Reading, Reflections, and Questions:
What is Media Literacy? "Media literacy is the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day."media_literacy.jpg
-Media literacy is important because students need to be aware of what the media is presenting to them. They need to know how to read what the messages being presented are, what is included and also what is being excluded.
-​ ​ Students need to be weary of what perspective is being presented and why, whats the target audience, who is given the right to express themselves and who is not, and so on.
Three Stages of Media Literacy:
-First, becoming aware of how much media intake you are going through and limiting ones self.
-Second, becoming critival viewers of media
-and Thirdly, in depth research into who is producing and setting up and making the decisions behind the media


Software and How to Use it:

ComicLife:
When using ComicLife you must do similar steps that you would take while writing an essay. You must use pre-writing through brainstorming, storyboard's or using templates. Page_1.jpgThen you must start the writing process by choosing the dialogue you wish to portray, while choosing the images and graphics you want to use. Then the post-writing steps are revision and editing, feedback from teacher and/or peers
, and finally publish their finished work. So, as you can see it has the same steps that writing essays take, but the end product is more engaging and fun for the students to do.
-You should explain the format and conventions of the comic genre so that students know where to go with their comics. *Note: In comics, precision in your message to the writer is key.*

Bitstrips.com- This is the avatar I made on bitstrips.com
bitstrips.png
*important to note that not all students are able to demonstrate their learning and knowledge through written tasks and assignments. So using graphic novels and the like as alternatives are very beneficial and you still see what the student knows and has learned

Assistive Technology:
Write Outloud- is a talking word processor developed by Don Johnston, which provides speech feedback as they are typing in a word document. It can be used for students who have visual impairments or certain types of learning disabilities.

Co-Writer- Also developed by Don Johnston, it is a program designed to assist people with writing difficulties.


What I Learned Today:
-I learned how to use both ComicLife and BitStrips.
-I learned about Assistive Technology like WriteOutLoud and CoWriter.
-I learned about the growing importance that our curriculum should emphasis in Media Literacy
.