Graphic Novels Add Value to K-12 Student Learning (Study)

Graphic novels may have a place in the classroom as an alternative form of literature, according to researchers. Read the study here.

Three Resources for Digital Learning/Citizenship & 21st Century Skills

Get the Facts!
This wiki provides digital citizenship curricula and professional development resources for adults working with K–12 students on digital citizenship.
The site explains “digital citizenship” and presents integrated lessons, aligned to the Common Core standards, for using technology safely, responsibly, critically, productively and civically (contributing to the digital society).

The site also includes ideas, resources and workshops targeted to different members of the school community—students, teachers, librarians, administrators, tech specialists, parents and those with special needs.

The Resources section is organized according to the following categories: Organizations, General Websites, Standards, Curriculum, Civic Engagement, Cybersafety, Cyberbullying, Intellectual Property (Plagiarism, Copyright), Intellectual Freedom (and Privacy), Critical Thinking, Literacies (Information, Media, Visual), Instruction, Lessons and Learning Activities, and Tools.

A six-module online tutorial offers advice on using the wiki.

Know the Villains!

Own Your Space is a free, 16-chapter ebook designed to educate ‘tweens and teens about protecting themselves and their “stuff” online.
Each chapter goes into great detail explaining the technical threats that students’ computers face online as well as the personal threats to data that students can face online. For example, in the first chapter students learn about different types of malware and the importance of installing security patches to prevent malware infections. The fourteenth chapter explains the differences between secured and unsecured wireless networks, the potential dangers of an unsecured network, and how to lock down a network.
The ebook is provided free of charge on Microsoft’s website. You can download the entire ebook or individual chapters appropriate for your students.

Draw the Line!

A Thin Line is a digital safety education resource produced by MTV, in collaboration with other media partners, to educate teenagers and young adults about the possible repercussions of their digital activities.
A Thin Line offers a series of fact sheets about topics such as sexting, digital spying, excessive text messaging and instant messaging, and cruelty. The site gives students advice on how to recognize those behaviors and their dangers, and how to protect their digital identity. Students can also take a short quiz to practice identifying risky digital behaviors. A Thin Line is accessible in English and Spanish.

Source: http://bigdealbook.com/web_Wednesday/

Toolkit: Digital & Media Literacy Education A Teacher's Guide

This guide, in the form of a free PDF, has been produced as part of the project Virtual Stages Against Violence (VSAV), which can be framed within the conceptual and methodological horizon of media literacy.

Aimed at teachers and educators, the guide constitutes the Toolkit of the project and contains five units with a series of educational activities about the topics and problems already dealt with in both the online game and the theatre plays. As the whole project does, these activities aim at developing an increased awareness among young people of both the risks and opportunities of digital media and online communication.

The Toolkit offers innovative and participatory methods to support, integrate and enrich the work carried out by educational institutions such as schools. The chosen education tools aim primarily to an active acquisition of skills and not just an acquisition of knowledge. The Toolkit is therefore a valuable complement to develop educational activities, raised more effective as being part of a creative, interactive and transversal learning experience.

Strengthening Newspaper Literacy

Why are social studies texts so difficult to read? Five pages into Building Literacy in Social Studies: Strategies for Improving Comprehension and Critical Thinking by ASCD authors Donna Ogle, Ron Klemp, and Bill McBride, I came across several answers to this question. Among them was: students have poor attitudes about the study of “old events and dead people,” especially when no connection is made to present-day events. And that can seriously affect engagement and retention. Excerpted here is a teaching strategy you can employ to help students learn how to better dissect and understand newspaper articles. And the subject of the accompanying newspaper clipping, linked to here for your use, is on a topic quite relevant today.

Help for Teaching Web Evaluation Skills To Students

Looking for an easy-to-use, robust evaluation instrument that you or your classroom teachers can use to evaluate sites for teaching and learning?

Looking for a great way to teach Web evaluation skills to students?

The Center for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University, with funding from an IMLS SPARKS! Ignite grant, has developed a series of automated evaluation instruments ("WebCHECK") to evaluate the quality of Web sites. The evaluator completes the instrument online and a full report with graphs is automatically generated and sent to the evaluator. There is also an option for using the instrument with a group of students and compiling results.

There are four versions of WebCHECK:

WebCHECK Professional(c)(for librarians, classroom teachers, Web site designers)

WebCHECK Senior(c) (for high school students)

WebCHECK Middle(c) (for middle school students)

WebCHECK Junior(c) (for elementary school students)

All instruments will be freely available on the Center for Digital Literacy Web site. Our projected national launch date is fall 2013.

These instruments are currently in beta testing (with a national launch scheduled for fall 2013). We have completed testing of WebCHECK Professional and are now looking for 50 school librarians nationwide to pilot test one of the three student instruments by developing and implementing a lesson plan with a group of students and then providing feedback on the experience, for which we will provide each pilot tester with a $100 stipend.

It is estimated that it will take about 2-3 hours total of your time. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Ruth Small, Project Director at drruth@syr.edu . We will accept the first 50 volunteers to whom we will send out detailed directions for participation.

 

Ohio Educators Invited to: Media Literacy Meets New Literacies

"Media Literacy Meets New Literacies"  is a full-day workshop, designed for school library media specialists as well as ELA educators. It will occur on June 19, 2013 at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus, presented by William Kist and Frank Baker. Details including how to register can be found here.

Picturing the Presidents

How we see, and understand, the President of the United States, is primarily the job of one man: the chief White House photographer.  Several recent books (and some older ones) are of note here:

The newest release is by Eric Draper, the photographer who was the chief White House cameraman for the eight years of the George W.Bush presidency. " Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush." is published by University of Texas Press.

It follows on the heels of the recently released book "The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office," (published by National Geographic, 2010) which traces contemporary photographers inside the White House. This particular book was the basis for the public TV documentary of the same name.

Photographer Pete Souza, the man who currently holds the title of chief WH photographer, is also the author of these related books: "The Rise of Barack Obama" (Triumph Books, 2008) ; "Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan (Triumph Books, 2004); "Unguarded Moments: Behind-The-Scenes Photographs of President Ronald Reagan" (Summit Publishing, 1993).

Also of note: "The Clinton Years: The Photographs of Robert McNeely," (Callaway, 2000) and "George Herbert Walker Bush: A Photographic Profile," (Texas A&M Univ Press, 1997)