Media+Assassins

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Kurt Rowley Group A

Group Members: Kurt, Kim, Jake

Article Citation:

Cummins, J., Brown, K., & Sayers D. (2007) “'Media Assassins' at the 99th St. Elementary School”Literacy, Technology, and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing Times. Boston: Pearson.

Go back in time prior to the project/idea you read about. Describe where the need for this idea or innovation came from, additionally think about who saw the need for the innovation.

//Essentially this project is the result of a lack of student engagement and therefore poor test scores, as the curriculum was not relevant to multicultural urban youth. Teachers recognized the need to make material relevant, and administrators took stock of test scores.//

Give a summary of the project include relevant locations, organizations, people and technologies

//Salina Gray of 99th Street Elementary School in LA along with UCLA, initiated a curriculum of contemporary media analysis piggy-backing existing mandated curriculum as a means for engaging students and sharpening critical thinking/writing. Integral to the curriculum are issues of social justice (e.g. health care) that are current and relevant to students and their community. A similar program of the Educational Video Center uses issues of social justice as topics for student-created documentaries.//

What technology did/does the project employ?

//Internet, databases, digital audio-visual Intended Outcomes Unintended Outcomes or Potential Unintended Outcomes (+ and -) increased critical thinking skills student engagement increased literacy and content knowledge higher test scores social awareness increased tech. skill//

How did this project promote or conflict with a goal of social justice?

//It promoted social justice by making a standard curriculum relevant to a diverse group. Moreover, it exposed social issues that often affect their community.//

How could this connect to practice in Maine?

//Mainers have an increasing degree of ethnicity, and economic diversity is significant (e.g. Cumberland County vs. Washington County), yet MLR is standardized curriculum without consideration diversity/social justice.//

For More Information: please include three relevant links that your classmates might use to learn more about the topic, project or organization you read about. 1.http://www.pluralism.org/affiliates/rost-banik/index.php 2.www.maine.gov/education/it/vision/documents/conf.doc 3.http://207.44.232.77/conferences/2002/papers/Montagn1.pdf