So... Now What?

So you have all these great tools.  You've figured out where you'd like to go with them.  Now you'd like to know how to get marks out of them.

Well...
1. Start of at the Ministry of Education website.  Take a look through your curriculum documents of choice.
2. Decide on your learning goals and collaboratively come up with your success criteria.
3. Figure out how you'd like to assess them.  Don't worry, we have a few suggestions.

• Success Criteria
• Rubrics
• Self Assessments
• Peer Assessments
• Checklists
• Anecdotal notes 

Now you're wondering where can I find all these wonderful tools... Well, you're going to have to Google-it for yourself.  There are thousand upon thousands of sites that can offer assistance and depending on your style, you'll want to evaluate each one for yourself.  Good Luck!

Teaching Kids News

Teachers struggle with integrating news and current events into their day-to-day happenings.  It is a website built by educators for educators. Teachingkidsnews.com is a great Canadian site that reports primarily on events that are of interest to students.  As an added bonus for you, they have attached curriculum expectations as well as extension activities for each article.

Web 2.0 - Didn't You Realize That We've Been Upgraded?

Web 2.0 is nothing terribly new, it is something that we have just taken for granted.  Where we use to surf the Internet for information, get what we need and log off.  Now with web 2.0 we are interacting within those virtual spaces. It's pretty cool when you think about it, your students take this for granted.

Check out these Web 2.0 Tools.  You can use any and all of them in your classroom.

Blogger.com / Wordpress.com
Both of these sites are blogging sites where you and/or students can host a blog where you can post pictures, links, interesting articles, personal reflections (do you see where we are going with this?). Blogging fits very nicely into to all parts of your curriculum.

Kidblog.org
Not sure about using the links above, then try kidblog.org.  It is more secure site where you can create blogs for all of your students.  It is very easy to use but limited in its capabilities.

Wordle.net
Create word art for a topic that you are studying.  Easy to use, clear instructions.  Your students will eat this up.  Be sure to have them print it out and display their wordles in your classroom.


Glogster Edu OUTDATED • Please avoid
Similar to a blog, a glog can add a little more je ne sais quoi to your work.  Visual appealing and it allows the students to create and manipulate as they see fit.

Bitstrips for Schools / Comic Life UPDATED • Pixton
Two ONE great comic strip building site, both their advantages and limitations.  Student love creating comic strips and they can even learn while they are at it.  There is a lot of American content but there is so much that you'll be able to do with your students of all ages.

Prezi.com
Gone are the days of boring Powerpoint presentations.  Have your students create some dynamic presentations with the click of a button.

Voki.com
Get your students speaking (but not in their own voice).  Through the use of this program, students are able to type out messages and have them said out loud.  Great tool for ESL learners or for those that are looking for something different.

We'll stop there for today, however, the list goes on forever.  Google Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers and don't be afraid to explore and try new things.

Where should you be looking?

Sure, we've given you some videos and whatnot to look at with your students, but what else is out there?

Mediasmarts.ca
Great site where parents and educators will be able to answer all there questions regarding the media and media literacy.

Medialiteracy.com
Looking to integrate media literacy into all subject areas?  You may want to have a look at what they are doing.

NFB.ca
Wonderful site where you and your students can watch homegrown films and documentaries for free.  The National Film Board does a lot of work with amateur filmmakers, who knows, you might have the next Martin Scorcese, Robert Altman or Quentin Tarantino sitting in front of you.

Ministry of Education - Media Literacy Curriculum Expectations
We know that you are always concerned about the MOE and the curriculum, so we thought we'd make your life easier by provided a link to their ever popular site.

Concerned Children's Advertisers
Head over to this site to watch some hilarious and yet serious PSAs.  These PSAs are appropriate for all age groups.  While your there don't forget to check out their educator and parent pages, they have quite a bit of information to pass on your way.

Are you looking for something unique? Try this!

A small indie Canadian band made a big name for themselves a few years back and this video was just one of the reasons that they did so, maybe you've heard of them, they are the Arcade Fire.  Your students will need access to a computer and the internet.  Using the Chrome Experiment and Google Maps, they were able to use some of the newest technology at the time to create this very personalized and relatively interactive video.  This brought videos to a whole new level, every video will be different depending on the user.  Take a look @ http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

The Story of Stuff

There is a wonderful website titled the Story of Stuff.  They have created a series of short videos that are age appropriate for nearly every grade.  The site paints a very clear picture in words that children can easily understand.  Take a look at the video The Story of Electronics, it will be a real eye opener for your students.

Music Videos

Have you given much thought to the media triangle?  If so, have we got some videos for you.
Music videos have always been a source for much discussion.  We've posted some of our favourites.  Why not try and deconstruct some of these with your students. Be warned, you are asked to pre-screen all videos to determine whether they are appropriate for your audience.

Salt n' Peppa - Whattaman

This is a great video to deconstruct.  Much discussion can occur around the topic of gender roles and stereotypes.  How are the (wo)men portrayed in this video?  Do you think that it is accurate?

Pearl Jam - Jeremy

In the early 90s, the musical landscape was changing.  Music did a drastic 180 degrees.  Share this video with your students.  This video was considered controversial at the time, do they think that this would still be the case?

Lady Gaga - Judas

This is a fairly recent video from a very popular pop star.  You'll definitely want to pre-screen this one as it is one of Lady Gaga's more risqué videos.  Nonetheless, it delivers some various strong messages and there are some very interesting points of view and opinion embedded within the text.

Looking to test your students?

Students of any age have fallen victim to the following "faux" websites.  Share these videos and links with your students and tell us what happened.  You're bound to have some great feedback.

Spaghetti Farming

House Hippos

The Chase

Media Monkey

What is Media Literacy all about?

Media Literacy is just that being media literate.  With media playing an ever increasing important role in our society, it is our responsibility as educators make sure our students understand how to read the world around them.  Students need to be taught and shown how to look at media with a critical eye.

Have you heard about of the media literacy triangle?  how about the prism (which is a different take on the triangle)?  Follow us to this site, they do a great job of explaining what it is to you and your students.  With the help of the media literacy triangle (or prism), students will be able to take a different look at what is being forced upon them.

In case you didn't know...

The past can be a scary thing when it predict and foretells the future.