Media Literacy - ENGL 217
Mon & Wed 3:15 - 5:15 p.m. Noble Hall 130
Instructor: Stacey Sotosky Office: Noble 242
Office Hours: Mon & Wed Noon - 3:00 p.m.
Email: Sotosky_S@fortlewis.edu
Phone: 970-247-7039

Schedule
**This schedule will be updated.

Week 1
Monday
1/12

Introduction

 

Wednesday
1/14

Media Literacy
Blogs and Networks
The Common Craft Show

 

Week 2
Monday
1/19

Discuss Reading
Critical Thinking
Deconstruction

Readings (due today)
Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Critical Thinking

Assignment (due Monday)
Ad Deconstruction

Wednesday
1/21

Discuss Reading
Growing up Online
Media Use/Effect Paper Overview

Readings (due today)
Plato, The Allegory of the Cave

Week 3
Monday
1/26

Discuss Reading
Ad Deconstruction Due
Semiotics

Readings (due today)
Daniel Chandler, Signs

Wednesday
1/28

Discuss Reading
Semiotics

Readings (due today)
Daniel Chandler, Modality and Representation

Week 4
Monday
2/2

Discuss Reading
Media Use/Effect Paper Due

Readings (due today)
Daniel Chandler, Denotation, Connotation and Myth

Wednesday
2/4

Consumption Log Overview
Visual Storytelling - Ashes and Snow

Readings (due today)
Daniel Chandler, Rhetorical Tropes

Week 5
Monday
2/9

Discuss Reading
Television

Readings (due today)
Daniel Chandler, Codes

Wednesday
2/11

Discuss Reading
Radio

Listening Assignment (due today)
Radio Lab, War of the Worlds
(.mp3)

Assignment (due Monday)

Write Reaction Essay to Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulations

Week 6
Monday
2/16

Quiz on Semiotics
Consumption Log Due
Discuss Reading
Group Presentation Overview
Out Foxed

Readings (due today)
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulations

Wednesday
2/18

Discuss Readings
Propaganda War: Scientology v Anonymous

Readings (due today)
Richard Paul and Linda Elder, How to Detect Media Bias and Propaganda

Tim O'Shea, Doors of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

Week 7
Monday
2/23

Media Ownership
Discuss Reading
The Corporation

Assignment (due Wednesday)
Write 2 Reaction Essays (1) The Corporation (2) The Merchants of Cool

Wednesday
2/25

Discuss Reading
What is a meme?
Internet Memes
Group Meetings


Readings (due today)
Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

Screening
(due today)
The Merchants of Cool

Week 8
Monday
3/2

Film Viewing Assignment Overview
Group Presentations
Media Violence
Bowling for Columbine

Assignment (due 3/16)
Film viewing assignment - write review of a film playing in the Durango Independent Film Festival and post it to your blog

Wednesday
3/4

Group Presentations
Discuss Reading

Readings (due today)
George Gerbner, Television Violence at a Time of Turmoil and Terror

Week 9

Spring Break

 

Week 10
Monday
3/16

Group Presentations
Discuss Reading
Video Games
Second Life

Readings (due today)
Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

Sandra Chang-Kredl, “The toughest chick in the alien world”: “Girl Power” and the Cartoon Network

Wednesday
3/18

Group Presentations
Discuss Reading
The Celluloid Closet

Readings (due today)
Jimmy Kalamaras, We’re Here, We’re Queer…but Have You Dealt with it? Homosexuality in Today’s Media

Assignment (due Monday)
Write a 200 word Reaction Essay about The Celluloid Closet and post it to your blog.

Week 11
Monday
3/23

Group Presentations
De/Re Construct Project Overview
Photoshop Overview

Assignment (due 3/30)
De/Re Construct Project

Wednesday
3/25

Final Project Overview
Photoshop (continued)
Green

Assignment
Final Project: Proposal, Presentation, and Paper

Week 12
Monday
3/30

De/Re Construct Project Due
Discuss Final Project Ideas
Schedule Meetings and Final Presentations

 

Wednesday
4/1

Proposals Due

 

Week 13 

Individual Meetings

 

Week 14
Monday
4/13

Presentations

 

Wednesday
4/15

Presentations

 

Week 15
Monday
 4/20

Presentations

 

Wednesday
4/22

Presentations

 

Week 16
Wednesday

12:00 – 2:00
Presentations
Final Paper Due