Mass media give an image and a face to behaviors of certain groups.  The behaviors are either acceptable, looked down upon or exploited to sell a product.  Urban youth often find themselves in the unacceptable group and want to be the accepted one or just accept their fate and continue behaviors that will lead them on a downward spiral.  Media shows more of the failure of minority youths than the achievements.  There is no news in Tammy getting her B.S. but if Tammy shoots her rival at a graduation party it is news.

3. What is your reaction to the statistics presented under the heading "And Justice For Some?" Do you think the system in intentionally organized to disadvantage urban youth of color?

I do not think that it is intentionally organized to give a disadvantage to urban youth but there are many more minority urban youths on the roles of detention centers.  I think the problem is much more complicated than courts being unfair or slanted against urban youth. 

4. Link to an advertisement or commercial that you consider to b e influenced by hip-hop culture?

5. What dangers to young people do you see in the relentless marketing of "cool”?

I think that one of the negative results is that all youth want to be cool so if a produce is marketed and the teen can not afford the product they may go to extreme means to obtain the product.  If on the other hand the teen accepts that they have no way to obtain the product they are looked at as a social outcast because they do not have or wear the cool products.  I also think that the hip-hop life style sends the wrong message to all yoths not only minority youths and yet this lifestyle is glorified in the media.

6. What is your reaction to the research that shows youth violence in decline? Do you still think that is the trend in 2012? Find some statistics to support your answer?

Living outside of Pittsburgh I hear that crimes are being committed daily by youth so I did think that crime rate was on the rise.  I know that in Chicago this year it has been the worst summer for murder in many years and they related it to gangs.  I found this short video that stated that crime was on the rise but more important was the message of the video.

Juvenile Delinquency Rising in US - Video Dailymotion

7. Why is it important to let youth speak for themselves and their voices to be heard?

When we give the chance for youth to speak we gain insights into their world, their problems and their dreams.  It can give us a starting point of what needs to be changed to help them travel on a tract to success rather than on the same path of risky behaviors.  I live not far from many low income urban neighbors and I often hear the man is keeping me down but do we ever give the youth to explain why they feel that way or even the opportunity to find out if it is really true or that they can be successful given the tools and their own work to achieve.

8. What prevents Urban Youth from articulating their own lived experiences in ways that might be productive? Do you think this is problematic in rural areas like West Virginia? Do you think rural youth are victimized by mass media in ways that are different than Urban youth? How?

First with urban youth language skills are very poor for many.  Urban youth have a street language and a language they are expected to use.  We have classes for ESL but it reality the street language is like their native language and then they are placed in a classroom or work place that their native language is not acceptable.  Media celebrates the thugs and the hip-hop culture and so urban youth take their role models from this subculture.  Once again street language is used in these portrayals. When their message is delivered in street language main stream media disregards the message.  Rural youths may not have been exposed to rich language and many terms and words may be foreign to them.  When you see rural settings and people in mass media they are also stereotyped but instead of thugs and rappers, they are slow thinking country western singing people who are not very ambitious.  Rural messages also may be disregarded my main stream media as being backward and unimportant.

9. According to the author, what is the best way to address the literacy challenge? Let the youth voices be heard.  Give them opportunities to experience language by community interactions, virtual lessons, and successful business leaders to see how language is used in telling their story.  This will give more meaning to words than rote memorization.

10. Why is the skill and drill approach to literacy instruction ineffective?

The rote learning will soon be forgotten because the youth do not have a reference point for the words.  There is no connection between many of the words and their real life use of words.  The rote memorization is just that and true meaning and practical use is not achieved.

11. What should schools offer to improve literacy instruction for Urban Youth? Do you think this strategy would also benefit student of the Appalachia region whose literacy rates are similar to those of youth in the inner-city?

I do think both groups would benefit from the same strategies.  Give the students opportunities to see actual ways these words are used.  Start with building a working vocabulary that has meaning to the student and build on that.  Let the students have access to different community members, business leaders and learning opportunities via technology.  Give the students opportunities to express themselves.  Challenge their knowledge by designing projects outside their comfort zone to expose them to new learning opportunities. 

12. How is the process of reading changed by media?

The media can be a good source for students to experience things outside their comfort zone however they must be given literacy skills to interpret the message the media is really presenting. 

13. According to the author how might the imbalance between inner-city kids strong command of oral and visual language be used to improve print-based language? Do you think this would also work for low-literacy kids in the Appalachia region?

Give the students exposure to all racial groups, cultures and social opportunities by developing projects that give the students exposure through media, technology and printed words.  Let them develop their oral and visual language skills by participating directly in the process rather than given a set of rote lessons.  5 do think that this type of learning would work in both settings and one of the many reasons I do not believe in teaching for a test.  

wk 12 activity 1b

My dramatic question -Does anything really withstand the test of time?

My first line can be My childhood neighborhood is ever changing but remains unchanged in my menories.

activity 1 wk 10

1.      Please describe a positive scene from childhood in detail.  What led up to this event? When and where did it happen?  Who was involved?  What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did it have on you?

I can remember being in my grandmother’s kitchen huddled with several of my cousins conspiring how we were going to torment the mean old neighbor Mrs. Tygart.  I lived on a small street in Pittsburgh along with my great grand-mother, my grandma, my four aunts and uncles and my 14 cousins.  You could always find several cousins at grandma’s house at any given time day or night.  There was an old mean lady that lived up the street who would come each evening and eat ice cream on my grandma’s porch.  All the grand children knew she only came for the ice cream because if my grandma did get it fast enough she would ask for it and if she was out of ice cream my grandma would send one of us to the corner store for some ice cream.  On this day we were deciding whether to play loud on the piano, run around the front yard. Or sing loudly while sitting on the porch, all of which would drive Mrs. Tygart insane and she would leave.  We decided to sing.

2. Please describe a negative scene from childhood in detail.  What led up to this event? When and where did it happen?  Who was involved?   What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did it have on you?

Our house was robbed.  I grew up with a street full of relatives and did not have a fear in the world.  We had a summer cottage and would spend all summer there and weekends in the fall.  We came home one Sunday evening when I was about 5 years old and our house was a mess.  My dad grabbed me and threw me on my aunt’s front porch and said keep her inside we’ve been robbed, call the police I don’t know if they are still in there.  I don’t remember when my mom was after we got home but my mom, dad and I all came home in the family car.  I still was afraid at first and wanted to see what was going on.  I can remember peeking out my aunt’s front window with my cousin Shirley.  My aunt stayed with us while my uncle went to help.  Soon the whole neighborhood joined in the scene because the majority of the neighbors were my relatives.  I was allowed to go home after the police left and the house was in shambles.  All of my clothes were out of the draws and all over the floor.  I had a little tin bank from the 8 o’clock coffee company and it was opened and the money gone.  There was probably only a few dollars but it was mine. 

3. Describe a particular event from your teen-aged years that stands out in your memory today.  This can be positive or negative. What led up to the event?  What happened?  Where and when?  Who was involved?   What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact did the event have on you?

We bought a new house when I was 13 and we had to move from the only street I ever live on.  I was leaving all of my family behind on my old street.  I was excited to have such a big new house but also afraid of leaving.  I was leaving my family where I had built in friends and was going to be on my own.  It was my mom, dad and me moving about 6 miles away.  I had to start a new school and make new friends.  I lived in the city where all the kids that went to my school walked and this new school all the kids were bused.  I can remember my dad having to drive me every weekend to stay at my grandmothers and to play with my cousins.    If I could not go in there one or more of my cousins would come to my house.  My first week at my new house I took my dog for a walk and got lost and was only about a block away but there was a woods between me and my house.  This was a new experience because I knew my old neighborhood and the two neighbors that surrounded my neighborhood.  I changed my physical location but my close ties to my family remained.  This is when I knew they would always be in my life no matter how far apart we were.

4. Describe a vivid or important memory from any time in your adult years.  Again, this can be positive or negative.  It can be about anything – family, work, whatever.  The scene stands out in your mind today as being especially vivid or important.  Please describe what led up to the event.  Then describe the scene in detail.  What happened?  Where and when?  Who was involved?  What were you thinking and feeling?  Why is it an important event?  What impact has the event had on you?

I was married for 5 years and I got the great news I was having a baby.  I couldn’t wait for my husband to get home from work to tell him the news.  He was so happy and wanted to call his mom and mine right away.  That happy moment soon faded into nine months of being sick every day.  I was so sick that I lost 27pounds while being pregnant.  I had to be followed by a risk doctor but I had a healthy 8.5 pound baby boy.  It seems like yesterday but it was really 33 years ago.  I went from an only child to a wife to a mother and then a widow.

 5. In looking back on your life, you may be able to identify particular “turning points” – episodes through which you experienced an important change in your life.  Please choose one key turning point scene and describe it in detail.  If you feel your life story contains no clear turning points, then describe a particular episode in your life that comes closer than any other to qualifying for a turning point – a scene where you changed in some way.  Again, please describe what led up to the event, what happened in the event, where and when it happened, who was involved, what you were thinking and feeling, and so on.  Also, please tell me how you think you changed as a result of this event and why you consider this event to be an important scene in your life story today.

The biggest turning point happened my sophomore year at Fairmont State College.  I was living in a school owned apartment with three roommates.  One night I was sitting in my room when a knock came at the door.  I can still remember what I was wearing; it was a red and blue robe, when I opened the door.  Boy was I surprised when I saw 5 guys standing at my door.  I told them to leave but after I shut the door I reopen it and asked the guy I knew who the blonde guy was.  The blonde came back up the steps and introduced himself as the brother of a friend of mine.  I did not believe him because my friend’s brother lived out of the country but he showed me his driver’s license and he was his brother.  He asked if I wanted to go somewhere but I said no and not with 5 guys.  He asked if I would go if he took them home and I said yes.  This was not like me at all but when he returned I went out.  We went and got pizza and talked and he brought me home before the doors were locked for the night.  When I got up to the apartment I told my roommates I was going to marry that guy.  They laughed but a year later, when he had to go back to Germany to work I got married.  I spent 31 months in Germany and returned back home where I spent 32 years married to that blonde.  His name was Jeffrey Lynn and he became very ill in 2005 and died in 2007.  I lost my best friend but still had the most precious gift he could have ever given me our son Jeffrey Lynn.