The documentary features the impact of service-dog agency K9s For Warriors on the lives of three American veterans struggling with trauma sustained in service overseas. Founded by Shari Duval and her son Brett Simon, who served two tours in Iraq, K9s For Warriors matches veterans Adam, Shilo and Louis with companion dogs. Each learns to manage issues such as flashbacks, hypervigilance, and invisible psychological damage.
Airs 10/26 at 5 p.m.
The documentary features the impact of service-dog agency K9s For Warriors on the lives of three American veterans struggling with trauma sustained in service overseas. Founded by Shari Duval and her son Brett Simon, who served two tours in Iraq, K9s For Warriors matches veterans Adam, Shilo and Louis with companion dogs. Each learns to manage issues such as flashbacks, hypervigilance, and invisible psychological damage.
Airs 10/26 at 5 p.m.
Songwriting With Soldiers operates from a simple principle – pair veterans and active-duty service members with professional songwriters to craft songs about their military experiences. With a focus on collaboration and building trust, this innovative program, founded by Austin, Texas singer-songwriter Darden Smith, offers a unique path to helping soldiers, their families, communities and our nation cope with the aftermath of combat duty and the challenges in returning home.
Airs 10/25 at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 23rd
This week is U.S. Media Literacy Week! The mission of the week is to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education all across the country.
So far this week we have learned what Media Literacy is, examined our own media usage, and gained an understanding that all media messages are constructed. We also learned that the authors of those messages have a purpose for sending those messages and usually something to gain from them.
Today, we’ll discuss stereotypes in media messages and how to teach students to recognize them. We are all familiar with librarian stereotypes. Just type the word “librarian” into a Google Image search, and it returns a multitude of mostly white, mostly female, glasses-wearing, book-carrying, sometimes shushing images. Luckily librarians are train
ed to deal with this type of thing, and many of us have embraced this stereotype as a long-standing tradition. (See Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure, “With Amazing push-button Shushing Action!”). –>
Stereotypes are exaggerated beliefs about a person or group of people. By learning more about stereotyping and how to identify it in media messages, students will learn to understand their own exaggerated beliefs and perceptions.
Renee Hobbs, a professor and founder of the Media Education Lab, offered this activity idea in her twitter feed:
This activity can be adapted to have students re-design advertisements, reshoot commercials, or redevelop websites. Get creative! You can also use these resources compiled by Frank W. Baker’s Media Literacy Clearinghouse: https://frankwbaker.com/mlc/stereotypes/
See if your students can identify a stereotype in a form of media and bring it in to you tomorrow.
Explore the inspiring relationship between two sisters-both dancers: Kiera Brinkley, a quadruple amputee who lost her limbs at age two, and Uriah Boyd, who was born a month before her sister contracted pneumococcal sepsis. Featuring beautiful and moving dance sequences, the documentary celebrates the extraordinary ways that Kiera has learned to adapt-as a dancer, choreographer and medical assistant. It also reveals the deeply loving relationship between the sisters and how Uriah dedicated her life to helping Kiera adjust. Over the course of three and a half years, SOAR follows the lives of these two remarkable young women, capturing moments of revelation about themselves, and their frustrations with each other as they mature as individuals, dancers and sisters. Tension arises, though, when Uriah steps away, finally admitting her need to define herself as an individual. After a period of discord, a dance concert reunites them, rekindling their powerful bond. SOAR offers an intimate look at how dance helps these remarkable sisters to define themselves, together and separately, and the idea of what is possible.
Airs 10/30 at 2 a.m., 10/30 at 10 a.m. and 10/30 at 4 p.m.
a film by: Hannah Engelson. Jonah Bascle was an unconventional mayoral candidate, even by New Orleans standards: artist, comedian, disability-rights activist. Born with muscular dystrophy, Jonah raced against mortality throughout his twenties. Combining humor, political action, and a sense of urgency, Jonah Stands Up challenges stereotypes associated with differently-abled individuals in New Orleans.
Airs 10/23 at 7 p.m., 10/24 at midnight, 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., 10/26 at 1:30 p.m., 10/29 at 9 p.m., 10/30 at 1 a.m., 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Through the lens of independent documentaries, AMERICA REFRAMED brings to audiences compelling stories that illuminate the changing contours of an ever-evolving America. The social issue series presents an array of personal voices and experiences through which we learn from our past, understand our present and are challenged to seek new frameworks for America’s future. Hosted by Natasha Del Toro.
A village woman without a high school diploma has become China’s most famous poet. Meet the breakout writer Yu Xihua, a woman with cerebral palsy, poignantly weaving her personal story with that of an ascendant, urbanizing China.
Airs 10/22 at 7 p.m., 10/23 at 2 a.m., 10/23 at 10 a.m., 10/23 at 4 p.m., 10/26 at 5 a.m., 10/27 at 11 p.m., 10/28 at 3 a.m., 10/28 at 11 a.m.
Tuesday, October 22nd
This week is U.S. Media Literacy Week! The mission of the week is to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education all across the country.
Yesterday we discussed Media Literacy: what it is, why it is important, and how we would use this week to jump-start our understanding. We asked our educators and students to answer some questions about the media they are consuming on a daily basis. This was to help them gain an awareness of the media that is all around them and what choices they are making in how they are accessing it.
Today we will focus on media messaging. The first lesson in becoming media literate is always this
ALL MEDIA MESSAGES ARE CONSTRUCTED.
Let’s get your students to think about the messages they hear in the media. Show them an ad.
Have them think about who is sending the message. Is it a company? Is it a political party or candidate? Have them consider why they might be sending the message. Is there a chance of monetary gain? Who might gain from the message? Once they understand this, you can have them think about who the intended audience is. Are there any unintended consequences of a message like this?
Show this presentation (from Jaclyn Siegel) and have them answer the questions from slides 2 and 7:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FIeTnywR8z_96o8zKuiaeFHJZYHEuZjM3WTNsRHaCL0/edit#slide=id.g41d1bf6412_1_15
After looking at a few different ads, websites or articles, ask them if they have seen a difference in their thinking when viewing media messages.
Monday, October 21st
This week is U.S. Media Literacy Week, hosted by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). The mission of the week is to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education all across the country.
We will help you celebrate this important set of skills by providing you with resources and lesson plans to help you educate your students on how to handle the flood of information that hits them every day. We will include information on advertisements, stereotypes, and truth and bias.
What is Media Literacy?
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy as the ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, CREATE, and ACT using all forms of communication.
At its most basic level, media literacy is the ability to read media messages, analyze the meaning behind it, who it is coming from, and why they are sending it out into the world.
The video below by Alicia Haywood helps to explain what Media Literacy is and why it is so important.
How can we celebrate this week and educate our students?
All week we will be sending activities and resources for you. Today, start by pre-assessing yourself and your students. Fill out this brief survey, and have your student fill it out too. This will give us some baseline data, and your students will think about what types and how much media they engage with on a daily basis.
We will send the results out to the librarians in our region tomorrow. If you are not located in our region, please contact Liesl.
*Click here for the Media Literacy Week Toolkit from NAMLE.
FYI – Individual membership to NAMLE is free. We encourage you to join!