Let's create a MAGIC booklet!

Please complete the following form to help us create a MAGIC booklet for your visit to Greece! Once we have all answers, we will print the data to a booklet, so try not to upload a low resolution image of yours. The booklet hopefully will be published online as well!

Exchange boxes

It was a great pleasure to receive all exchange boxes from our school partners! The students had the chance to taste little sweets, browse books and local maps, read postcards and have fun with their friends gifts choices.

Our students were really happy to prepare our exchange boxes too! We thank everyone for this great experience and we hope to see you soon in Greece!

Visiting Greece: the timetable

We are very happy to announce the timetable of our partner schools visit in Greece from 22 March  till 29 March 2015. Students and teachers will first visit Thessaloniki for four days and then we will all fly to Athens for a three days visit!

During our friends stay in Thessaloniki we will visit and have two small scale projects in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki. We will have a treasure hunt and a guided tour in the city as well. Of course we will stroll by the Thermaikos sea side and have a wonderful party!

In Athens we will visit the Acropolis Museum,  the Parthenon, walk down the Dionisiou Aeropagitou Street, Thisio and Plaka. Finally we will have the chance to visit the Hellenic Parliament and take part to one of its educational programmes.

The complete timetable of your visit to Greece is available for you to read!

Vocabulary Choices

You are a newspaper editor who supports the opposition to Conservative M.P. Humphrey Humphrey.

Vocabulary Choices:
HUMPHREY DISCOUNTS ALLEGATIONS
or
"DRUG TALK ALL LIES," SNARLS HUMPHREY
 
OTTAWA (UBI) Conservative M.P./warhorse and liquor baron/distillery executive Humphrey Humphrey denounced/denied today that reports/allegations implicating/involving him in undercover/subversive drug/dope retailing/peddling
were true/had any basis in fact. Addressing a dinner/blowout for  colleagues/hangers-on at a swank/exclusive Ottawa restaurant, Humphrey angrily denied/calmly refuted swarms of rumours/numerous reports that he and a gang/group of cronies/acquaintances had sneaked/smuggled into the national's capital/Ottawa lethal doses/dangerous amounts of diluted/adulterated ambrosia under cover of dark/at night.

"Such talk is all lies," snarled/said Humphrey, hunched over/seated with a tumbler of booze/an after-dinner cocktail.

Rumour-mongers/sources around Parliament Hill suggest/hint tonight Humphrey's alleged crime/scrape is the subject of Cabinet investigation/talk. Meantime, Bay Street analysts/mandarins note/point to the fact that Humphrey stock has plummeted/fallen in the last two days/suddenly in the face of/as a result of a wave of panic/selling.

Source: Jim Henderson, Mediascan (Toronto:pub, 1976), pp.40-41

Assignment
 You have been given the article on Humphrey by one of your reporters.
 You have the option of choosing from the vocabulary provided.
 What choices in the vocabulary would you make?
 How would you have the story placed in your paper?
 Select the most appropriate headline.
 Explain the reasons for each of your responses. (Remember that you oppose Humphrey.)
 Once you have done this, imagine that you are now supportive of Mr. Humphrey.
 What do you choose to do now?
 What does this exercise tell us about media values?
Source: Indirections, December 1989, p.76.

Working on two different texts

We guess you read the two texts from different perspective about Sir Sam Hughes! So what do you need to do next? Work with your school mates in your MAGIC groups according to this plan:

MAGIC 1 and MAGIC 3 teams:

1. Copy & paste the text with the title "SIR SAM STEPS DOWN" on your blog.
2. Publish on your blog a list of words that best describe Sir Sam Hughes. If you can't understand the meaning of a word, access an online dictionary and find what it means.
3. Use the brainstorming tool at https://bubbl.us/ to create a mind map with the words that best describe Sir Sam Hughes. Export your mind map as an image or embed its code to publish it on your blog.
4. Write whether the author of the article supports or not Sir Samuel Hughes. Why do you think this happen? Please explain with your own words.
5. Access the Web to find some information about Sir Sam Hughes. Can you find any differences between what you read on the Web and the text with the title "SIR SAM STEPS DOWN"?

MAGIC 2 and MAGIC 4 teams:

1. Copy & paste the text with the title "HUGHES FIRED FROM CABINET" on your blog.
2. Publish on your blog a list of words that best describe Sir Sam Hughes. If you can't understand the meaning of a word, access an online dictionary and find what it means.
3. Use the brainstorming tool at https://bubbl.us/ to create a mind map with the words that best describe Sir Sam Hughes. Export your mind map as an image or embed its code to publish it on your blog.
4. Write whether the author of the article supports or not Sir Samuel Hughes. Why do you think this happen? Please explain with your own words. 
5. Access the Web to find some information about Sir Sam Hughes. Can you find any differences between what you read on the Web and the text with the title "HUGHES FIRED FROM CABINET"?

MAGIC 5 team:

1. Copy & paste both articles ("HUGHES FIRED FROM CABINET" and "SIR SAM STEPS DOWN") and the words that other four MAGIC groups have published on their blogs working with the two texts about Sir Sam Hughes.
2. Publish on your blog two lists of words that support and oppose Sir Sam Hughes. If you can't understand the meaning of a word, access an online dictionary and find what it means.
3. Use the brainstorming tool at https://bubbl.us/ to create a mind map with the words that both oppose and support Sir Sam Hughes. Export your mind map as an image or embed its code to publish it on your blog.
4. Can you spot the difference? Why do you think this happen? Please explain with your own words.

All teams should publish their work by Wednesday 28 January 2015! Happy reading and posting!

Two texts from different perspective

OK, as we wrote in our introduction about Media Bias, you will explore two texts from two different perspectives.

The texts are part of a MediaSmarts lesson plan and is about Sir Samuel Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I. He was notable for being the last Liberal-Conservative cabinet minister, until he was dismissed from his cabinet post.



So here is the first piece of text entitled "Sir Sam Steps Down" as it was published in Toronto Times in November 1916:

Toronto Times

November 1916

SIR SAM STEPS DOWN!

Sad news was announced in Ottawa today. Sir Sam Hughes is no longer the minister of Militia. The prime minister, bending to howls of criticism from Quebec, has dismissed this able, competent minister. Hughes has done more for the war effort than any other Canadian. He has recruited thousands of volunteers and raised thousands of dollars.

Canada entered the war with only 3000 in the armed forces. By the end of 1915, thanks to Sir Sam's tireless energy and inspired leadership, more than 200,000 of our noble sons have taken their places on the battlefield.

Without Sir Sam's efforts, how will Canada maintain its contribution to the war cause? Many English Canadians are angered by the reluctance of French Canadians to volunteer for overseas service. English Canadians are willing to
defend the British Empire. The Empire that has done so much for Canada.
Sir Sam Hughes, through the force of his personality, has persuaded reluctant industrialists to invest heavily in the production of much needed war materials. We should be thankful that, through the contracts negotiated by the minister,
tons of vital munitions are making their way to our soldiers at the front.

 And here is the second text about the same event as it was published in Montreal Matin in November 1916.

Montreal Matin
November 1916

HUGHES FIRED FROM CABINET

At long last, Prime Minister Borden has done the honourable thing! He has thrown Sir Sam Hughes, his incompetent minister of Militia, out of the Cabinet. Now, Hughes will be unable to do any more damage to Canadian unity. Hughes, more than any other person, has divided and torn this country apart with his policies.

Hughes has managed to antagonize everyone in Quebec. Those French Canadians who have volunteered for the English war have been insulted. The recruitment posters, training and instruction manuals are in English only. More importantly, promotions have only been given to the English-speaking officers. How can Hughes and other Canadians expect French Canadians to join in the war effort when they are treated so poorly?

As Minister of Militia, Hughes has disgraced the nation by rewarding his friends and cronies with munitions contracts. These shady deals have allowed his friends to make millions at the taxpayer's expense. Why should we spill one more drop of precious French-Canadian blood in Europe. Canada only wants Quebec in Confederation when we are willing to sacrifice for the British Empire. Britain started this war. Let Britain finish it!

Theme 4: Media bias

Theme 4 is about Media bias. We actually want you, the students, to discover the bias that exists in different forms of media.

For this reason we accessed many different resources about media bias and finally decided to use two lesson plans from MediaSmarts, a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy.

The first lesson plan is about Bias. We will use this to:

"introduce you to the concept of bias or slant, in newspapers, websites and in television newscasts.

You will begin by comparing two newspaper articles about the same news event - each reported from a different perspective. You will then explore the role the gatekeeper, or editor, in determining the slant of a story and analyze the titles of newspaper stories for slant or bias.

Once you have looked at newspapers, you will use viewing logs to analyse television newscasts from two different television stations. These newscasts will be analysed based on language usage, story selection and story order."

Learning Outcomes of Acctivity 1

By the end of the activity you will be able to:

• recognize how a single event could generate more than one news story

• identify a point of view or bias, based on the language used

• experience and understand the role of subjectivity and perception in the media

• understand the role of the «gatekeeper»

• critically analyse or deconstruct two newscasts for potential bias through comparison, focusing on language, story selection and story order

So jump to MediaSmarts two texts texts from different perspectives about Sir Samuel Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I to find out about media bias!