• Calendar
• Featured Teacher Resources
• Spotlight on CML
• New Products (March/April)
• Classroom Connections
• Download This
• Around the Media World
• Action Item of the Month

High School Student Essay's Due June 15 for the Let Your Voice Be Heard Essay Contest, sponsored by the Barcelona Forum 2004. Essays can be written on a number of topics including Women in the 21st Century, Minority Voices in the World, and How I Would Change the World. Taking a media focus to the topics is considered an acceptable topic for essays. The Barcelona Forum 2004 is an unprecedented gathering of people from all societies to spontaneously and freely participate in creating a better planet based on the principles of cultural diversity, economic sustainability, and world peace. Read more about awards and contest details and be sure to click on the Students link.

June 17 & 18 Visual Literacy Workshop in Berkeley. How to Read a Film: A Visual Literacy Workshop for High School Teachers and Media Educators, from the Pacific Film Archive, exposes high school teachers and media educators to the basic concepts and practices of visual literacy while encouraging the productive use of media within the classroom. Cost is only $75. Find out more information about the program and registration.

Reminder! Check out our list of upcoming Summer Institutes across the US.

FEATURED TEACHER RESOURCES

CML makes a serious effort to identify and find the best teaching materials available. We are always delighted when we uncover a gem of a resource from a small publishing house or locate a new curriculum from another country. We do the research because we know how busy you are and we provide a one stop source for the best available media literacy resources. Read CML's Educational Philosophy to learn more about our evaluation and selection criteria.

In this issue of CML CONNECT we spotlight just a few of these exceptional titles we import for you from other countries. You can view the Table of Contents and/or examine Sample Pages for many of these titles. We know it's important for you to know what's in it before you purchase a book, video or curriculum.



Scanning Television/Second Edition A whole new collection of the acclaimed video series for media education! Developed by media educators in Canada, the 51 copyright cleared segments cover a wide variety of topics from advertising and pop culture to diversity, terrorism and images of race. One of the best resources for high schools. Image Matters: Visual texts in the Classroom An outstanding collection of teaching case studies from elementary English teachers "down under." The recommended activities can be implemented around the world because most of the resources (such as popular story books or Benetton ads) are available globally. The introductory chapter on "reading the visual" is a gem for all elementary educators. Media Sense 4/5/6: A Language Arts/Media Literacy Curriculum for Grades 3-8 This 3-book series from Canada is a veritable goldmine of ready-to-go teaching units for upper elementary and middle school. Each book provides nearly 100 lesson plans in three core topic areas: Advertising (print and electronic) Popular Culture (movies, music, cartoons and sitcoms) and Journalism (news, sports, interviewing). Multiply that by 3 and you've got a rich resource for teachers. Rainbow of Dreams...Memories in black and White Everything you need to know to replicate an innovative multi-media, cross-curricular project developed at a Canadian high school. Using old family photographs, they research, write, even restore the photographic image. Highly recommended for advanced and gifted programs. Screening Images...Ideas for Media Education Canadian Chris Worsnop's "hip-pocket" guide to teaching media literacy is the CML all-time best-seller! The best bargain in our collection, it not only has hundreds of ideas for teaching media, it also includes a clear introduction to important theoretical principles. Take a Closer Look: A Practical Guide for Intermediate Media Literacy Another fine collection of practical teaching units for Grades 7/8 from experienced teacher-authors in Canada. Units deal with media violence, advertising, movies, video games, music and the Internet - plus a unique unit on clothing and logos. Plenty of pedagogical notes and background for the teacher. Media Literacy Resource Guide Finally, don't forget Canada's acclaimed curriculum guide for Media Literacy in grades 6-12. An invaluable reference for curriculum planners, media librarians and coordinators.

SPOTLIGHT ON CML

What else CML is doing besides this e-letter!
Often, there's no telling how far you've come until you look back…and that's exactly the perspective that CML's 2003 Annual Report of Activities & Accomplishments provides. Now available for free download, you'll read about Project Smart Art, our federal grant funded teacher training demonstration project; the various national collaborations created to respond to initiatives such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; the many ways we nurture New Voices in Media Literacy, the launch of our new website and some of the Leadership activities CML contributes to the media literacy field. In 2003, CML reached over 750 teachers with media literacy teacher training who in turn, touched the lives of thousands of students from kindergarten through high school. We are grateful to all of our supporters and donors who make it possible for CML to grow and expand. 2003 was a very good year! Check it out!

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS

Photo Manipulation — Beyond ethics to essence of the Image
Recently, the NY Times Learning web site produced a lesson plan that explores the ethics of photojournalism. Photo Forgery: Getting to the Heart of a Photojournalist's Code of Ethics looks at various aspects of journalistic ethics, and asks students to examine and critique numerous examples of legitimate and manipulated photographs.

But in The Camera Always Lies: Breaking the Myth of Objectivity. CML's Jeff Share goes much deeper into the issue of image manipulation by exploring the nature of the photographic image itself. Is the camera ever an objective eye-witness? Or does the camera inevitably introduce its own perspective? This primer on image manipulation was prepared for his workshop at the National Council for Social Studies.

Here are some resources to help you explore these issues in your classroom:

• Media Construction of War, produced by Project Look Sharp – A unique multimedia kit for high school students explores how media construct images of war through the analysis of nearly 50 Newsweek magazine covers and including video, PowerPoint presentations, assessments and document-based questions.
• Is Seeing Believing? How Can You Tell What's Real?, produced by the Newseum – This expertly produced teaching package helps students in grades 7 to 12 become more critical consumers of news photos and images on TV and in newspapers. Includes a 22-minute video and workbook with dozens of in-class activities. Ideal for social studies, language arts, arts and design, as well as students involved with school publications.

DOWNLOAD THIS

FREE Facilitator Guide Now Available for Entertainment Ratings Video

At long last PTAs, churches, preschools and parenting programs have a ready-to-use resource for conducting workshops to help parents understand and use the various entertainment rating systems. Produced by CML staff, the free, new facilitator guide accompanies the lively and informative What Every Parent Needs to Know About Entertainment Ratings video produced by and originally aired on the former Fox Family Network (now ABC Family). The 45-minute video breaks easily into three 7-10 minute segments, one each for the movie ratings, video game ratings and music advisories. Included is a step-by-step outline for facilitating a group session and recommendations for how to organize a 1-hour, 2-hour and 4-hour workshop using the materials. CML is pleased to make this video and guide available for parent education everywhere. Download this FREE resource today!

Childhood Obesity is focus of New Reports and Studies

• The Kaiser Family Foundation has released A Report on Childhood Obesity, which suggests links between obesity in children and exposure to television, video games and movies, particularly food advertising targeted at kids. The report presents evidence of a direct relationship between reduction in obesity levels with a reduction in children's exposure to media. While networks are paying attention to this story, advertisers are not convinced the correlation is so simple.
  
  
• A task force of the American Psychological Association (APA) has developed recommendations in response to the apparent correlation between low levels of critical comprehension of advertising messages in youth under age eight and resulting unhealthy eating habits and childhood obesity.
  
  
• A report from the American Dietetic Association, A Media Literacy Nutrition Education Curriculum for Head Start Parents about the Effects of Television Advertising on Their Children's Food Requests, evaluates how a media literacy nutrition education curriculum positively affects children's food choices. Using resources such as Buy Me That, 3! and Parenting in a TV Age, (available from CML), the study demonstrates that dietitians can easily teach parents how to critically analyze various forms of media that sell nutrition misinformation to the public.
  
  
• "Who's to Blame? Obesity in America: How to Get Fat Without Really Trying" is an interesting article from ABC News on the marketing and other food industry practices that have a relationship to the dietary habits of Americans, particularly kids.
  
  Related Resource:
  Buy Me That 3!: A Kid's Guide to Food Advertising, Produced By HBO and Consumer Reports is a collection of short segments focusing on the tricks and techniques used in food commercials. Includes a cola taste-test and what's really in sports drinks plus a humorous vignette on the ingredients that go into Twinkies! A segment with a food stylist who 'dresses' hamburgers for TV commercials makes this 30-minute video an invaluable resource for every health classroom. Excellent for kindergarten through middle school. Parents, too!


English Teachers Pass Resolution on "Multimedia Composition."
At their annual convention, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) approved a resolution in support of composing with nonprint media and integrating multimedia composition in English language arts at all grade levels. The resolution further encourages professional development on new literacies, multimedia composition, and a broadened concept of literacy; programs on district, school, and classroom levels that promote multimedia composition; curriculum development and teacher education; and refining related standards at local, state, and national levels. The resolution builds on the NCTE's commitment begun in 1983 to achieve equity of access to the full range of composing technologies and puts one of the largest teacher organizations in the country squarely in support of media literacy as a new form of teaching reading and writing for the 21st century. Read the NCTE resolution as it passed.

AROUND THE MEDIA WORLD

Big Brother: Cancelled in Bahrain
The Middle Eastern version of the Big Brother reality series was cancelled in Bahrain after protests that the "reality" show reflected "an abnormal way of living, which is totally opposed to our thoughts, culture, everything," said Sheik Adel al-Mawda, 44, a member of Parliament from the fundamentalist Salafi movement who spearheaded the protests. This begs the question of whose reality "reality-TV" reflects. Perhaps it is really no one's reality. (New York Times, Neil MacFarquhar, March 5)

And a final item that speaks for itself, Bill Moyers Bids Farewell is a thoughtful reflection by the esteemed journalist on his planning for retirement after the November elections.

ACTION ITEM OF THE MONTH

Looking back on a year of photographs can act as a catalyst for reflecting on events in the world, as well as on our own lives. This can be a fun exercise for teachers and students that can also act as introductory exercise in a visual literacy.
1. Review this collection of exceptional images from 2003
2. Select a favorite
3. Create a personal journal entry using the photo as a prompt. Teachers could also do the same with their students.
4. Share reflections with the group.

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The CENTER FOR MEDIA LITERACY is a non-profit organization established to promote critical thinking about the media and to provide leadership, training and resources for media education in schools, religious and community organizations.

In the global media culture of the 21st century, we believe in empowerment through education for children, young people and adults. We rely on tax-deductible grants and individual donations to sustain and expand our work. Thank you for your support.