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=Websites that support the Media Literacy PD of Parents or Teacher=

Below are different websites that help to provide support to either Teachers and Parents to help make their students or children more media literate.
Website #1

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[]This site provides teachers and their students with the opportunity to create ‘digital posters’ (glogs) into which videos (both downloaded and student generated) can be embedded. It can be used to support both a media class as well as a class in any of the content areas. The home page includes tutorials for new users, samples of student and teacher work, access to resources and tips, as well as a link for teacher questions.This site readily supports Media Expectations 3.3 and 3.4, but also a variety of expectations in Oral Communication and the content areas of the curriculum.As a system leader, it would be a wonderful resource to use with teacher mentees, model lessons, and in workshops. It would support the new system wide focus on differentiated instruction as well as the trend in Literacy instruction and assessment of setting ‘authentic’ tasks. By HW

Website #2

[]T This is the site of the New Mexico Media Literacy Project. The site would be excellent for both teachers and parents. It contains a number of videos with questions to guide a deconstruction, as well as many sample deconstructions so the viewer can watch a few and then attempt to deconstruct independently but compare her/his own deconstruction to the model deconstruction (an online version of ‘gradual release’).There are also links to many very short articles on such topics as media concepts (e.g., text and subtext or hidden messages of a media text), online tutorials (e.g., creating media: video 101), and creating counter ads (a little like the idea of ad busters). One can also order their many resources available in DVD format. This site readily supports Media Expectations 1.2, 2.2, and 3.4. As a system leader, this too is a site to which I would direct teachers, particularly those who are somewhat hesitant to deconstruct and create simple media texts with their students. By HW

Website #3

@http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/

PBS is a great source of information for teachers, parents and students. This particular website features interactive modules which helps students to navigate the tricks and traps of advertising. The site is rich in the number of activities organized around different topics such as: Ad Tricks, Buying Smart, Your Entertainment, What You Can Do, and Free Stuff. http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/

CM

Media Awareness Network - For Teachers
[|(http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/education_resources/index.cfm])

This site bills itself as the place for “… practical teaching units and classroom activities for media education”; and it’s an obvious first stop for teachers who are beginning to explore Media literacy. As it’s a new strand, and misunderstood by many in the teaching profession, the Media Awareness Network’s page “Media Literacy: What is it? Why teach it?” is a great place to start, with articles and definitions specifically for education professionals.

CM

While a French (i.e., from France) site, it provides resources for teachers in French, from [|exploring Web 2.0] to [|using YouTube for education] and articles specific to Primary and [|Secondary] education. Though the resources were not written to match the Ontario Curriculum, the resources are easily adaptable – and importantly for the FSL teacher – were conceived in French.

SD

[|JCP (http://jcp.proscenia.net/index.htm)] / Beyond the Screen (http://www.beyondthescreen.com/)
The JCP (Jesuit Communication Project) seeks to help students understand mass media and its techniques, and provides, “a variety of resources and services for teachers, parents, church groups, school boards, students, and other interested groups. The goal is to encourage, promote, and develop Media Education across Canada.” Besides providing an excellent summary of the Media Key Concepts the site provides links to Beyond the Screen, another JCP site – where you can watch //full episodes// of Beyond the Screen (//for free …!//) and has study guides accompanying each episode available for download (//again, for free!//). JCP is an incredible resource - and if you’re interested in further exploration, also has links to Inside Plato’s Cave, a “a 13 module credit course for teachers who will be teaching media literacy at the grade 7 to 12 levels in Canada”.

SD

**@http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/ **

PBS hosts a website that aims to help parents,"d iscover how TV, movies, advertising, computers and video games can shape your child's development and what you can do to create a media-literate household."



 With sections designed to help parents strategize their children's access to and literacy about different media, this site offers a number of ways to explore the information within. Parents can explore TV & Movies, Computers, Video Games, and Advertising sections all through a "Milestone" filter from ages 3-18. An interesting nod to two key concepts: Audience Negotiate Meaning and Media Construct Reality. Many of the "tips" focus on how chlldren of different ages respond to different media texts and messages and how those messages are directed at different audiences. There is also inherent in these tips an understanding that the different media children are accessing work to construct the reality around them.

This would be a valuable tool for a system leader to provide as a resource for parents in a classroom or school community. How many teachers have parents ask them questions like, "How can I get my child to play fewer video games?" What if teachers can turn that question on it's head and instead support parents in asking, "How can my child make the most of his/her video game time?" This website supports and provides a number of questions just like that. It is this advice that makes it a valuable resource for teachers to reference at a Curriculum NIght, place on a class website link page, or even look at with students to evaluate and discuss the messages being sent to parents.   RA =http:www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com =

//This website is a simple guide to creating podcasts. It is written for all would-be podcasters but easily could be modified for use by students of all ages. There would be no modifications necessary for middle to high school students.//

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//This site could support teachers in addressing a number of expectations. The most direct are all specific expectations associated with the overall expectation:// **create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques.**//====== The most effective way this site could be used to support teachers is to give them direct step by step directions and ideas for creating podcasts. Many teachers are interested in using classroom media production techniques that are new to them but are unsure as to how to proceed with their students. This website could provide the necessary information and confidence a teacher might need in order to move from an interested party to a beginner and even an intermediate creator. Not only does this site offer information on how to start, follow through and evaluate effective podcasts, it also has tutorials on software to be used (Audacity ) and places to upload and share finished podcasts. RA

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