#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Media Literacy

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven & Kristy, 2 Peas and a Dog are hosting #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 8 - 8:30 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Sunday, we will post the topic and questions on our blogs to allow you to prepare for the upcoming Tuesday evening's chat. Thank you to everyone who joined us last week and we hope that you will join us again.

Looking for the recap? Click on the image below. 

New in 2016 is our 2ndaryELA Facebook group, which we would love to have you join even if you aren't on Twitter. 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.

On Tuesday, April 19, our #2ndaryELA chat will focus on media literacy.

The Format:
8:00 Intros: What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one. #2ndaryELA
8:05 Q1: Is media literacy a component of your curriculum? Explain what you are required to teach. #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: Why is it important for students to critically evaluate media texts? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: How do you teach this important skill? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: How do we prepare our students for appropriate social media usage (i.e. helping them stay safe online)? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: Share your favorite media literacy lessons, resources, ideas. #2ndaryELA

The Directions:
1. Log into Twitter on Tuesday from 8-8:30 PM EST.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #2ndaryELA in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. Introductions are for the first 5 minutes.
4. Starting at 8:05 (@literarymaven or @2peasandadog) will post questions every 5 minutes using the format Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. and the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
5. Respond to questions using the format A1, A2, A3, etc. with #2ndaryELA.
6. Follow any teachers responding and who are also using #2ndaryELA.
7. Like and respond to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your responses to the questions ahead of time using a scheduler like TweetDeck or HootSuite (but don't forget to use A1, A2, etc. and #2ndaryELA). Links are encouraged, so be sure to use a link shortener like tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly Just visit one of those links and paste your long link to shorten it for Twitter. Using images is also encouraged when relevant.

New to chats? Here are the rules:
1. Stay on topic & stay positive!
2. Please do not post or promote paid products unless specifically asked.
3. If you arrive late, try to look through other posts before beginning.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet.
5. Always use our hashtag #2ndaryELA, including in your replies to others.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to public. (Also keep in mind that Twitter is completely public – that means students, parents, and administrators can and will read what you tweet.)

Be sure to spread the word to any teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well. We look forward to chatting with you Tuesday evening and in our 2ndaryELA Facebook group!

Get caught up on past chats here:

Bring Current Events into Your Classroom with CNN Student News

The Internet is a wonderful resource, but as teachers there are too many websites to explore and not enough time. When we present content to students, we want to make sure it is relevant, accurate, and appropriate.

For current events and news, there is no better website than CNN Student News. CNN Student News is a free ten minute video posted each day that school is in session. They take off on the weekend, holidays, and during the summer.

The show begins with front page headlines kind of news. Yesterday it was the Boko Haram and terrorists in Belgium. 

About three minutes into the show, is the "roll call," a shout out to schools watching the show. 

For the next two and a half minutes (from about 3:30-6) an issue or topic is covered in depth. Yesterday's topic was a letter written by a Titanic survivor being auctioned off. 

The next in depth topic/issue is introduced by "ID Me,"

which gives students clues about a person, place, invention, etc. before revealing its identity. Yesterday's "ID Me" led into a segment about two men who free-climbed El Capitan, part of Yosemite (from about 6:20 - 8). 

At the end of the show is usually a funny video, often something with animals. This one was a dog who rides the bus by himself. See him sitting by the window?

CNN offers an advisory about previewing the content. I teach ninth graders and show this in my homeroom and never have I been concerned about the content. Unfortunately our national and global news so often includes violence, so I might not show it below fifth grade, but even lower grades could use parts after teacher pre-screening. 

Each show is roughly broken into the same segments with the time (minutes/seconds) shown at the bottom so it would be very easy to start and stop to just watch a segment about a specific topic.

If you don't want to watch it everyday, you can sign up to get a daily email letting you know the topics covered. Then you will know when what they are featuring may directly connect to what you are teaching. I personally love watching it everyday with my students because it keeps me up on current events and provides good topics of conversations.

You can also download the video podcasts. This is great if for some reason your district blocks their website (CNN though? really?) or if there is a topic covered in the video that you want to show at a later date.

Another great feature is the transcript. Need a current nonfiction text for class? Ta-da! Here it is. Click here to see a sample.

On Friday, in addition to the transcript is a weekly newsquiz. This could be used as an actual quiz, but would also be a great extra credit assignment. Perhaps you might want to assign these videos for students to watch at home and the quiz is the homework they turn in. Lots of possibilities.

I hope you start watching with your students. I would love to hear about how you make CNN Student News a part of your classroom.