lights camera literacy
DESCRIPTION
This was a presentation created to go along with a professional conference session that I taught correlating video production and literacy.TRANSCRIPT
Lights! Camera! Literacy!
Bridging the gap for 21st Century students
Susan K. S. Grigsby and Lisa Harton
Agenda
• Media Centers in crisis• Literacy defined• Inquiry Based and Brain Based
principles• Bridging the gap• Designing partnerships• Video on a budget
Just the facts…
• College media centers in the U.S. seem to be taking a disproportionate share of budget cuts
• Why?– Inability of media directors to function
effectively at the strategic level; Inappropriate reporting relationships; Inadequate response to technological change
• M. Albright - International Journal of Instructional Media
Just the facts…
• Georgia Public Schools have been working with a 50% budget cut for 2 years with no end in sight
• Georgia Public School Libraries are among the lowest funded in the United States
If they only knew . . .
Recent findings of three statewide studies found that a strong media program helped students learn more and score higher on standardized tests than their peers in library-impoverished schools.
“Dick and Jane go to the Head of the Class”
School Library Journal
What is “literacy”
• Get together with your table mates and come up with a definition that all agree upon. Choose a spokesperson to share with the group.
Literacy defined
• The ability to read and writeTeale and Sulzby, 1986
• Literacy involves communicating through technology
Thornberg, 1992
• The use of language, art, music, movement, drama and mathematics to explore and expand our world.
Short, Harste and Burke, 1994
Literacy
• Literacy is the ability to communicate in real world situations which involves the abilities of individuals to read, write, speak, listen, view and think
Cooper, 2000
Information Literate People• Formulate and analyze information needs• select & find resources for information
needs• identify & appraise the value of resources• evaluate the search process• interpret, analyze, synthesize, & evaluate
collected informationCarol Kuhlthau
http://wally.rit.edu/information/CUNY2000/sld003.htm
Information Power Standards• Standard 1: The student who is information
literate accesses information efficiently and effectively– Indicator 4: Identifies a variety of potential
sources of information
Information Power Standards• Standard 2: The student who is information
literate evaluates information critically and competently– Indicator 1: Determines accuracy, relevance, and
comprehensiveness– Indicator 2: Distinguishes among fact, point of
view, and opinion– Indicator 3: Identifies inaccurate and misleading
information
Information Power Standards• Standard 3: The student who is information
literate uses information accurately and creatively– Indicator 1: Organizes information for practical
application– Indicator 4: Produces and communicates
information and ideas in appropriate formats.
Information Power Standards• Standard 4: The student who is an
independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests– Indicator 2: Designs, develops, and evaluates
information products and solutions related to personal interests.
Information Power Standards• Standard 5: The student who is an
independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information– Indicator 3: Develops creative products in a
variety of formats
Information Power Standards• Standard 9: The student who contributes
positively to the learning community & to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue & generate information.– Indicator 4: Collaborates with others, both in
person and through technologies, to design, develop, and evaluate information products and solutions.
Inquiry Based Learning
• An approach that centers on the research process
• Begins by engaging questions about the subject
• Calls for guiding the students in thinking and reflecting in the process of information seeking & use that leads to understanding, learning, & to transferable information literacy.
Kuhlthau, 2003
Brain-Based Learning
• A framework for learning and teaching
• An atmosphere that is consistently and predominantly “low threat” and “high challenge”
• 12 basic principlesCaine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning
• The brain is a parallel processor.– The brain is always doing many things at
one time.– Thoughts, emotions, imagination, and
predispositions operate simultaneously
• Educational implications– No one method or technique can
encompass the variations of the human brain.
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Learning engages the entire physiology.
– Stress and threat affect the brain differently than peace or challenge or boredom.
• Educational implications– Everything that affects our physiological
functioning affects our capacity to learn– Expecting equal achievement on the basis of
chronological age is inappropriate.Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• The search for meaning is innate
– The brain needs and automatically registers the familiar while simultaneously searching for and responding to novel stimuli
• Educational implications– Learning environment needs to provide
stability and familiarity– Provisions must also be made for novelty,
discovery, and challengeCaine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• The search for meaning occurs through
patterning– The brain is both artist & scientist and
attempts to discern/understand patterns as they occur and giving expression to unique & creative patters of its own.
• Educational implications– Whole-language, thematic units, curriculum
integration, life-relevant approachesCaine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Emotions are critical to patterning
– Emotions and cognition cannot be separated
– Emotions crucial to memory by facilitating storage & recall
• Educational implications– School & classroom climate must be
monitored to ensure support, mutual respect, and acceptance
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• The brain processes parts & whole
simultaneously– One hemisphere reduces information to
parts while the other perceives it in wholes or series of wholes.
• Educational implications– Build understanding and skills over time
because learning is both cumulative and developmental.
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Learning involves both focused
attention and peripheral perception– Brain absorbs information of which it is directly
aware as well as information/signals that lie beyond the field of attention
• Educational implications– Peripherals should include charts, illustrations,
set designs, art, and other classroom decorations that influence a natural acquisition of information
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Learning always involves conscious and
unconscious processes– We become our experiences and remember
what we experience, not just what we are told.
• Educational implications– Creative elaboration of procedures and theories by
exploring metaphors/analogies to help in the reorganization of material in a way that makes it personally meaningful and valuable.
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• We have both spatial memory and a
system for rote learning– One remembers our experiences in ordinary 3-
dimensional space– Facts and skills in isolation are organized differently
by the brain & need practice/rehearsal
• Educational implications– Sometimes memorization is important & useful– Teaching DEVOTED to memorization does not
facilitate the transfer of learningCaine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• We understand & remember best when
facts & skills are embedded in natural, spatial memory– Language acquired this way– Single most important element that brain-based
theories have in common
• Educational implications– Spatial memory best invoked through experiential
learning (projects, field trips, performances)Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Learning is enhanced by challenge
and inhibited by threat– Brain downshifts under perceived threat and
learns optimally when appropriately challenged
• Educational implications– Teachers/administrators need to create a state
of relaxed alertness in students - an environment low in threat and high in challenge
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Brain-Based Learning• Each Brain is Unique
– We all have the same set of systems– Systems integrated differently in each
brain
• Educational implications– Teaching should be multi-faceted to
allow for visual, tactile, emotional, and auditory experience.
Caine and Caine
Making Connections
Where does video fit in?
Learning should drive the technology, not vice
versa.
Wepner, Valmont & Thurlow
Here’s where it begins . . .
Integrating video with instruction
• Helps foster intrinsic motivationLiu and Rutledge
• Conducive to Cooperative Learning
Slavin, Kagen, and Johnson
• Supports better acquisition and retention of content
Lehrer
Video clip #1
As you observe the video of the students, think about the curriculum objectives that have been included and how does the process of video production effect the learning?
Think about whether the students still remember the video and its process.
“Once the brain of a child cracks the visual/spatial code, it is prepared to crack the verbal/linguistic code.”
Dr. Susan Rich Seridan,Drawing/Writing and the New LiteracyWhere Verbal Meets Visual
The writing process
• Brainstorming• Drafting• Revising• Editing• Publishing
The video production process• Brainstorming• Planning• Implementation• Evaluation• Performance
Designing a partnership
• How could current units benefit from video production?
• Be proactive• Begin with the end in mind• Plan, plan, plan and then plan
some more!
"What I've Learned from Making Video" — A Student Speaks
"Not only have we learned how to use the equipment, how to work together, and how to create something worthwhile for television, we've
learned how to put it all together, too. We've learned how to watch television as well. We're paying more attention now to what we see. We
know what to look for, because we have inside information. We're thinking more about what's on television, and making more intelligent decisions about what we want to spend our time watching. Most of all, after doing
this kind of work ourselves, we have a lot more respect for what we view, and for the people who do it professionally. We understand what goes into
every minute we see on television. Knowing what happens behind the scenes doesn't diminish the magic of television, however; if anything, it
increases the wonder of what we see."
— Steve Dast, Advanced Media Class, West High School, Madison, WI
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article560.html
Video on a Budget
• Using old equipment in new ways• Beg, borrow, and finagle• Be creative!
Lights, Camera, Literacy!
• Video production can build bridges• Video production addresses several
areas of brain-based learning principles• Video production is an example of
inquiry-based instruction/learning• Video production is a natural extension
of the reading and writing process