Why is Media Literacy so important? Visit
Media Smarts
Students are immersed in media in every aspect of their lives. Teaching media literacy helps students to become aware and able to interpret what they hear and see every day.
Students need to
EXPLORE to gain media literacy.
To give students the opportunity to do so, I would use the
Media Smarts Video Lessons. Each video is about 1 minute and 30 seconds long and covers each fundamental concept of media literacy. They videos are accompanied by lesson plans and at the end of each video is an exploration challenge for students to complete.
Students need to
ANALYZE to gain media literacy.
The website ReadWriteThink offers a plethora of media literacy lesson plans which include critical analysis of media. In my class, I will use these Critical Media Literacy lesson plans (linked below) that will provide my students with skills to critically analyze many genres of media.
Introducing Basic Media Literacy Education Skills with Greeting Cards
Critical Media Literacy: TV Programs
Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
Investigating Junk Mail: Negotiating Critical Literacy at the Mailbox
Students need to
CREATE to gain media literacy.
Since I am a multiple subject teacher, I would incorporate the creating of media into various areas of the curriculum. My students could choose what they would like to create for a project in science or history. They could do a video project using a green screen, make a website, create a game, or even compose a song after any of the units. Students can be very creative teaching the rest of the class about a particular event in Ancient Rome or even sharing about a particular Greek God.
I always tell my students when they can successfully teach someone else how to do something they have reached the highest level of learning. In turn, when they can critically explore, analyze, and create media by thinking about the who, why, and what they have become media literate.
