Artifact 1

The Media Literacy Project is designed to teach fourth grade students about media literacy through a comprehensive study of the local environment and creating a magazine. Goals and objectives from the North Carolina Computer Skills Curriculum were placed on the web page to identify specific standards met through this activity which are appropriate for fourth grade students (10.1). The web page also includes a listing of related Media Literacy links, which benefit teachers in planning lessons, and in allowing students to search sites for references correlating to the lesson and its requirements (10.3). The Media Literacy Project utilizes computer skills within the lesson through research on the web, word processing, editing, publishing, and adding graphics to articles (10.4, 12.7). Students will work within groups to research local environmental topics and to create articles on these topics. Through these small groups, the class will edit and proofread each other’s work. As a class, a magazine will be created on the computer, a process that requires input from all students. The teacher will model the use of a CD encyclopedia as means for demonstrating research skills before allowing the students to search by themselves or in their small groups (12.1). During the modeling phases of research, the teacher will also address the issue of acceptable use of computers and the Internet. Personal property throughout networks will also be discussed since the school is networked with each student being included (14.3). The final product will ultimately be a collection of student work collaborated on the computer which displays their knowledge of the local environment as well as of media literacy and its implications on viewers of media (12.5).