Chapter 14

So being media literate means being a media persuader?  If that is the case then being literate means being able to persuade, and being math literate means being able to persuade with numbers?  That seems a narrow definition, unless the definition of persuasion itself is more broad.  Seems like self expression should be right up there when thinking of what makes one literate, or being able to communicate ideas or perspectives, for sharing understanding, but not necessarily for sharing in order to persuade.

“But rest assured that unless you actually create your own media, and do so paying particular attention to how to most effectively engage and convince your audience, then any appreciation you have of media’s persuasive abilities will be shallow and theoretical at best.”  Here he says that “engaging” an audience is important—perhaps it doesn’t have to be to persuade—seems mighty Western of him, to think that the only purpose of literacy is to convince others.

Rubrics that say, “in progress”, and “satisfactory” and “exceeds expectations” are only helpful in figuring out how one is graded if there is a plethora of examples available for students to be able to determine where the bar is for those expectations. 

It takes him a while to get to saying something specific—the first of which is watch it twice.  When I am grading projects, or even open response test items, I often read or look at everyone’s first.  Then pile them into like categories.  Then read or look at each again to start getting specific.  I also often use post-its for comments, in case I change my mind about what I think, from looking at it more than one time.  Now I will keep reading to see if he offers something as specific as this…

Ohler’s suggestion to see if you find yourself squinting when looking at student work is practical.  From his suggestion to have students reshoot photos that make you squint, I can tell he is suggesting that the teacher give the students feedback before the final production is done.  This also seems very practical.

Audio carries the story.  Well that seemed like the Captain Obvious statement to me. Stories have been told for ages.  I have painted my house while listening to the series of Pirates of the Caribbean playing on my tiny DVD machine that I couldn’t see, and the story was carried just fine.

Good question to ask a videographer: “How does the music relate to the story?”

Good question to ask oneself while making a DST: “If the music were removed, how would the story fare?”

Now here is a good exercise:  to determine the power of music, put different music to the same bit of video to conjure different feelings.

“Does your mind squint?”  Yes my mind squints at that question, tyring to figure out a specific example of what he means.  I am guessing it is the same as when  an English teacher would write “Awkward” next to part of something I was writing.  It didn’t really help me figure out how to write it better—I knew what I was trying to say, so I couldn’t see what the reader couldn’t figure out.  Mind squints seem like the same thing to me.  Asking a question of the student in that spot, might be a good way to get her to see what is making the teacher squint.