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Andrew Holyfield

Hi everyone! My name is Andrew. I graduated Summa Cum Laude at UC Riverside in 2016, with a B.A. in Creative Writing. While there, I completed the Honors Program, published a thesis, was an editor for both the campus Research Journal and Honors Program literary journal, joined the Writing Program as a Teaching Assistant, and completed three MFA courses, all with a 4.0 GPA.

Tutoring started for me in the campus Writing Program, in which I tutored eighteen students per week. Around that same time, my younger brother, diagnosed with Aspergers,  started college. I tutored him during his four-year journey to receive his Paraprofessional Certificate.

Nerdy as it sounds, I love Grammar and read often (in-between Netflix binges). Until my time at UC Riverside, I abhorred reading and preferred the trusty summaries from Spark Notes. I know English and writing can be both challenging and boring, but perhaps all a struggling student needs a little help and positive reinforcement. If that sounds like you or your kid, I'd love to help.

I’m a published songwriter with 20+ years experience in the music industry.

Digital Media Literacy & Journalism

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.    

- Alice Walker


While Print Media might be dying in America, Journalism has never been more important!   In this class, we explore the many ways of writing about things that matter to us. When we study Media Literacy, we are really practicing Critical Thinking.  We're always wondering about the objective of what we're reading.   Has critical information been left out?   Are the statistics accurate and what do they mean?   What would the opposing view say?


In this class we will be watching excerpts from several TED talks surrounding the topics of how we gain information.  But more importantly, we will be watching talks of how young people can find their authentic voice and substantiate their viewpoints.   Our reading, journals, collages, letters to representatives will be driven by the goal of helping our students to help themselves, and other students, to represent themselves powerfully.


While we'll be reading about the disappearance of Print Media, we'll also be looking about the rise of other forms of media, and how to ensure we are not being manipulated.

We will be reading several pivotal voices and writing about our reading based on themes that each student finds relevant.   We will enjoy writing letters to advertisers in the Winter session, expressing ourselves about ads, and will continue to advocate for strong student portrayals in Media in the Spring session.


The objective of this series of classes is to help each student become their own version of a leader using Media, in whatever is their preferred form.





FALL

Unit 1 - Media Literacy: Navigating Digital Information

From News to Propaganda, in this unit we learn how frequently we are inundated with information, and learn how to tell the difference between information that is intended to inform versus information that is designed to persuade or even instigate. How can we start to become our own Fact Checker?   What is news and what is propaganda?  How has Marketing been changed to look like News?  We start here to build our own base skills about how to look at information and ask questions before we believe what we are hearing and seeing.

  • What info types are out there?

    • Activities on quickly understanding print, video and images to determine if they are News, Opinion, Infotainment, Marketing, Propaganda or Fake News.

    • We look at two case studies to practice becoming a Fact Checker.

  • Becoming our own Fact Checker

    • WHO is behind this information?

    • WHY are they sharing this information?

    • WHAT is the evidence for their claims?

    • WHAT do OTHER sources say about the organization and their claims?

    • Let’s move on to Lateral Reading and see what we find out when we think and act like Fact Checkers...

  • Lateral Reading

    • As opposed to Vertical Reading, we must learn to read horizontally, like a fact checker does.  You have to LEAVE a site to UNDERSTAND a site

    • When and How to read laterally

  • Deciding Who To Trust

    • Daily KOS vs Daily Wire

      • In class activity:   What is their perspective?  How do you know?

      • How fast could you tell now that you know how to read laterally?

    • Snopes and other fact checkers

    • Using AI safely.  How do these results get posted?  How current are they?  How does AI substantiate their results?

  • Evaluating Evidence

    • Navigating Digital Info

      • Lack of evidence, Good evidence, Bad evidence, Evidence that doesn’t prove your point

    • Evaluating Photos and Images

    • Data & Infographics

  • Checking Other Sources

    • Click Restraint

    • Social Media

Unit 2 - Case Study - The Stanford History Group:  Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning

When thousands of students respond to dozens of tasks there are endless variations in how well information is understood. Overall, young people’s ability to reason about the information on the Internet can be summed up in one word: bleak.  “Digital natives” may be able to flit between Facebook and Twitter while simultaneously uploading a selfie to Instagram and texting a friend. But when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, they are easily duped.  Let’s Fix That.

1) Argument Analysis: Students compare and evaluate two posts from a newspaper’s comment section.

2) News on Facebook: Students identify the blue checkmark that distinguishes a verified Facebook account from a fake one.

3) Facebook Argument: Students consider the relative strength of evidence that two users present in a Facebook exchange.

4) Evaluating Evidence: Students decide whether to trust a photograph posted on a photo-sharing website.

5) Comparing Articles: Students determine whether a news story or a sponsored post is more reliable.

Unit 3 - Your Own Project.

Using the skills you have acquired, you will start your first ZINE on a subject of your choice.   You’ll show fake information, validated information, and explain how you know what is factual, what is opinion (sharing multiple opinions), what is advertising, what is fake news, and if there is any propaganda on this subject.

Winter:

Unit 3 - Youtube, TikTok and AI Algorithms.   What is going on?

How is AI being used to filter and define the information you get to see.  How is free speech related to AI?  What is the Rabbit Hole of Social Media News?

What is the history & future of Journalism?

Youtube is an American company, but TikTok is not.   What does that say about the information that will become available on these platforms?

Case Study:   Old News:  Arab Spring

Case Study:   New News:  TBD based on student interest.

Book:  Losing the News - what will change when print news is no longer available?

Unit 4 - Creating Infographics

Interpreting Infographics and Creating them for your own project

Unit 5 - Your Own Project.

Students will be creating their own Digital Zine using the skills they have now learned on a project of their own choice.

Unit 6 - Get Published!

  • Writing an Informative Piece AND getting it published

  • Writing an Opinion Piece AND getting it published

Spring:

Unit 7 - Journalism of the Future

Unit 8 - Get Published

  • Writing an Informative Piece AND getting it published

  • Writing an Opinion Piece AND getting it published

Unit 9 - Your Last Zine, OR continued publishing!

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