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Archive for the ‘Social Studies’ Category

Of Memes and the Internet Maelstrom: Feels Good Man

Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , on August 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

How did a character from Matt Furie’s comic Boy’s Club become one of the mega-memes to end all viral meme characters?  Yup, it’s Pepe the Frog.  Do you even know where Pepe comes from?  How he became a symbol of powerful forces of provocation and extremist alt-right political views today?  And what does its creator have to say about how this came to be and what he can do about it?

If interested, check out more info on the Sundance Award-winning documentary Feels Good Man. Director by Arthur Jones leads us on an investigation of the webverse that many of us, particularly today’s students, inhabit here and now.

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The Visual Essay in Action

Posted in Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , on June 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Numerous mediateacher posts have explored media literacy and its integral relationship to social studies in contemporary education, including Media Manipulation: An Ongoing Story, Media Literacy and Social Studies: Clash at Lincoln Memorial, Media Literacy and Social Studies: Portraits of America, and Infekted Minds. Currently, our tumultuous times bring us what seem to be daily examples of media messages intersecting with how events are actually playing out and the ways in which we process them. Here is a striking example of a video essay from the op-ed pages of the New York Times: The Bill of Rights, Revised. This can serve as a resource for classroom debate along with linked viewpoints and journalistic reporting from a range of online, print, video, and audio media resources.

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Telling History

Posted in Chapter 5, Social Studies on April 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Students involved in producing media projects are telling their own stories, and at times these creations become historical artifacts. With the first pandemic in over a century spreading throughout the world, students are connecting to teachers, other students, and their learning through virtual interactions. By depicting a particular moment in time as it develops, we may end up capturing pieces of history and creating artifacts that becomes primary source documents. Here is one example of a project made recently by Hannah Schweitzer, one of my high school students. It is an example of the Portrait Project that is the primary video production exercise in Chapter 5 of Moving Images.

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MLE Lesson Resources

Posted in Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Resources, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

As a new school year begins, here is a quick update on one of the most comprehensive and dynamic resource hubs for media literacy lessons and videos designed for elementary, middle, and high school learners: KQED Education.  In their “For Classrooms” section, teachers can find lesson plans for Humanities or STEM units, or Elementary media literacy education.  For professional development, educators are also encouraged to check out their coursework in KQED Teach and PBS Media Literacy Educators Certification. Some might want to go straight to the topical videos produced by PBS Digital Studios, check out the Above the Noise channel (or its previous incarnation, The Lowdown, with stories from 2018 and before, organized by theme).  And for those looking for an overall national resource from public media, here is the PBS Learning Media page, from which one can also search for links to local stations and related resources.

Update 2020: An election year is here, and a special Youth Media Challenge has been set up for educators and students.  Check it out!

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Uncanny Expectations, Part Two

Posted in Chapter 1, Media Literacy, Social Studies, Visual Effects, tagged , , , , , on June 30, 2019| 1 Comment »

In previous posts, the impact of The Uncanny Valley (or Uncatty Valleys) was discussed through a variety of examples of how CG can be used to create or alter human forms or other living creatures, along with the impact of such sights on viewers.

In recent months, there were many strong reactions to just how many uses of AI “creatures” were seen in commercials during 2019, such as during the Super Bowl.  Whether they are reflecting current fears or aspirations, or if they are being used to shape perceptions and obsessions with technology and its role in people’s lives, there is no question that how audiences are able to process and decipher digitally-created and manipulated images, particularly those of humans, is a key media question for viewers today.  And for young people, who are generally well-versed in “personal branding” and the current career choice of “influencer,” they might even wonder if those being selected to influence them are even real.

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