Extended
Description:
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The
pervasiveness and power of popular culture and visual media (e.g.,
TV, movies, video games, CD-ROM materials, Internet, hypertext, comic
books, etc.) have radically changed what we mean by literacy and what
people do as literacy learners and teachers. This course is designed
for graduate students in education and practicing teachers who want
to explore the impact of popular culture and visual media on the ways
we conceive literacy, learn through literate practices, and work in
our classrooms. Because most graduate students in education and most
teachers are not familiar with much of the theory that informs the
study and practice of media literacies, many of the course readings
will be theoretical in nature or will include theoretical introductions.
In addition to becoming familiar with relevant theories, we will also
explore and reflect upon ways in which popular culture and visual
media have been (or could be) integrated into classroom practice to
enhance the development of children's language, literacy, critical
sensibilities, and visual aesthetics.
Participation
in this course should lead to the following learning outcomes:
1. You will develop an understanding of the emerging field of media literacy
(or media literacies) and many of the ideas of some of the founding mothers
and fathers of the field. You will also learn about the relevance of media
literacies for education.
2. Because the field of media literacies was built upon the theoretical
foundations of critical social theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism,
you will develop basic understanding of key concepts from these intellectual/theoretical
domains.
3. Because popular culture (including mass media) and our (children's,
adolescents', and adults') deep investments in popular culture were
major forces in the development of the field of media literacies, you
will develop basic understandings of key concepts within theories of
popular culture.
4. Theories of the mass media and its effects on audiences were also formative
in the development of the field of media literacies. Thus you will develop
basic understandings of key concepts related to media production, distribution,
and consumption.
5. Students now construct texts using many different semiotic tools and
systems--drawings, maps, collages, photographs, artwork, audio and video
modes, computer-based hypermedia productions, etc. Therefore, some understanding
of semiotics (the study of signs and sign systems) is necessary for
understanding the possibilities of media literacies. Therefore, you
will develop basic understandings of key concepts within semiotics.
You will also learn how students (and people generally) use the affordances
of multiple sign systems to create multimedia texts.
6. Virtually all children (and adults) today use global information technologies
(e.g., the internet) in the daily and professional lives. You will learn
about the history and theory of global information technologies, as well
as how teachers have used these technologies to transform reading and
language arts instruction in their classrooms.
7. All media forms (print, television, photography, music, web pages)
have their own structures (i.e., grammars) and functions. You will learn
the structures and functions grammars of many media forms, as well as
how to analyze them critically and help your students analyze them critically. |
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The
field of media literacy and its effects on education
Critical social theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism
Theories of popular culture
Theories of the media and media analysis
Multimedia texts and their roles/uses in education
Global information technologies
Print and electronic magazines and their roles/uses in education
Advertising and its effects
Television magazines and its roles/uses in education
Film and video and their roles/uses in education
Popular music magazines and its roles/uses in education
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Book Review
You will select a book from a list of the many current books on media literacy
that are being published almost every month, and you will write a book review
of the book. This review should be commensurate in style and substance to
a review you might find in journals in our field such as Harvard Educational
Review, Journal of Literacy Research, Reading Research Quarterly, Linguistics
and Education.
Midterm Examination
You will complete a take-home mid-term exam on key constructs and issues
we have studied. The exam will be composed of several short answer and short
essay questions with specified page lengths. You will have one week to complete
the exam.
Field Experience (5 hours, required):
Children's
Engagement with Popular Culture and the Media
Throughout the latter two-thirds of the semester you will conduct a study
of a child/adolescent or group of children/adolescents. The focus of your
study will be on his, her, or their investments in and practices of popular
culture and the media. To prepare to conduct your field study, you will
conduct a literature review of key theory and research on the topic you
choose as a focus. As you conduct your field study, you will be expected
to take careful notes of what you observe, to conduct and record interviews,
and to reflect upon and analyze what you see and learn. You will write up
your field study in a way similar to the studies published in journal articles
that we have read throughout the course.
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Alvermann,
D. E., Moon, J. S., & Hagood, M. C. (1999). Popular culture in
the classroom: Teaching and researching critical media literacy.
Chicago: National Reading Conference.
Alvermann, D. (Ed.). (2002). Adolescents and literacies in a digital
world. New York: Peter Lang.
Brunner, C., & Tally, W. (1999). The new media literacy handbook:
An educator’s guide to bringing new media into the classroom. New
York: Anchor Books.
Cortes, C. (2000). The children are watching: How the media teach
about diversity. New York: Teachers College Press.
Danesi, M. (2003). My son is an alien: A cultural portrait of today's
youth. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning
and literacy. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.
Giroux, H. A. (1997). Channel surfing: Racism, the media, and the
destruction of today’s youth. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: The grammar
of visual design. London: Routledge.
Reinking, D., McKenna, M. C., Labbo, L. D. , & Kieffer, R. D. (Eds.)
(1998). Handbook of literacy and technology: Transformations in a
post-typographic world . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Semali, L. M. (2002). Transmediation in the classroom: A semiotics-based
media literacy framework. New York: Peter Lang.
Steinberg, S., & Kincheloe, J. (Eds.). (1997). Kinderculture:
The corporate construction of childhood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
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