CALL FOR PRESENTERS
OISE Teacher Candidates Media Education Conference
Date: Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
Hosted by: The Association for Media Literacy (AML)
Location: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor West, Toronto


The AML is hosting a vital conference this fall that gives OISE Teacher Candidates and the preservice program (grades K-12) an infusion of media education into their studies. We hope you can join us and share some of your experience and expertise.

The AML is made up of teachers, librarians, consultants, parents, cultural workers, and media professionals who are curious about how people's literacies intersect with their media environments.

Media literacy is an educational initiative that aims to increase students' understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how the media construct reality. AML is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the mass media, the techniques used by media industries, and the impact of these techniques. Media literacy also aims to provide students with the ability to create their own media products.*

The purpose of this conference is to link the theory and practice of media education for Teacher Candidates, while integrating it within their areas of personal interest (i.e. gender, cultural studies, multiculturalism, geography, language arts, popular culture, english, art, ESL, assessment, media production, critical thinking, equity, violence prevention, storytelling, metacognition, technological change, citizenship, healthy relationships, social science, interdisciplinary studies, holistic education, historical narratives, public space, on-line environments, identity formation, student engagement, race and ethnicity, and multi-literacies, etc.).

For over 15 years, media education has been apart of the Ontario Curriculum and educators more than ever need current, relevant, and dynamic teaching strategies and resources.

We feel you could offer students a fresh look at media education and one that they could carry into the classroom or any number of educational settings. Media education embraces a variety skills and knowledge areas and while the Conference program is still in development, we hope to offer students presentations and workshops in the following areas:

* exploring one's personal relationship to media within a cultural, political, and technological context
* extending one's understanding of literacy and examples of meaningful texts
* learning about social issues through media messages and responses
* connecting with the lives of students and the cultures of their communities
* assessing critical thinking and media production
* teaching across subject areas with conceptual and creative directions
* designing project or inquiry-based unit plans
* differentiating learning through various media texts and student choices
* supporting an 'active' over 'passive' reading of cultural trends and change
* engaging in contemporary issues through collaborative learning


The conference will host a maximum of 300 students with over 30 sessions. Please contact us to discuss your session idea or use the space below to submit your proposal. We would like to hear back from you by August 13th. A small honorarium of approximately $200 will be offered. For more information on our history and mission please visit our website: www.aml.ca. Questions and comments are also welcomed at aml.ca.paul@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Paul Baines and the AML Executive


Your Name:
Your Organization (if applicable):
Your email:
Your phone number:
Your proposal title:
Your proposal for a media education session (just a couple of sentences is fine at this point in the process including what experience you bring to the topic and what you hope participants will gain):