Media Literacy: Pauline Media

 The Daughters of St. Paul specialize in media.  This order has many, many Catholic Bookstores, including one just outside the Vatican.  They have produced Our Media World, a guide for K-8 students to teach our faith and media.  Scroll down to see the critical thinking questions, such as ‘What is this program trying to tell me? Why? or ‘What information is missing and why?’

By all means, look at Pauline Media Center website.  (Keep in mind, our Co-op is Roman Catholic.)  You may want to read Inter mirifica, written in 1963.  Media, like Bioethics, is a huge topic.  My goal is to whet my teens’ appetite to learn more and to seek to uncover bias in the media.  We’ll start with a few good questions.

Media Literacy

 I ran across a news article about bias in an media educational program.  This year, I’m crafting the Composition class.  Media Education is an excellent unit.  When my son was in high school, he wrote his senior thesis on bias in the print media.  His English teachers told him the topic was too narrow; he should examine bias in media.  Josh tried to explain that bias was so rampant, he had to limit his topic to the print media.  

As many of us know, media bias is a significant topic.  I’m going to start by showing my kids several media educational units to evaluate.  Common Sense Media has this unit about Digital Citizenship, which I plan to use.  Look at these lessons for high school students. We’ll start with Hoaxes and Fakes.  I’ll keep researching to find an unbiased source to teach Media Literacy.  I feel strongly that Media Literacy and recognizing bias in the Media is important.

Picture Prompts

 Okay, here is a great idea when you are stumped for a writing topic: Picture Prompts!  Here are questions to use with the images.  There are questions such as ‘What happened right before the picture was shot?’  Sometimes you need an idea for a writing exercise.  Bingo!  Here are 144 more picture prompts from the New York Times.  Here are more tips from Homeschool Adventures.  I can’t wait to see how this exercise is received.

Writing Ideas

My Composition class just had an excellent Bioethics discussion.  The kids are writing about faith formation; I got the idea from a writing contest.  Now I’m stuck for an idea.  Edutopia suggests writing reviews.  I’ll ask the kids to write a movie or song review.  I’m going to write a travel review.  We’ve done product reviews before.  (My philosophy is that kids should engage in all types of writing.). Another idea is to make a social media post.  I think the kids would like this idea.  Which posts generate more interest?  How can one make a post more engaging?  What do the teens hope to gain through social media?  We’ve had some terrific discussions.  Let’s hope this topic engenders another lively class.

Bioethics links

 I’m preparing myself psychologically for this blog to be buffered again.  Below is the Bioethics presentation we had today.  My son, Fr. Josh, provided these references.  Keep in mind, the Bioethics webinar is from a Catholic world-view.  Here is the video link for the webinar.  I have one more outline to post when I receive it.

Algebra 2 Textbook and Graphing Exercises

 My husband, Rob, teaches math for our local Co-op.  Rob tried Saxon math textbooks.  He was teaching Algebra 1 to our friend’s daughter, Lacie.  She just couldn’t get Algebra I with Saxon.  Rob tried Glencoe’s Algebra I textbook and had greater success.  He reviewed both Saxon’s  and Glencoe’s    Algebra II textbooks.  He uses Glencoe and likes it.  Generally, Glencoe is pretty middle of the road, not too hard, not too easy.  The older editions of Glencoe math editions have graphing calculator exercises.  Rob loathes the TI 83/84 graphing calculators.  I have to work through the exercises with his students because I think kids should know how to use the graphing calculator before they go to college.   Usually, the textbook instructions are clear.  However, I do have to research some operations.  Here is an ebook with clear instructions and graphing exercises for Algebra 2.  When I get stuck on a graphing exercise, I just Google the problem.  Yes, the YouTube videos are very useful!  When I first learned how to use a graphing calculator, I watched hours and hours of instruction.  Now, I find the websites with screenshots to be the most helpful because I have some experience with the TI 84.  Below are the textbooks we use.  These are extremely old editions.  Math doesn’t change significantly.

Formation

My husband forwarded this essay contest for my Composition class.  The topic is Catholic formation.  We had a terrific discussion about College and Catholic formation.  My Protestant brothers and sisters may want to consider Christian formation and the choice of college or university.  The kids are examining which factors are key to formation in faith as young adults and in terms of college selection.  This topic can be applied to military service.  Based on our discussion, the kids think one’s friend group, church attendance, and community all influence faith formation.  Since over 70% of teens lose their faith in college, formation is a serious subject.  The kids are writing volumes.  I’ll share excerpts soon.

I’m planning on being more faithful posting here.  Why?  I’m giving up Social Media for Lent.  I should have more time available for useful activities instead of cute knitting patterns.