PCC (Jan 11-May 8)
GCC (Feb 16-June 8)
Theme: Media Studies and Writing
Definition of Media Studies
- Scripps College - "Media Studies is an interdisciplinary field that explores the histories, technologies, and social and cultural contexts of a range of contemporary media forms, including mechanical and electronic media such as film, video, television, print, and the Internet as well as other contemporary forms of culture." - Scripps College
Goals of Our Media Studies Program
- to develop thinkers who understand the dynamics of media change and can apply their insights to contemporary problems. - MIT
- to help students cultivate the ability to assess the roles and impact of the major mass media on American life, rather than with developing specific media production skills. - Berkeley
- to combine traditions from communications, anthropology, sociology, political science, and journalism with contemporary critical and cultural studies theory to analyze and assess the role and impact of media in contemporary society.
- learn the history, values and structure of media in the United States and abroad.
- analyze the effects of electronic and print media,
- consider the impact of the media on public policy,
- consider the impact of public policy on the media.
Sources Used in the Classroom
- Workshop curriculum featuring the techniques and traditions of contemporary fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, journalism (RHR), digital media (social networking research), video (YouTube, Ted Talks, films), and games.
- Non-Fiction
- The Prose Reader
- Ripped from the Headlines Research (RHR)
- Ted Talks
- Films
- Literature
Units
- Mindset and Personal Development: Amy Chua's "The Triple Package," Carol Dweck's Mindset, and Angela Duckworth's Grit (Ted Talk)
- Language:
- Amy Tan - Mother Tongue
- Richard Rodriguez - Public and Private Language
- Reading:
- Malcolm X - Learning to Read
- Motoko Rich - Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?
- Dana Gioia - On the Importance of Reading
- Richard Wright - The Library Card
- Writing:
- Roger Rosenblatt - I Am Writing Blindly
- Rita Mae Brown - Writing as a Moral Act
- Research: How does the media influence our perception of undocumented immigrants? (Readings: Michael Scott's "America Must Take Stronger Measures to Halt Illegal Immigration" and Richard Raynor's "Illegal Immigration Does Not Threaten America")
