intro-to-unit.doc

1. Number one: How fitting it seemed that there were only girls in class today. Several students were away for their golf lessons while others went to help Mr. Berner haul stuff for I.A. class.
2. The documentary finished up today and had a very emotional ending. I think everyone enjoyed watching it.
3. Tomorrow, we will have the Online – Research portion of your exam. Since our school is having an Open House tomorrow and we expect several guests, parents and students, from Willow Bunch, students can do the online portion and let a friend or two sit beside them as they do their search to find information on one of five given topics.
4. The written portion of the exam will be on Thursday and include any of the information we have covered in the unit, from handouts to the documentaries we have watched. Click on the above attachment for a reminder of the concepts we have covered in this unit. 
5. *Also, see yesterday’s blog entry for some clips of the Dixie Chick documentary. If you were not able to catch the ending, there are some clips of it posted there.

1. Students began today with a reminder they have a written and online portion to their exam on Wednesday and Thursday.
2. Before watching the video, we talked about the concept of it, that one member of the group made a comment against President Bush and suffered serious consequences from that, both personally and professionally. They were banned from corporate radio stations who were politically allied with the Bush administration and Republican ideology.Last week, a big debate was sparked after an on-air argument between Rosie O’donnell, a person who is anti-Bush and would like to see the President impeached, and Elizabeth Hasselbeck, a pro-Bush supporter and staunch Republican follower. The argument got so out of hand that producers of the show made the decision Not to go to commercial, costing them the loss of that advertising money, and they eventually even went so far as to split the screen to show each woman as they argued with the other, making for great ratings and great captivating television. We have talked about who owns the media, certain people having a centralized control over what is allowed in media, both in Canada and the United States. Rosie has since announced she will not return to the show. Do you think she made that decision on her own or do you think it was made for her? What are your thoughts?You watched this clip from the view, before watching the documentary, because we have talked about freedom of speech, in the media through newspapers, radio, tv, etc. Are we really free to say what we want? Is everyone equally free?

Watch the clip below ….

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1. Students started by composing a list on their handout of tv shows or movies that have minorities in them.
2. Next, we looked at each of these shows and put an X beside the shows where the minorities are simply secondary characters or there for comic relief as opposed to being main characters. An example of this is Fez from That 70s Show or Appu from The Simpsons.
3. We discussed the theory that mainstream media reflects only white people and by excluding minority or disabled groups of people we give an impression that they are not valued groups within our society.
4. The handout had two readings attached. We began reading the first and will continue with the discussion on Monday.
5. There is a Unit exam next week that will be staged in two parts. One part will be based on questions regarding all the handouts and discussions we have had in this unit. The other will be a choice from a few topics to research online and write an educated opinion on.

1. Students discussed and read articles that looked at the concentration of media control in Canada. There are only five major news agencies that control what news is given, what perspective it takes in sharing that news, and adversely, what news is not included for Canadians.
2. The link was discussed today between Conrad Black and the Asper family. The two used to be media moguls in Canadian media but Conrad Black eventually sold his properties and companies to the Asper family, making the Aspers one of the most powerful and controling media organizations in Canada. Several examples were given of situations where editors in chief of newspapers across the country were fired or quietened whenever their opinion pieces contrasted the Liberal-minded party lines of the Asper foundation. Global News, the National Post, the daily papers in all major cities such as Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, etc are all owned and maintained by CanWest News, the property of the Asper family.
3. Students also had a look at ten of the top 15 men of media in the world, according to Forbes 400’s list. What do these people have in common? They are white, they are old, and they are mostly male. These are the men who decide what the world is exposed to as far as media goes.

1. Students watchd in the projector room as I tried to show them how to use the online yearbook program. They were each given their own login ID number and password, we looked at how the create pages or use given templates, and they had to make a plan for their pages to lay out what they need to do before we begin the work next week.
   This is like a major assignment and if you are given class time to work on it you need to be sure you have come prepared for that class time.
2. We pulled out a few yearbooks from last year for students to look at for help planning their own pages.

1. Students finished watching the emotional end of the documentary Farenheit 9-11.
2. We discussed some of the differences in Micheal Moore’s style of documentary. They recognize a lot of bias and admit some of it is very effective in that many of the students are angry that the war is even on. We had a short discussion about the reality that they have existed in a world of war since these students were in Grade 5. They hardly notice it anymore, some said. It is a reality of our lives, but for what cost and what reason?
3. Students had a look at how the yearbook pages will be constructed this year. They picked numbers out of a hat to designate which pages they will be responsible for and then I gave them a quick little lesson how easy it is to paste pictures and construct pages for it. This will be our focus for the next short while.
4. There will be a News Coverage unit exam coming up shortly.

1. Students continued to watch Farenheit 911. We stopped at different occassions while students asked questions or commented on parts they were upset by.
2. Things in this documentary are starting to resemble other things we’ve discussed in class, like the footage of soldiers in Iraq approaching their work there like it is a video game with wild music on in the background. There is also similar footage from another documentary we watched that showed the effects of the napalm-like substance the U.S dropped in Iraq that was meant for terrorists but hit many civilians.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/gGzMhDq-vGI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Controvery over the documentary playing in cinemas around the country. Documentaries haven’t, until recently, been shown in mainstream cinemas.

1. Students were asked to hand in their five assignments they have finished up recently. I will accept them as well tomorrow.
2. We began watching the documentary by Micheal Moore titled Farenheit 9-11. Before going into the projector room, we talked about the recent conflict over Moore in the news. He is filming a new documentary titled Sicko  and took 9-11 rescue workers with health problems to Cuba for medical treatment. This is against American laws!
   We began watching the film and students were asked to look for examples and methods of Moore’s bias through his filming. They are clear to pick up his opinions much more carefully now.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OHWH4vUaxvw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /][kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/CTFTWIF4cSI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Students were smart to point out the use of music and footage to create a point that is not necessarily fact-based. See what you think?

1. Students used this class again to work in the SCN room on the newspaper / net search assignments. These are all due to be handed in tomorrow (Thursday).

1. You should be finished the other assignments shortly. The ones you need to hand in are
   1.  
      1. The Bias in Media Poster – anyone missing can still submit a poster but with a reduction of marks.
      2. Activity Sheet 1 and 2 – where you were to compare a front page article and another article located inside the paper.
      3. Activity: Front Page Worksheet should be completed and handed in as well.
      4. Comparison of Jeff Toews news – 2 local 1 national
      5. Conrad Black / Asper search