To See Feedback from Past Workshop Attendees, both Qualitative & Quantitative, click here.

Workshops
Project Look Sharp personnel are available for large and small group presentations and workshops on a variety of topics. These range from a general introductory presentation on the use of media literacy in the classroom to topical workshops related to media literacy (e.g., multicultural or gender issues, media violence, body image, substance abuse, and judging credibility of information on the Internet). To request a workshop, complete this form.

Introduction to Media Literacy Integration
2 hours, half day or full day. For all teachers and support staff. Presented by Cyndy Scheibe.
This engaging and interactive workshop, which can be tailored to different audiences, will introduce the theory and practice of media literacy integration throughout the curriculum.

Media Violence and Conflict Resolution
2 hours. For K-8 teachers and support staff. Presented by Cyndy Scheibe.
This workshop explores the effects of violence shown in movies, TV, and video games, and demonstrates ways in which K-8 teachers can address these effects through classroom discussion and media literacy activities.

Media Construction of War
2 hours. For secondary American history and global studies teachers. Presented by Chris Sperry.
Through the interactive use of slide, print, and video materials from Project Look Sharp's first curriculum kit, the author will model how to teach critical thinking skills while developing core historical information about the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the War in Afghanistan.

Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns
2 hours. For secondary American history and global studies teachers. Presented by Chris Sperry.
Participants will learn principles and approaches for engaging all students, teaching critical thinking skills, and using document-based analysis while teaching about the history of media in presidential elections, 1800-2004, using over 100 multi-media documents from our curriculum kit.

Media Construction of the Middle East
2 hours. For secondary American history and global studies teachers. Presented by Chris Sperry.
Participants will learn principles and approaches for engaging all students, teaching critical thinking skills, and using document-based analysis while teaching about the Middle East.

Critical Thinking and the News
Democracy requires an educated and literate citizenship. This workshop provides guidelines and strategies for training our students to consistently assess the credibility, accuracy, and bias of various news sources.

Youth Culture & New Technologies
What does current research tell us about new technologies? Why are they so popular? What are our concerns? What are the implications for our classrooms?

Media Literacy Integration into Specific Curricula
2 hours, half day or full day.
These fast-paced interactive workshops can be tailored to any group. They use teacher-developed models and materials to illustrate the basic concepts of, and approaches to, critical thinking and media literacy integration into specific curricula that are tied to the New York State standards.

Elementary or Secondary Social Studies/ELA
For elementary teachers and library/media specialists, or secondary social studies teachers. Presented by Chris Sperry.

Elementary Health
For elementary teachers and support staff. Presented by Cyndy Scheibe.

K-12 Math and Science
For secondary math and science teachers, and library/media specialists. Presented by Cyndy Scheibe

Workshop Fees
2 hours - $475
half day - $715
full day - $1,200
Travel expenses outside the Ithaca area are not included in workshop fees. May be extra fees for materials.
If more than one trainer is needed, there will be additional costs.

Qualitative Feedback from Previous Workshop Attendees:

Regarding Most Useful Information or Concepts in Workshop:
~websites that I can go to/use/share with other teachers
~how to engage students in activities
~use of clips, copyright (fair use), practice analyzing media
~Internet site credibility
~media literacy as a "teachable" concept; I do in bits and pieces, but now I feel more confident to pursue a more determined effort to teach this type of literacy
~bias analysis and analysis quesitons for media literacy
~the critical thinking is "accessible" to all levels of students; it's not just for the kids who are the readers and thinkers
~film clips to use; on-line history sites

General Comments:
~Very good presentation, interactive. Allowed for democratic decisions. Instructor shows excellent teaching skills by asking us for explanations and taking the discussion wherever it leads.
~I loved all the media clips. Old quote "a picture is worth 1,000 words"...holds true even today.
~Loved the presentation; loved the multimedia stuff; loved how you got all of us probing commercials, paintings etc. Great job!
~Fantastic workshop--useful, fun, insightful. Chris was knowledgeable and a joy to learn from. Great choice for a workshop.
~Terrific inservice! Can't wait to go back & try some of these ideas.
~You summed up a lot of what I struggle with on a daily basis in my classroom. I think that the most important idea I'm leaving with is teaching critical thinking/media literacy as an "interface" for any content area.
~Would love to attend more workshops like this!

Quantitative Feedback from Previous Workshop Attendees:
(based on evaluations by 362 attendees in past 19 workshops as of May, 2007)

On a 5 point scale where 5=excellent and 1=poor:
Overall quality=4.74
Effectiveness of presenters=4.85
Meeting stated objectives=4.65
Met my needs as an educator=4.47
Usefulness of materials=4.55
Will use materials=4.52

Percent of attentees who gave a 4 or 5

Overall quality--98.3%
Effectiveness of presenters--99.2%
Meeting stated objectives--94.5%
Met my needs as an educator--91.7%
Usefullness of materials--93.1%
Will use materials--92.0%