COMM 381 and 482: MEDIA LITERACY/MEDIA EDUCATION
Dr. Beretta E. Smith-Shomade
Tulane University
Newcomb 207
Mondays 10:00 am-12:45 pm
Fall 2010 and Spring 2011
Office:
Office Hours:
Contact:
Newcomb 219
Tuesdays 10:00-11:00 am and by appointment
drbess@tulane.edu/504-862-3036
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The goal of this two-semester course is to introduce you to the study of media literacy, media
education, and basic media pedagogy. In the first semester, you will learn the many different
definitions of media literacy; grapple with the ideological and political underpinnings of media
literacy—and literacy in general; become familiar with key theorists, methodologies and
methodological practices; and hopefully, embrace media literacy as a necessary part of the
democratic process. Also, you will begin forging relationships with the sixth-grade students of
Benjamin Franklin Elementary in various ways: through mutual writing, observing, and working in
their classroom. You will observe and work with the language arts teacher, Mr. Keith Turner, to
assist with your own curriculum building. Ultimately, you will be able to define media literacy and
construct multiple ways of understanding it using critical understandings, critical methods, and
curriculum creation as a basis for your explanation.
In the second semester, you will put to use the media literacy knowledge gained in the first
semester. You will apply those pedagogical considerations in the classroom, assess student
outcomes, and effectively teach. As the semester progresses, you will be constantly required to
reflect upon your experiences and retool your group’s curriculum. While the majority of the
curriculum will be constructed in the first semester, the culmination of this work is its
implementation in the spring as you all teach media literacy concepts to the sixth-grade classes of
Benjamin Franklin Elementary. Upon completion of both semesters, this course will fulfill both
Tier I and Tier II service learning requirements. Gaining appreciation of the most significant
cultural force in history and tooling those with the least access to control it seems to me to be the
ultimate public service. You will both demonstrate and experience what cooperation, mutual
learning, and the sharing of knowledge and resources can mean to the transformation of lives—your
own and others.
KEY COURSE QUESTIONS:
• What is the necessity of media literacy?
•What does it mean to be media literate?
•What tools/skills make you media literate?
•Why media education?
•What purpose does/can it serve?
•Who benefits? Who loses?
•How do you go about it?
•What are the goals as a teacher and as a learner of media literacy?
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REQUIRED TEXTS
David Buckingham, Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture (London:
Polity, 2003)
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (NY: Routledge,
1994)
Naomi Klein, No Logo (NY: Picador, 2000)
Donaldo Macedo and Shirley R. Steinberg, Media Literacy: A Reader (NY: Peter Lang, 2007)
(MEDIA)
MyTulane Reserves (BB)
FALL ASSIGNMENTS
1. Book Outlines/Critiques (10%)
Due: September 13
For the two entire books we are reading, bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress and Naomi Klein’s No
Logo, you will write a detailed outline of each text. These outlines will detail the central framework
of each book, the main supporting points and the main examples used. As you summarize the key
findings, you will provide an example of your own to support them. At the end of your outline,
write a three-paragraph assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the text and its usefulness to
our course. These outlines/critiques will be the basis of our discussion on Monday, September 13th.
Each report should be three to four pages, typed, and double-spaced.
2. Media Pen Pals (15%)
Due: Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Nov 29
You will be matched and correspond with Benjamin Franklin Elementary School 6th grade students
over the course of the fall semester by actual letter writing (due 9/27), email (by 10/25), and digital
recorders and cameras (due 11/29). This activity will help demonstrate how children learn new
technologies and draw connections between and understandings of the ways we conceive of and
utilize various communications platforms—paper and pen versus email versus digital devices. The
aim is to develop conscientiousness around literacy. This exercise will help also in students from
both campuses establish relationships even before the teaching begins in the spring. (More
information will be given on this).
3. Midterm (15%)
Due: October 11
The take-home midterm will test your understanding and application of the key concepts of media
literacy and media education presented thus far. The format will be essay. You will get the exam
on Monday, October 4th after class. It needs to be submitted at the beginning of class October 11th—
both electronically and by hand. Stapled please.
4. Community Presentation (10%)
Due: Saturday, November 6
As part of the service learning enterprise, groups will design and present a selected media topic for
a community youth group. Included in the presentation should be clips or other visual aids that give
support to your specific argument about one aspect of media. Each group should plan on using
thirty minutes for presentation plus Q & A time. The purpose of the presentation is to help you
crystallize your ideas about media, engage with others on those ideas, and craft a more solid
teaching approach and strategy.
5. Curriculum Development (25%)
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Due: Friday, December 3
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Each group will create eight media literacy lessons. Goals for each one will be provided. The
curriculum should do one of three things: use media to facilitate learning about a specific topic in a
different discipline (i.e. parts of speech in an English class); teach about the media apparatus
(industry or production); or teach about a specific topic within media (i.e. images of gender and race
or propaganda in political ads). You should use the course readings (and outside ones) to help craft
your curriculum. The curriculum must address: background (what is the ideological underpinning
of your curriculum?), content (what will students learn?), process (how will they learn it?), product
(what will they come away with?), and outcomes (how will you evaluate what they’ve learned?).
Make sure your curriculum outlines three to four concrete goals for each lesson. Give specific
examples of what will be shown, activities conducted, and tangible tools obtained by the students.
You should plan for two hours per session, once/week for 8 weeks. Make sure your group designs
an evaluative tool for each lesson and one for the overall curriculum. Next semester we will choose
the top one lesson for each week to use in the sixth-grade classrooms. In the spring, three teaching
teams will teach the same one lesson with the same materials to ensure comparable exposure for all
sixth graders.
6. Website Evaluation (15%)
Tuesday, December 7, 3:30 pm (Exam period)
In groups, you will evaluate websites that focus on media education for elementary school students.
Each group will select two websites, construct a thorough evaluation, and present said websites to
the faculty of Benjamin Franklin Elementary and our class. In this evaluation, you must determine
the effectiveness of the sites (i.e. examples of successful experiences, possible directions or ideas
for the sites’ future work); discuss the program components (the basic building blocks, stages or
phases of the sites, resources that are essential to the work, examples of student work on sites); and
evaluate the instructional aspects of the sites. In other words, what do the sites teach and how well?
This assignment addresses specific uses of media and technology, effective learning activities,
problems or difficulties with lessons presented, and strategies that work well to provide critical
thinking, creativity, and/or teamwork. Each group will present their websites for twenty minutes.
Bring your website selections to class by September 20th. You must provide a ranked choice of
three. Dr. Smith-Shomade will select the two that you do.
7. Benjamin Connection—Service Learning and Participation (10%)
We will visit the school and classrooms in two groups on Wednesday, September 8th and the 15th
(from 8:00-10:30 am) for orientation. As part of our work and learning with Baby Ben, you will
have additional requirements to work at the school—one visit will be as an observer, the other as a
teaching assistant coordinated with your group, Dr. Smith-Shomade, and Mr. Turner. The students
of Benjamin Franklin will also visit Tulane’s campus on Monday, November 8th during our class
time. We will meet them at Baby Ben, ride the bus over with them, help tour them around, and have
lunch with them. This provides an opportunity for the 6th graders to see your world.
This course requires engagement. Everyone must contribute! :>)
COURSE EXPECTATIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attendance is mandatory.
Strive (very diligently) to be on time.
Be prepared for class.
I do not accept late assignments—for any reason.
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5. I do not allow revisions nor give make-ups.
6. I expect you to behave like a student who is serious about her/his education.
7. Type all assignments, double-space, one-inch margins, and no smaller than a 12” font.
8. Assignments will be graded on conceptual rigor and fluency of writing style.
9. Any use of outside sources requires proper citation.
10. Underline or italicize all media titles (all the time, consistently).
11. Have texts read by the assigned date. This class hinges on your having done the
readings and being prepared to discuss them in class.
12. Much of our sessions will run on discussion. Therefore again, attendance is very
necessary. In fact, do not come to this class late. If you can’t get here on time, come back
next week or drop the course.
13. Finally, technology usage. Turn your cell phones off. Do not check your messages
while in class. You can use your computer to take notes. That’s it. If I find you surfing, I’ll
ask you to put your computer away for the day. If it happens again, I’ll lower your
participation grade. One more time, I’ll take steps to have you removed from the course.
FALL SCHEDULE 2010
(Subject to change as needed)
PART ONE: IDEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF MEDIA LITERACY
August 23, 2010
SCREEN:
READ:
Introductions to the Course and Field
Culture, Politics & Pedagogy: A Conversation with Henry Giroux (Media
Education Foundation, 2006-50 min)
(MEDIA) Preface
(MEDIA) Douglas Kellner and Jeff Share, “Critical Media Literacy,
Democracy and the Reconstitution of Education”
August 30, 2010
READ:
The Role of Media in Our Lives
(MEDIA) Pepi Leistyna and Loretta Alper, “Critical Media Literacy for
the Twenty-First Century: Taking Our Entertainment Seriously”
(MEDIA) Veronika Kalmus, “Socialization in the Changing Information
Environment: Implications for Media Literacy”
(MEDIA) C. Richard King, “Reading Race, Reading Power”
September 6, 2010
READ:
NO CLASS-LABOR DAY
Klein, No Logo
(MEDIA) Donald Macedo, “Deconstructing the Corporate Media/
Government Nexus”
September 8, 2010
8:00-10:30 am
Orientation Visit—Benjamin Franklin Elementary, 1116 Jefferson Ave
Group I
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September 13, 2010 Knowing Our Mediascape as We Learn/Teach for Change *Critiques Due
READ:
hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
September 15, 2010 Orientation Visit—Benjamin Franklin Elementary, 1116 Jefferson Ave
8:00 -10:30 am
Group II
PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF MEDIA EDUCATION
September 20, 2010 What Is Media Education?
*Website selection due
READ:
Buckingham, Media Education (chapters 1-6)
September 27, 2010 Practices and Trajectories of Media Education *Handwritten note due
READ:
Buckingham, Media Education (chapters 7-10)
(MEDIA) Jacques Brodeur, “Media Violence: Why Is It Used to Abuse
Children? How to Oppose It and Win”
October 4, 2010
READ:
Technology and Teaching
Buckingham, Media Education (chapters 11-12)
(MEDIA) Leslie B. Mashburn and John A. Weaver, “Literacy and
Learning Through Digital Media: Education or Contradiction?”
(MEDIA) Kathleen S. Berry, “Critical Media Studies Meets (Hyper-)
Pedagogues”
PART THREE: MEDIATING MEDIA IN PRACTICE
October 11, 2010
Guest Presenter:
Media in Service to Service
*Midterm Due
Ms. Daneeta Loretta Jackson, Writer, Director, Producer—Elektrik Zoo
READ:
(BB) Office of National Drug Critical Policy, “Media Campaign: National
Youth Anti-Drug Campaign”
October 18, 2010
Guest Presenter:
Crafting Media Literacy Curriculum
Dr. Bambi Haggins, Associate Professor/Chair-ASU
READ:
TBD
October 25, 2010
Guest Presenter:
READ:
Creating Media for the Classroom (Digital storytelling) *Email due
Dr. Rachel Raimist, Assistant Professor-University of Alabama
Rachel Raimist, “The Pedagogy of Digital Storytelling in the College
Classroom,” (2010), http://seminar.net/index.php/home/75-currentissue/145-the-pedagogy-of-digital-storytelling-in-the-collegeclassroom
November 1, 2010
Guest Presenter:
Community Media
Ms. Liz Dunnebacke, Executive Director—NOVAC
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Sat, November 6, 2010 Community Presentation
PART FOUR: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
November 8, 2010
Baby Ben Students to Tulane University, 10:00-1:00pm
November 15, 2010
Crafting Media Literacy Curriculum—Part 2
Work on curriculum drafts, website presentations, and digital correspondence
November 22, 2010
SCREEN:
Understanding New Orleans Culturally
When the Levees Broke, 1 and 2 (Spike Lee, 2006)
Guest Presenter:
(Tentative) Dr. Roslyn Smith, President-Treme Charter School Assn.
READ:
(MEDIA) Henry A. Giroux, “Drowning Democracy: The Media,
Neoliberalism and the Politics of Hurricane Katrina”
(MEDIA) Daniel Walsh, “In the Wake of Katrina: Teaching Immigrant
Students Learning English About Race and Class in the United
States”
November 29, 2010
Curriculum Discussion and Spring Semester
*Digital correspondence due
Friday, December 3, 2010
Curriculum Due (Both paper and electronic versions)
December 7, 2010
3:30-5:00 pm
Website Presentations to Benjamin Franklin faculty
Let’s Have an Amazing Semester!!!!
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