2004 Annual Report, Commission on Media

The Commission on Media appreciated David Bloome’s offer of flexible scheduling of our meetings in San Francisco. We were able to meet Sunday afternoon and for a full day on Monday, since many of our members needed to take the long flight back to the east coast early on Tuesday morning. Since the commissions rely on volunteers, we feel that it is crucial to maximize the use of their time and financial resources by scheduling meetings in this fashion. We hope that this flexible approach to scheduling meetings will continue.

At the San Francisco meetings, the Commission assessed the programs offered during this year’s convention that taught with and about media as text. Several of these programs were initiated by the Commission. Those sessions offered a consistent presence of media-literacy-focused models for instruction throughout the San Francisco convention.

We are disappointed about the convention program book no longer identifying programs as a "media strand." We understand the effort to simplify the various designations and strands, but we are fearful that convention participants will have a more difficult time finding media sessions as titles are not always clearly indicative of session content.

The Commission continues to be concerned that teachers who offer to present a session that requires A-V equipment or other types of technology must fund its use from their own financial resources. The Commission feels that this will limit the number and quality of media and technology related presentations and workshops that will be offered at the annual convention.

The film festival continues to thrive in increasing attendance, and the Commission again was pleased with the large venue to accommodate the expanding number of viewers for films that focused on a wide range of topics, issues, and experiences. People are coming to expect the festival and are participating more actively. Thanks again to Holt, Rinehart, Winston for providing us with several rooms with playback capabilities.

A subcommittee of the Commission examined a proposal for a world cinema book that was referred to the group by Zarina Hock. After careful consideration and debate, the Commission was reluctant to support the proposal since it was aimed at the college level. We recommended that such a project should be more inclusive and targeted to both college and secondary level use. The subcommittee felt that the proposed selection of films would not be suitable for use in most high school classrooms. We are looking forward to latest edition of William Costanzo’s Re-Reading the Movies, which will shortly enter NCTE’s publications catalog.

The Commission has also facilitated the participation of the Film Foundation in the Indianapolis convention this fall. The Foundation is in the process of creating a program called, "The Story of the Movies," which will designate a classic American film for each grade level, K-12, and developing materials to integrate the viewing and study of the film in the classroom. The Foundation’s mission is to place these resources in the hands of as many classroom teachers as possible, and NCTE is the perfect conduit to meeting that goal in the area of English/language arts.

Long-range goals/short-range goals

The Commission has filed a proposal with the Executive Committee to establish a media literacy teaching award to recognize excellence in the field and to promote the importance of integrating media literacy skills into the range of pedagogical tools for the English/language arts teacher.

The Commission also is developing strategies to revitalize the Assembly of Media Arts. Alan Teasley has filed a proposal to reinstate a sharing session at the Indianapolis convention to bring the group back together and determine the future course of its activities beyond just the annual sharing sessions.

We want to continue to develop a media literacy strand of presentations and workshops throughout NCTE’s annual convention to provide teachers with experiences that will raise their awareness of the components of media literacy and how media literacy experiences can be integrated into a broad range of language arts experiences. We also continue to lobby to advance the inclusion of a Commission member on the proposal selection committee to help improve the overall quality of media related sessions.

Mary T. Christel, Director