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UPCOMING WEBINARS

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ARCHIVED WEBINARS

NOTE: Certificates are only available for live events only. At this time, viewing the archived versions of webinars will not produce a certificate.

 


11/6/17
"Integrated Media Literacy and Critical Thinking"
Recorded Live November 6, 2017 from 3:00-4:00 PM EDT

Click here to view the recording

Presented by Chris Sperry, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, Project Look Sharp, Ithaca College

How can you fit media literacy into the curriculum when it is already so packed? How can you use media analysis to teach core content and standards while also teaching critical media literacy skills?

In this edWebinar discover how you can help students grapple with these topics in a thoughtful, honest and civil way that encourages thinking about their own biases. Veteran teacher and media literacy trainer Chris Sperry presents on analyzing classroom models of inquiry-based media analysis to explore pedagogy and practice. He presents classroom-ready strategies and free online resources from Project Look Sharp—applicable to all grade levels and subject areas—for integrating constructivist media decoding activities into your curriculum. This recorded edWebinar is geared towards teachers, administrators, and library media specialists at the K-12 level. Learn how to integrate media literacy and critical thinking into your curriculum!


5/5/16
"Teaching Media Literacy & Sustainability for Younger Learners"
Recorded Live May 5, 2016 from 4:00-5:00 PM EDT

Click here to view the recording

Sox Sperry, Project Look Sharp's primary curriculum writer, led participants in an exploration of elements from Project Look Sharp's lessons related to sustainability for teachers in the elementary grades. These lessons will be available free and online this summer from our website. The webinar offers elementary educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to use media documents that:
- support content teaching about water quality, climate change and hunger
- introduce media production as a way to deepen media literacy awareness
- encourage core subject integration of ELA, math, science and social studies.

Sperry examines media literacy goals analyzing target audience, purpose and techniques. We’ll explore ways to use video creation and analysis along with website articles and graphs as a means to teach common core ELA & math skills, Next Generation Science disciplinary core ideas and C3 social studies concepts. Participants receive handouts, lessons, and other tools to immediately integrate media literacy into curriculum design.

 

3/8/16
"Teaching about Climate Change Using the Tools of Media Literacy"
Recorded Live March 8, 2016 from 7-8 PM EDT

Click here to view the recording

Sox Sperry, Project Look Sharp’s primary curriculum writer, led participants on a participatory exploration of lessons covering media representations of climate change. The lessons were drawn from the Media Constructions of Global Warming kit.

The webinar offers Middle and High School educators, community educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support a deeper
understanding for how to use a wide variety of media documents that:

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Support content teaching about climate change
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Examine  media representations of global warming related to media literacy concepts of credibility, bias and impact
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Encourage strong sense critical thinking by asking questions about all media messages, not just those with which we may disagree.   

Sperry examines media literacy goals analyzing authorship, accuracy and sourcing.  He also explores ways to use different media representations of climate change as a means to teach common core ELA skills in writing to develop claims, supply evidence and analyze conclusions. Participants will leave the interactive webinar with handouts, lessons, connections with other educators, and other tools to immediately integrate media literacy into curriculum design. 

1/7/16
"Media Constructions of Martin Luther King Jr."
Recorded Live January 7, 2016 from 4-5 PM EST

Click here to view the recording

Sox Sperry, Project Look Sharp's curriculum writer, led participants on a participatory exploration of lessons covering media representations of Dr. King. The curriculum kit he refers to is available free and online from our website. The webinar offers Middle and High School teachers, community educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to use a wide variety of media documents that:

-Support content teaching about social justice movements
-Examine media representations of ongoing struggles against racism and the practice of nonviolence
-Encourage analysis of meanings and messages constructed about Dr. King's life

Also explored are media literacy goals analyzing historical context, purpose and credibility of media constructions. Participants will have access to handouts, lessons, and other tools to immediately integrate media literacy into curriculum design.  

11/3/15
"Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns"
Recorded Live November 3, 2015 from 7-8PM EST

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Sox Sperry, LookSharp's primary curriculum writer, led participants on a participatory exploration of high school lessons covering media representations of U.S. presidential elections from 1800-2008. The media and lessons were drawn from the popular Presidential Campaigns curriculum kit, which is available free from our website.

The webinar offers high school educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and free curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to use a wide variety of media forms across the historical spectrum - media from 19th century portraits, songs and handbills, to 21st century websites, twitter and email - to study historical context and to question their credibility. The presenter also focuses on the Key Concepts for Media Analysis. Participants have access to handouts and other tools to integrate media literacy into their curriculum design.

5/7/15
"Critical Thinking and Health:
Media Literacy Lessons for Elementary Grades"

Recorded Live May 7, 2015, from 7-8PM EDT

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Cyndy Scheibe, LookSharp's executive director, offered elementary school and early childhood educators (and teachers-in-training) pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to help young children understand biases and misleading messages found in food advertising and toy commercials aimed at them, including cereal ads and advertising for foods and beverages that imply they have a lot of fruit in them. Part of the webinar specifically focused on gender techniques and gender stereotyping in toy commercials. It also explored how to seek out and use media sources with children ages 5-10 in order to deepen critical thinking practice about who creates these messages and why, and the impact that they might have on children's beliefs, attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition and gender stereotypes. The discussion also highlighted connections to ELA, math and science standards in elementary education, and utilized Project Look Sharp's lessons.

 

3/19/15
"Media Constructions of Energy Choices:
Empowering Students to See Through the Smoke"

Recorded Live on March 19, 2015, from 7-8PM EDT

Click here to view the recording

Sox Sperry, LookSharp's primary curriculum writer, offers educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to address issues of bias in media documents about energy choices. Learn to seek out and use media sources to deepen critical thinking practice about authorship, purpose, credibility and economics.

Participants are led on a participatory exploration of lesson elements from three of our curriculum kits that are directly related to energy topics: Media Constructions of Chemicals in the Environment, Media Constructions of Sustainability: Food, Water and Agriculture, and Media Constructions of Resource Depletion. These kits are available free and online at www.projectlooksharp.org.

 

1/22/15
"Media Constructions of Food Justice:
Shining a Light on Equity, Economy and Sustainability"

Recorded Live January 22, 2015, from 7-8PM EST

Click here to view the recording

Sox Sperry, LookSharp's primary curriculum writer, leads participants on a participatory exploration of lesson elements from three of our curriculum kits that are directly related to food justice topics: Media Constructions of Chemicals in the Environment; Media Constructions of Sustainability: Food, Water and Agriculture; and Media Constructions of Sustainability: Finger Lakes. These kits are available free online at www.projectlooksharp.org.

The webinar offers pre-service and high school teachers along with college and community food justice educators pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to tie goals to content in lesson design. We will engage in live chat sessions and interactive analysis activities exploring how to use media sources (including videos, websites, and articles) to deepen critical thinking practices about authorship, purpose and economics. We also highlight ways to use media documents to teach to national standards in science, social studies and English Language Arts. At the end of the webinar there will be a Q&A with Sox Sperry and Cyndy Scheibe, Project Look Sharp's executive director and founder.

 

11/6/14
"Teaching about the Middle East through Media Literacy"
Recorded Live November 6th 2014, from 7-8PM EST

Click here to replay Part I of the recording, and then replay Part II.

Chris Sperry, Project Look Sharp's Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, presents about the Middle East through Media Literacy. Chris Sperry has had many years of experience with teaching high school students about the Middle East. In fact, during this webinar, Chris will have just returned from presenting at the first International Conference on Media Literacy in Iran with Cyndy Scheibe, the Executive Director and Founder of Project Look Sharp.

During this webinar, Chris explores the role that Media Literacy, Project-Based Learning and lesson design can play in motivating and engaging all students in deep scholarship, critical thinking and personal growth. Viewers are introduced to lesson models from the Project Look Sharp curriculum kit, Media Construction of the Middle East, a video demonstration of the classroom media decoding process, a sample of a student simulated Middle East peace conference, and how teachers can teach key content while addressing common core standards in social studies and speaking and listening. This webinar is interactive with live chat, video demonstrations, and polls.

 

5/22/14
"Media Constructions of Peace and Social Justice: Reflecting Diversity"
Recorded Live May 22 2014, from 7-8PM EDT.

Click here to view the recording

This interactive webinar includes a brief demonstration video of Chris Sperry, Project Look Sharp's Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, as he leads a class through constructivist media decoding of a lesson on peace and conflict studies. Sox Sperry, Project Look Sharp's primary curriculum writer, leads a visual tour of three of our curriculum kits that are directly related to peace and social justice topics: Media Constructions of Martin Luther King, Jr., Social Justice, and Peace. All of these kits are available free and online at projectlooksharp.org. The webinar offers educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support diversity in the media documents we choose for classroom decoding. We explore how to seek out and use diverse media sources to deepen critical thinking practice with our students.

 

4/22/14
"Where Media Literacy Meets Sustainability Education"
Recorded Live April 22 2014, from 4-5PM EDT.

Click here to view the recording

This interactive webinar provides a brief demonstration video of Chris Sperry, Project Look Sharp's Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, as he leads a class through constructivist media decoding of a sustainability education lesson. Sox Sperry, Project Look Sharp's primary curriculum writer, leads a visual tour of our six curriculum kits that are directly related to Earth Day topics: chemicals in the environment, endangered species, resource depletion, global warming and sustainability in food, water and agriculture. All of these kits are available free and online at https://www.projectlooksharp.org/. Sox also demonstrates how to search the Look Sharp site for keywords, themes and common core standard alignments.

The webinar offers educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support constructivist media decoding to help students engage in critical thinking about the complex environmental, economic and social systems that underlie sustainability .