What is media literacy?
- "to help students develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today's world."
- Media literacy can become a habit! How?
Working towards media literacy:
YOU are doing it already
• media search for
information about a topic
• use brief
article/video to stimulate discussion
• play a popular
song or radio clip
• read a short
poem/story (fiction/nonfiction)
• students working
in small groups to read, analyze, discuss a magazine, newspaper, online article, blog entry, video game;
• encouraging
students to express what they already know or their opinion
• showing students
how to search for information on the Internet and compare results from
different search engines
- teaching students to routinely ask critical media questions that will help them determine the meanings and think critically about information presented in media they use and consume at home/at school/in their world including textbooks, video games, Youtube…
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Make your own decision-making process
transparent by explaining how you assess credibility of sources and why you
choose the media that you use in class.
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How do you examine your media sources?
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How do you encourage a new habit?
Q: What do you notice?
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Allow students to go beyond the curricular issue
at hand to comment on accompanying aspects of a media message;
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Who is represented? Who is left out?
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What techniques are used to attract attention…?
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Point out ways in which media messages might be
interpreted differently by people from different backgrounds or groups.
- identify how students prior ideas about a topic have been influenced by media messages (show examples, Disney, grandtheftauto… from popular media (e.g., films, advertising, music) to illustrate what students might already know or believe about a topic;
- discuss accuracy of that knowledge
- foster communication skills and creativity by encouraging the production of media messages about a topic (audio, video, poster, painting, etc.)
- flexible assignments - allow students to choose media formats they find effective to communicate the required information
- Use media as a standard pedagogical tool by using a diverse array of media, i.e. Radio, print, films, docs, video games, etc.
- analyze media content that misrepresents or presents false information about a topic.
- Show examples of misleading ways in which data are presented in media (citing statistics selectively to exclude contradictory evidence, presenting graphs without appropriately identified x or y axes);
- pointing out language constructs (e.g., passive voice) or words used to mislead/misrepresent (e.g., “new and improved” or “all natural”).
- identify inaccurate or stereotyped beliefs held by students about a topic that may have come from either overt or implied media messages (e.g., toys in pink boxes are only for girls, Muslims are dangerous…).
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Encourage students to get information from more
than one source;
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Compare information gathered from different
sources.
–
Are there discrepancies across sources? Which
sources are most credible for specific types of information?
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Develop an awareness of credibility &
perspective
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how to recognize the sources of a media message,
(e.g., creator, speaker, funder, distributor, etc. ), their purpose or goal,
and how that might influence production choices (e.g., what is included or
omitted, selection of images, music, or language).
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ask questions routinely and consistently of ALL
media (including media conveying a perspective you support).
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help students learn to distinguish between
fiction and non-fiction.
Ice Breaker…
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Entertainment is…
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Journalism is…
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Advertising is…
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Democracy is…
• Media is…
• Press is …
The difference
between the real world and the media world is…
This ice breaker is a brain storming exercise and from these
pieces of paper you can have a discussion about what they wrote for each topic.
Discussion
- Critical thinking
- What is the difference between media and democracy?
What makes me a critical thinker?
Am I a consumer of media?
Who is in control of my visual environment?
Do I think critically about other subjects?
Examples of being critical:
Being critical of food -- do you read the labels
Pair of jeans - do you look at the labels or how they were
made -- sweatshop labor…
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Effective media analysis is based on the
following concepts:
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1. All media messages are “constructed.”
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2. Each medium has different characteristics,
strengths, and a unique “language” of construction.
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3. All media messages contain embedded values
and points of view.
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4. People use their individual skills, beliefs
and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.
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5. Media and media messages can influence
beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and the democratic process.
Media literacy can be readily
integrated into existing curricula on a wide range of topics and can be a valuale
tool for exploring approaches to education that are interdisciplinary and that
recognize different learning styles.
Do you feel the media is everywhere?
