Print bookPrint book

Creative and Critical Thinking

Site: Cowichan Valley School District - Moodle
Course: ELA10 - New Media (2 credit), CSS, Cizeron
Book: Creative and Critical Thinking
Printed by: Guest user
Date: Saturday, 18 May 2024, 2:16 PM

Table of contents

Introduction

Creative Thinking involves...

  1. Novelty and value
  2. Generating ideas
  3. Developing ideas

Critical Thinking involves...

  1. Analyze and Critique
  2. Question and Investigate
  3. Develop and Design

Consider all of these elements as you work through the assignments in this section.

Summary Explanation of Assignments

Here is a quick overview of the assignments for this unit.  However, be sure you read over the specific assignment instructions that follow for each one.  Review the marking rubrics for the assignments before you start.

ASSIGNMENT 1:  A Starting Point:  Self Reflection.

What do you hope to achieve in this course?  Consider how you will assess your growth as a writer and new media user.  This is why we examine the starting point.

ASSIGNMENT 2:  Active Reading

Put your active reading skills to use! Read an article on the best blogging platforms for beginners using an active reading strategy.  When you are finished, write an informal, point form response regarding the assignment.  Once you have read through the information, make a decision.  Which is the best blogging platform for beginners?

ASSIGNMENT 3:  Making Inferences

Choose one of the following social media cases to examine and evaluate.  Make inferences. Summarize the situation and then formulate your own opinion on the case remembering that your opinion should be based on the facts.  Consider how this situation would be different if social media was not a factor?  How does this show, or not show, that social media has changed media and communication?  Write a 200 word response.

ASSIGNMENT 4:  Dialogue

Learn how to creatively write dialogue.  Practice starting it on its own line, punctuating correctly, and developing voice.  Choose a couple of characters to dialogue about using technology for the first time.  Make it fun!

ASSIGNMENT  5:  Digital Citizenship

After reading about positive digital citizenship, decide why these social media fails occurred based on the assigned reading.  You also get to use and practice effective parenthetical notation as you will cite from the source.

ASSIGNMENT  6:  Careers and Trends

 Research, discuss, and present information of careers and trends in digital technology and new media.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll find your future career or even create it yourself.

ASSIGNMENT 7:  Response FORUM:  Cyberbully

For your first response forum, discuss cyberbullying.

Read the article "The Top 6 Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever".  Consider these cases as you answer the questions below.  If you don't have a personal example to discuss or you don't want to discuss it in a forum, then respond to one of the cases in this article.

1. Do you know anyone who has been bullied online? Have you ever been bullied online? What effects can cyberbullying have on the victim?

2. How is cyberbullying different from other forms of bullying? Why do you think some people bully others online?

3. What is the best way to take away a bully’s power over you? What is the worst way to react to cyberbullying?

4. How does it make you feel when you see someone else being bullied? Does bullying behavior make the bully more or less popular?

5. Type in "Cyberbully Conversation Starter" in a search engine to access more questions to get your conversation going.

There are TWO activities in a FORUM:

    1. Start a new discussion topic by clicking on Add a new discussion topic.
    2. Reply/Respond to someone else's discussion topic by clicking on their topic and selecting Reply.

ASSIGNMENT 8:  PROJECT:  Writing a Persuasive essay

Write a 800 word composition on a controversial issue where you clearly state and support your opinion from research on one of the following topics.  Be sure to follow the provided guidelines for effective essay writing.

 

ASSIGNMENT 1: A Starting Point: Self Reflection

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world
  • Explore how language constructs personal and cultural identities

Task:

Let's figure out where we are.  In this first assignment, please introduce your interest in new media.  What does new media mean to you?  What do you know about new media?  How have you used it previously?  Have you experimented beyond Social Media like Snapchat and Twitter and Instagram? Your goal here is to identify where you are starting from and where you want to end up.  What do you hope to accomplish in this module?  The following is a list of questions you can use to guide your response.  Be very thorough and clear in this personal response.

  1. What interests you about new media?  Why did you choose this module of work?
  2. What are your experiences?  Have you used many different forms of technology to communicate and exchange your ideas?  Examples?
  3. What medium of do you most enjoy? media and film studies?  journalism and publishing?  writing for the web or social media, gaming, podcasting?
  4. Do you prefer written expression or do you want to perform your creative work?
  5. What are your strengths in your writing?
  6. Where do you get your ideas?
  7. What do you need from your teacher to advance your digital literacy?

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. Answers show evidence of careful thought in a thorough personal response. 

 

Submission

Use the "1.1 A Starting Point: Self Reflection" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

Now find an unconventional way to introduce yourself.  Express your reflection using digital media.  Check out the "Useful Technology" book at the top of the course for ideas.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Active Reading

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Apply appropriate strategies to comprehend written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts
  • Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways

 

Always read with a purpose whether you're seeking to understand an author or simply for pleasure.

Watch the presentation below to learn about reading strategies for

  • before (Preview, Activate previous knowledge, Write down wonders, Set a speed) and
  • during (visualizing, predicting etc.) and
  • after your reading.

Task: 

Put your skills to use! Click here for an article on the best blogging platforms for beginners. Read through it using the skills you have just learned (Before and During Reading). When you are finished, write an informal, point form response regarding the assignment.  Once you have read through the information, make a decision.  Which is the best blogging platform for beginners?  You can structure as follows:

Reading Strategies

  1. Before you began (PAWS)
    1. What part of PAWS helped?
    2. What part didn't help as much?
  2. During the reading
    1. What part of PAWS helped?
    2. What part didn't help as much?
  3. After
    1. Do you feel that, overall, the strategies helped you understand the article better?
    2. What would you do differently next time?
    3. What is your final decision?  Explain your rationale.

Remember, this is just one active reading strategy you can use to gain better comprehension of text. Another strategy is called SQ3R - Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. Check it out. You might like it better.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective.  Student demonstrates exemplary active reading skills to comprehend and respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.  All activities are complete. Ideas generated are thoughtful and unique.

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.

Submission

Use the "1.2 Active Reading" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 3: Making Inferences

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Identify bias, contradictions, and distortions
  • Express and support an opinion with evidence

 

Writers use inference in their text to make their writing more interesting.  It's not necessary to tell the reader every detail.  Good readers make inferences, or conclusions, as they read.  It's an important skill for understanding text, as authors often imply themes and ideas, without stating them outright.  Instead, writers let readers draw their own conclusions about what is happening.

However, it's very important to be able to tell the difference between fact and opinion.  It is especially difficult to do this on social media.  If we are looking at the history of social media, we also have to look at how social media has grown to influence users and shape online media and communication.  Sometimes the influence is positive and sometimes it is negative with severe consequences.  It is important to look at the facts on both sides of the story. 

Task: 

Choose one of the following social media cases to examine and evaluate.  Make inferences. Summarize the situation and then formulate your own opinion on the case remembering that your opinion should be based on the facts.  Consider how this situation would be different if social media was not a factor?  How does this show, or not show, that social media has changed media and communication?  Write a 200 word response.

Options:

1.  Courtney Love sued for defamation

2.  Judge dismisses case of accused twitter stalker

3.  Rupert's wife won't get twitter handle back any time soon

4.  or find your own case.  Provide the link.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective.  Student effectively evaluates the article by summarizing, and forming an insightful opinion in response to the prompts. 

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.

Submission

Use the "1.3 Making Inferences" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 4: Dialogue

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world.
  • Transform ideas and information to create original texts.

 

Learning to use new technology can be intimidating, confusing, and frustrating.  Things may not go right the first time.  Consider senior citizens learning to use e-mail or Facebook for the first time or even the 2nd and 3rd time.  There is a learning curve, but practice makes perfect. 

Here are 2 scenes where "people" are confronted with technology new to them. 

 

Zoolander - Scene of Derek and Hansel using a computer for the first time.

or consider martians and the telephone....

Task: 

Write a scene where someone is learning to use an old piece of communication technology for the first time.   You could also write the dialogue of a new user of a social media platform. This is someone seeing it for the first time.  Chronicle the experience.  Then develop a dialogue being sure to punctuate correctly.  Write a brief scenario.   Imagine your scene as a play. You should include 2 characters and each should have at least 5 lines. 

Here is some help in generating, punctuating, formatting dialogue. Source:  https://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-dialogue.html

Here are some examples of the types of characters you can create for your dialogue.

characternotesvisual (click for here.pdf file)

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. A creative scene is skillfully created that shows the features of the technology. 

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Dialogue is correctly punctuated. Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.

Submission

Use the "1.4 Dialogue" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 5: Digital Citizenship

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Recognize the complexities of digital citizenship.
  • Explore the relevance, accuracy, and reliability of texts.
  • Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.

 

"Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare students/technology users for a society full of technology. Digital citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use. Too often we are seeing students as well as adults misusing and abusing technology but not sure what to do. The issue is more than what the users do not know but what is considered appropriate technology usage."

Source: http://www.digitalcitizenship.net

Task: 

1. Read the handout on the 9 themes in digital citizenship.

2.  Read an article on a "corporate social media fail".  Just do a Google search.

3.  Pick an example of a social media fail and evaluate how the company/user followed or didn't follow the nine themes.  Write a 200 word response that clearly states your personal response.  You should be citing from the articles in your paragraph.  Use MLA citation to cite.  There is a handout on how to do this in Course Handouts.  It is called parenthetical notation.

There are also a number of online sites that will generate your citations for you!!  Try citationmachine.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. Article is thoroughly and accurately evaluated based on the nine themes with supporting evidence provided. 

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Proper MLA citation is used. Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.

Submission: 

Use the "1.5 Digital Citizenship" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 6: Careers and Trends

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Recognize and appreciate how different forms, formats, structures, and features. 
  • Explore how language constructs personal and cultural identities

Task: 

Part A

Career Opportunities in Digital Technology

There are many new careers available to people with an online skill set.  These careers can range from professional journalism to online gaming.  The roles and structures of news organizations have had to change and adapt to online communication.  Media and film studies offer a look at the influence of media on users' perceptions and the development of documentaries in the digital age.  There are also the many forms of online communications for the fledgling writer such as blogging, writing for the web and writing for social media.  Digital literacy is an essential characteristic of the educated citizen.

 Research and explain 5 careers in digital technology.  What are the risks, challenges and opportunities associated with the careers?  Write a short paragraph for each one.  Then rank them in order of preference with #1 as your most preferred career choice.

Part B

Trends in New Media

What are some of the trending careers in new media?  Why is the web a viable place to do marketing as opposed to (or along with) print, tv, or radio?  Where do you see the field going in the future?  In a paragraph, make a prediction based on these questions. 

Format your response using digital technology.  Here are 36 powerpoint alternatives.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective.  Responses are complete, accurate and have been ranked. A digital technology has been used to present the response in a creative, effective way. 

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization. 

Submission

Use the "1.6 Careers and Trends" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 7: Response FORUM: Cyberbully

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways
  • Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world
  • Respectfully exchange ideas and viewpoints from diverse perspectives to build shared understanding and extend thinking

Task:

For your first response forum, discuss cyberbullying.

Read the article "The Top 6 Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever". Consider these cases as you answer the questions below. If you don't have a personal example to discuss or you don't want to discuss it in a forum, then respond to one of the cases in this article.

1. Do you know anyone who has been bullied online? Have you ever been bullied online? What effects can cyberbullying have on the victim?

2. How is cyberbullying different from other forms of bullying? Why do you think some people bully others online?

3. What is the best way to take away a bully's power over you? What is the worst way to react to cyberbullying?

4. How does it make you feel when you see someone else being bullied? Does bullying behavior make the bully more or less popular?

5. Type in "Cyberbully Conversation Starter" in a search engine to access more questions to get your conversation going.

 

There are TWO activities in a FORUM:

    1. Go to the main page of the course and click on 1.7 Response Forum.  Start a new discussion topic by clicking on Add a New Discussion Topic.
    2. Reply/Respond to someone else's discussion topic by clicking on their topic and selecting Reply.  Your response should provide an analysis of the discussion in the post and some original ideas. Try using the following prompts to guide your response to another post.  "I wonder…"  "I know…"  "I can…"  Don't just agree or disagree.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective.  Ideas generated are thoughtful and unique.   All activities are complete.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization. Student demonstrates exemplary active reading skills to comprehend and respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.

Response/Reply:  Exemplary (6/6):  The response/reply is thoughtful, insightful and respectfully exchanges ideas and viewpoints.  Student demonstrates an exceptional level of understanding and communication of shared information. 

Submission:

Use the "1.7 Response Forum" link on the main page of this section of the course to post your forum response to your teacher for marking.

ASSIGNMENT 8: PROJECT - Writing a Persuasive Essay

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Recognize and appreciate how different forms, formats, structures, and features of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact.
  • Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
  • Use acknowledgements and citations to recognize intellectual property rights.

 

A persuasive essay is an essay used to convince a reader about a particular idea or focus, usually one that you believe in. Your persuasive essay could be based on anything about which you have an opinion. Whether you're arguing against closing borders to immigrants or petitioning for a promotion, the persuasive essay is a skill that everyone should know.

What issues do you care most about? What topics do you find yourself discussing most passionately, whether online, at the dinner table, in the classroom, or with your friends?

Task: 

Write a 800 word composition on a controversial issue where you clearly state and support your opinion from research on one of the following topics.

Follow the guidelines for writing a multi-paragraph essay in the book at the top of the course called Writing a Literary Essay.

  1. Brainstorm ideas about your chosen topic. Use one of the graphic organizers found in the folder called Graphic Organizers at the top of the course. A concept map is useful at this stage of writing.
  2. Research your topic and take notes. Keep track of the bibliographic information so it is easier to write your bibliography at the end.
  3. Organize your information into a minimum 5-paragraph essay outline. There is a template in Graphic Organizers at the top of the course. Make sure your thesis statement clearly establishes your opinion. DO NOT use personal pronouns like "I" and "YOU" in this essay!
  4. Use the ACE it paragraph writing format for each of your supporting paragraphs. An explanation of ACE it is on the next page.
  5. Write the first draft. Make sure you are using quotations to support your opinion. Cite them in MLA format. This is explained in the handout in Class Handouts found at the top of the course.
  6. Edit the first draft. Have someone else edit it. Make sure your outline matches your essay.
  7. Ideally, you would set aside this essay for a couple days and then go back and write the final draft.
  8. Do a final proofread and write your bibliography. It should be alphabetized, double-spaced, and indented. There is an example bibliography in the handout called MLA Citation in Class Handouts.

Here are your topic choices...

Technology and Social Media

Arts and Media: TV, Music, Video Games and Literature

Be sure to use the ACE-it paragraph writing strategy you can read about in the next page of this book.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. The assignment shows evidence of critical thinking in a thorough persuasive response.  Student clearly communicates creative, critical, and reflective thought while developing an opinion on a focused topic. 

Ideas/Content:  (Exemplary 6/6):  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections following logical organization.  Ideas generated are thoughtful and unique.   Exemplary development of persuasion.  Content is clear, concise and true.  Accomplishes the purpose with originality, individuality, maturity, and sophistication.

Organization/Planning:  (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary evidence of organization and planning in the form of an outline or a graphic organizer.  There is a clear assertion and identifiable main idea in response to the selected topic.  Exemplary explanation of the citation used to support the assertion.  Response follows the ACE-it paragraph writing format leading to a logical conclusion.

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Composition shows maturity in vocabulary, structure, and editing.

Submission: 

Use the "1.8 PROJECT: Writing a Persuasive Essay" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

ACE it Paragraph Writing

 

Make an Assertion – This is your topic sentence, or the overall point you are making in this paragraph.

Use Citation – This is a quotation or reference from the selection you’ve read that proves or provides an example of your assertion.

Explanation – Explain your quote.  How does it support, or prove, your assertion?  You can't just insert a quotation without explaining why it's being used.

Offer your Interpretation – state your own opinion (don’t use I)

Transition – This is a statement that ties the paragraph together.  It links everything together.

Here is a Prezi that offers an analysis on a mockumentary of Miley Cyrus overuse in the ACE format.  The 2nd video is locked, but you don't need it to get the idea.  They also call it AEC here.