Media Literacy DefinedIn the United States, the most widely used definition of media literacy is "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms." This definition was a collaborative result of participants who attended the 1992 Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Institute. The Center for Media Literacy, however, suggests a more expanded definition of media literacy that emphasizes citizenship and democracy in addition to skills: "Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides aframework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in avariety of forms--from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy" (Thoman and Jolls, 2005, p. 190).Media Literacy Defined (Canadian perspective). "Media literacy is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. More specifically, it is education that aims to increase the students' understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide studentswith the ability to create media products." ( Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of Education Ontario, 1997)Media Literacy is Not...Thoman and Jolls (2005) note that, because the definition of media literacy can be so vast, it is almost easier to define what is not media literacy. For instance, they state that medialiteracy is not media bashing, but involves critically analyzing media messages and institutions. It is not just producing media, although production skills should be included.Media literacy is not simply teaching with videos, the Internet, or other technologies, but it is teaching about the media in society. It is not just looking for stereotypes or negative representations, but exploring how these

representations are normalized in society. It's not just based on one perspective, rather, it encourages multiple perspectivesand various viewpoints. Finally, media literacy is not an effort to restrict media use, but to encourage mindful and critical media consumption.Thoman and Jolls (2005) also cite media literacy consultant Faith Rogow who cautions teachers against conveying pre-ordained denouncements of the media and challenges them to reflect on the analytical skills they teach. Are they encouraging critical environments that allow for the expressionof substantiated interpretations that may differ with their ownor are they inadvertently "preaching" only the "right" answers?She posits this negative approach as "fatally flawed," often resulting in the creation of a "cynical" rather than an "intellectually skeptical" attitude among students.Why Is Mass Media So Important?When considering the importance of media education, Buckingham (2003) first defines the central role of the mass media in social, economic and political processes today:“The media are major industries, generating profit and employment; they provide us with most of our information about the political process; and they offer us ideas, images and representations (both factual and fictional) that inevitably shape our view of reality. The media are undoubtedly the major contemporary means of cultural expression and communication: tobecome an active participant in public life necessarily involves making use of the modern media. The media, it is oftenargued, have now taken the place of the family, the church and the school as the major socializing influence in contemporary society” (Buckingham, 2003, p. 5).Buckingham posits that people increasingly define themselves and interact through the mass media, which serve as a cultural ‘glue’. Consequently, without clearly understanding and effectively using the media, individuals are unable to participate in public life and contribute to the public discourse. Tanya: This seems to have a narrow view of what public life and discourse consists of, I wonder if Buckingham

would additionally acknowledge the active public lives of ruralcommunities, for example, that may more often have public meetings than they would refer to blogs for community public discourse. Therefore, Buckingham concludes, traditional social institutions, which previously served as socialization venues, have ceded power to the media. Buckingham makes a nuanced and valid comment on the nature and prominence of mass media. First, we can only agree that industrialization, urban living, and more recently globalization and digital technologies, have converted mass communication into the primary means of learningabout the world and society, leaving one’s print on them, and building one’s identity. The mass media, therefore, provide both the material and the channels for the construction, transmission and maintenance of culture. Buckingham, however, underlines the nature of media content as a representation and not as “transparent windows on the world”, and also stresses the indirect communication and selective versions of the world provided by the media (2003, p. 3). This inevitably raises concerns over the ability not only of young people, but of any member of society, to understand the characteristics, content and role of the mass media on one hand, and the capacity to access and use the media as an arena to voice their own opinions and to conduct a meaningful dialogue with others. Separating the understanding and the use of the media would be a misguided step.Another question regarding Buckingham’s position concerns the extent to which people are aware of the broad implications of the media’s influence on their lives and how the public is reflecting on them. Since the views of protectionists or the ‘moral majority’ often take the front seat, the public debate may fail to address critical aspects of the mass media in modern society.Traditional social institutions like the family, the church andthe school may refuse to recognize the mass media’s growing influence and attempt to restore traditional relations of power, to denigrate the mass media, instead of adapting to the new conditions. The ordeals of media education initiatives and activists indicate that the predominant response is one of

opposition and reluctant acceptance rather than openness, cooperation and accommodation, and this signals not just a reactionary response by traditional bastions of social order, but also further setbacks for media education. Tanya: for readers of this, it may be important to add Buckingham's optimism in his views towards 'a new paradigm.' I think his discussion about the move 'beyond protectionism' that outlines the changing views on youth's relationships with media will garner supporters for the media education movement.Key Themes and Ideas[edit]

Media literacy draws on the concepts of the larger critical literacy movement, begun in the latter half of the twentieth century, which stresses the expansion of the term literacy beyond just the interpretation and construction of meaning. Critical literacy emphasizes the socio-cultural, political and historical contexts within which the process of meaning-making is embedded and hence influenced. Media literacy teachers help students understand and explore various themes such as race, gender, class, power and identity, situated in popular culture texts.Examining Media Representations[edit]Media literacy is a valuable way to explore issues of representation in K-12 classrooms. Students explore representation by examining and deconstructing media portrayalsof gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability. Lessons in representation serve to examine how roles are socially constructed and how personal identity is shaped in political, historical, and cultural contexts which include an examination of issues of power and hegemony. Representation can be exploredin meaningful ways by: using examples from various historical periods and making connections to their socio-historical context; investigating the economics behind representations, recognizing that different people have different readings of the same text; scrutinizing what is missing from a representation; and inviting students to express their own identities.

General themes discussed in a typical media literacy curriculummay include: journalism and information; advertising, propaganda, and persuasion; representation of race, gender, andsocial class; and narrative and visual structures and conventions in storytelling for fiction and non-fiction (Hobbs,2007). The topic of representation explores the relationship between media portrayals and the complex social realities that people like.Five Core Concepts of Media Literacy[edit]The Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, created the five core concepts of media literacy, using the Canada's eight "Key Concepts" for media literacy (Pungente, 1989) as a guide. The Five Core Concepts are:

All media messages are constructed. Media messages are constructed using creative language

with its own rules. Different people experience the same media message

differently. Media have embedded values and points of view. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit

and/or power. (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 186)After discovering that many teachers had trouble incorporating the Five Core Concepts into their curriculum, the Center for Media Literacy developed Five Key Questions in 2002 to use alongside the Five Core Concepts. These five questions can be adapted for various age levels.Core Concept/Key Question 1: All media messages are constructed. [Who created this message?]

This concept acknowledges that media texts are constructed by authors. The final product is not a natural or objective text, rather, it is made up of various elements that was created by authors (writers, photographers, directors, producers, etc.). Many decisions go into the creation of a text, and the audience sees the end result. The audience does not, however, get to see the ideas that were rejected

along the way, which could have produced endless variations on the media text. By asking who created the message, students are able to conceptualize both the human element behind the media text and the process of actually piecing a text together (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 192).Core Concept/Key Question 2: Media messages are constructed using creative language with its own rules. [What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?]

Each media text has its own language, which can be understood through careful consideration of the sounds and visuals that are employed to convey meaning. One of the waysin which students can learn to analyze the language of mediatexts is by creating their own.Core Concept/Key Question 3: Different people experience the same media message differently. [How might different people understand this message differently from me?]

Because audience members all differ in backgrounds and life experiences, we are positioned to interpret media texts in different ways. Two people who consume the exact same media text may come away with completely different meanings.Core Concept/Key Question 4: Media have embedded values and points of view. [What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?]

Media texts are not objective, they all contain values that tell us who or what is important. By virtue of what is omitted, they tell us who and what is not important as well.Core Concept/Key Question 5: Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power. [Why is this message being sent?] Most media messagesare made in order to create an audience so advertisers can market their products. It is important for students to understand this financial motivation in order to discern whose interests are actually being served.

Media Literacy DefinedIn the United States, the most widely used definition of media literacy is "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and

communicate messages in a wide variety of forms." This definition was a collaborative result of participants who attended the 1992 Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Institute. The Center for Media Literacy, however, suggests a more expanded definition of media literacy that emphasizes citizenship and democracy in addition to skills: "Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides aframework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in avariety of forms--from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy" (Thoman and Jolls, 2005, p. 190).Media Literacy Defined (Canadian perspective). "Media literacy is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. More specifically, it is education that aims to increase the students' understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide studentswith the ability to create media products." ( Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of Education Ontario, 1997)Media Literacy is Not...Thoman and Jolls (2005) note that, because the definition of media literacy can be so vast, it is almost easier to define what is not media literacy. For instance, they state that medialiteracy is not media bashing, but involves critically analyzing media messages and institutions. It is not just producing media, although production skills should be included.Media literacy is not simply teaching with videos, the Internet, or other technologies, but it is teaching about the media in society. It is not just looking for stereotypes or negative representations, but exploring how these representations are normalized in society. It's not just based on one perspective, rather, it encourages multiple perspectivesand various viewpoints. Finally, media literacy is not an

effort to restrict media use, but to encourage mindful and critical media consumption.Thoman and Jolls (2005) also cite media literacy consultant Faith Rogow who cautions teachers against conveying pre-ordained denouncements of the media and challenges them to reflect on the analytical skills they teach. Are they encouraging critical environments that allow for the expressionof substantiated interpretations that may differ with their ownor are they inadvertently "preaching" only the "right" answers?She posits this negative approach as "fatally flawed," often resulting in the creation of a "cynical" rather than an "intellectually skeptical" attitude among students.Why Is Mass Media So Important?When considering the importance of media education, Buckingham (2003) first defines the central role of the mass media in social, economic and political processes today:“The media are major industries, generating profit and employment; they provide us with most of our information about the political process; and they offer us ideas, images and representations (both factual and fictional) that inevitably shape our view of reality. The media are undoubtedly the major contemporary means of cultural expression and communication: tobecome an active participant in public life necessarily involves making use of the modern media. The media, it is oftenargued, have now taken the place of the family, the church and the school as the major socializing influence in contemporary society” (Buckingham, 2003, p. 5).Buckingham posits that people increasingly define themselves and interact through the mass media, which serve as a cultural ‘glue’. Consequently, without clearly understanding and effectively using the media, individuals are unable to participate in public life and contribute to the public discourse. Tanya: This seems to have a narrow view of what public life and discourse consists of, I wonder if Buckingham would additionally acknowledge the active public lives of ruralcommunities, for example, that may more often have public meetings than they would refer to blogs for community public

discourse. Therefore, Buckingham concludes, traditional social institutions, which previously served as socialization venues, have ceded power to the media. Buckingham makes a nuanced and valid comment on the nature and prominence of mass media. First, we can only agree that industrialization, urban living, and more recently globalization and digital technologies, have converted mass communication into the primary means of learningabout the world and society, leaving one’s print on them, and building one’s identity. The mass media, therefore, provide both the material and the channels for the construction, transmission and maintenance of culture. Buckingham, however, underlines the nature of media content as a representation and not as “transparent windows on the world”, and also stresses the indirect communication and selective versions of the world provided by the media (2003, p. 3). This inevitably raises concerns over the ability not only of young people, but of any member of society, to understand the characteristics, content and role of the mass media on one hand, and the capacity to access and use the media as an arena to voice their own opinions and to conduct a meaningful dialogue with others. Separating the understanding and the use of the media would be a misguided step.Another question regarding Buckingham’s position concerns the extent to which people are aware of the broad implications of the media’s influence on their lives and how the public is reflecting on them. Since the views of protectionists or the ‘moral majority’ often take the front seat, the public debate may fail to address critical aspects of the mass media in modern society.Traditional social institutions like the family, the church andthe school may refuse to recognize the mass media’s growing influence and attempt to restore traditional relations of power, to denigrate the mass media, instead of adapting to the new conditions. The ordeals of media education initiatives and activists indicate that the predominant response is one of opposition and reluctant acceptance rather than openness, cooperation and accommodation, and this signals not just a reactionary response by traditional bastions of social order,

but also further setbacks for media education. Tanya: for readers of this, it may be important to add Buckingham's optimism in his views towards 'a new paradigm.' I think his discussion about the move 'beyond protectionism' that outlines the changing views on youth's relationships with media will garner supporters for the media education movement.Key Themes and Ideas[edit]

Media literacy draws on the concepts of the larger critical literacy movement, begun in the latter half of the twentieth century, which stresses the expansion of the term literacy beyond just the interpretation and construction of meaning. Critical literacy emphasizes the socio-cultural, political and historical contexts within which the process of meaning-making is embedded and hence influenced. Media literacy teachers help students understand and explore various themes such as race, gender, class, power and identity, situated in popular culture texts.Examining Media Representations[edit]Media literacy is a valuable way to explore issues of representation in K-12 classrooms. Students explore representation by examining and deconstructing media portrayalsof gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability. Lessons in representation serve to examine how roles are socially constructed and how personal identity is shaped in political, historical, and cultural contexts which include an examination of issues of power and hegemony. Representation can be exploredin meaningful ways by: using examples from various historical periods and making connections to their socio-historical context; investigating the economics behind representations, recognizing that different people have different readings of the same text; scrutinizing what is missing from a representation; and inviting students to express their own identities.General themes discussed in a typical media literacy curriculummay include: journalism and information; advertising, propaganda, and persuasion; representation of race, gender, andsocial class; and narrative and visual structures and

conventions in storytelling for fiction and non-fiction (Hobbs,2007). The topic of representation explores the relationship between media portrayals and the complex social realities that people like.Five Core Concepts of Media Literacy[edit]The Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, created the five core concepts of media literacy, using the Canada's eight "Key Concepts" for media literacy (Pungente, 1989) as a guide. The Five Core Concepts are:

All media messages are constructed. Media messages are constructed using creative language

with its own rules. Different people experience the same media message

differently. Media have embedded values and points of view. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit

and/or power. (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 186)After discovering that many teachers had trouble incorporating the Five Core Concepts into their curriculum, the Center for Media Literacy developed Five Key Questions in 2002 to use alongside the Five Core Concepts. These five questions can be adapted for various age levels.Core Concept/Key Question 1: All media messages are constructed. [Who created this message?]

This concept acknowledges that media texts are constructed by authors. The final product is not a natural or objective text, rather, it is made up of various elements that was created by authors (writers, photographers, directors, producers, etc.). Many decisions go into the creation of a text, and the audience sees the end result. The audience does not, however, get to see the ideas that were rejected along the way, which could have produced endless variations on the media text. By asking who created the message, students are able to conceptualize both the human element

behind the media text and the process of actually piecing a text together (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 192).Core Concept/Key Question 2: Media messages are constructed using creative language with its own rules. [What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?]

Each media text has its own language, which can be understood through careful consideration of the sounds and visuals that are employed to convey meaning. One of the waysin which students can learn to analyze the language of mediatexts is by creating their own.Core Concept/Key Question 3: Different people experience the same media message differently. [How might different people understand this message differently from me?]

Because audience members all differ in backgrounds and life experiences, we are positioned to interpret media texts in different ways. Two people who consume the exact same media text may come away with completely different meanings.Core Concept/Key Question 4: Media have embedded values and points of view. [What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?]

Media texts are not objective, they all contain values that tell us who or what is important. By virtue of what is omitted, they tell us who and what is not important as well.Core Concept/Key Question 5: Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power. [Why is this message being sent?] Most media messagesare made in order to create an audience so advertisers can market their products. It is important for students to understand this financial motivation in order to discern whose interests are actually being served.

Media Literacy DefinedIn the United States, the most widely used definition of media literacy is "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms." This definition was a collaborative result of participants who attended the 1992 Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Institute.

The Center for Media Literacy, however, suggests a more expanded definition of media literacy that emphasizes citizenship and democracy in addition to skills: "Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides aframework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in avariety of forms--from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy" (Thoman and Jolls, 2005, p. 190).Media Literacy Defined (Canadian perspective). "Media literacy is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. More specifically, it is education that aims to increase the students' understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide studentswith the ability to create media products." ( Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of Education Ontario, 1997)Media Literacy is Not...Thoman and Jolls (2005) note that, because the definition of media literacy can be so vast, it is almost easier to define what is not media literacy. For instance, they state that medialiteracy is not media bashing, but involves critically analyzing media messages and institutions. It is not just producing media, although production skills should be included.Media literacy is not simply teaching with videos, the Internet, or other technologies, but it is teaching about the media in society. It is not just looking for stereotypes or negative representations, but exploring how these representations are normalized in society. It's not just based on one perspective, rather, it encourages multiple perspectivesand various viewpoints. Finally, media literacy is not an effort to restrict media use, but to encourage mindful and critical media consumption.

Thoman and Jolls (2005) also cite media literacy consultant Faith Rogow who cautions teachers against conveying pre-ordained denouncements of the media and challenges them to reflect on the analytical skills they teach. Are they encouraging critical environments that allow for the expressionof substantiated interpretations that may differ with their ownor are they inadvertently "preaching" only the "right" answers?She posits this negative approach as "fatally flawed," often resulting in the creation of a "cynical" rather than an "intellectually skeptical" attitude among students.Why Is Mass Media So Important?When considering the importance of media education, Buckingham (2003) first defines the central role of the mass media in social, economic and political processes today:“The media are major industries, generating profit and employment; they provide us with most of our information about the political process; and they offer us ideas, images and representations (both factual and fictional) that inevitably shape our view of reality. The media are undoubtedly the major contemporary means of cultural expression and communication: tobecome an active participant in public life necessarily involves making use of the modern media. The media, it is oftenargued, have now taken the place of the family, the church and the school as the major socializing influence in contemporary society” (Buckingham, 2003, p. 5).Buckingham posits that people increasingly define themselves and interact through the mass media, which serve as a cultural ‘glue’. Consequently, without clearly understanding and effectively using the media, individuals are unable to participate in public life and contribute to the public discourse. Tanya: This seems to have a narrow view of what public life and discourse consists of, I wonder if Buckingham would additionally acknowledge the active public lives of ruralcommunities, for example, that may more often have public meetings than they would refer to blogs for community public discourse. Therefore, Buckingham concludes, traditional social institutions, which previously served as socialization venues,

have ceded power to the media. Buckingham makes a nuanced and valid comment on the nature and prominence of mass media. First, we can only agree that industrialization, urban living, and more recently globalization and digital technologies, have converted mass communication into the primary means of learningabout the world and society, leaving one’s print on them, and building one’s identity. The mass media, therefore, provide both the material and the channels for the construction, transmission and maintenance of culture. Buckingham, however, underlines the nature of media content as a representation and not as “transparent windows on the world”, and also stresses the indirect communication and selective versions of the world provided by the media (2003, p. 3). This inevitably raises concerns over the ability not only of young people, but of any member of society, to understand the characteristics, content and role of the mass media on one hand, and the capacity to access and use the media as an arena to voice their own opinions and to conduct a meaningful dialogue with others. Separating the understanding and the use of the media would be a misguided step.Another question regarding Buckingham’s position concerns the extent to which people are aware of the broad implications of the media’s influence on their lives and how the public is reflecting on them. Since the views of protectionists or the ‘moral majority’ often take the front seat, the public debate may fail to address critical aspects of the mass media in modern society.Traditional social institutions like the family, the church andthe school may refuse to recognize the mass media’s growing influence and attempt to restore traditional relations of power, to denigrate the mass media, instead of adapting to the new conditions. The ordeals of media education initiatives and activists indicate that the predominant response is one of opposition and reluctant acceptance rather than openness, cooperation and accommodation, and this signals not just a reactionary response by traditional bastions of social order, but also further setbacks for media education. Tanya: for readers of this, it may be important to add Buckingham's

optimism in his views towards 'a new paradigm.' I think his discussion about the move 'beyond protectionism' that outlines the changing views on youth's relationships with media will garner supporters for the media education movement.Key Themes and Ideas[edit]

Media literacy draws on the concepts of the larger critical literacy movement, begun in the latter half of the twentieth century, which stresses the expansion of the term literacy beyond just the interpretation and construction of meaning. Critical literacy emphasizes the socio-cultural, political and historical contexts within which the process of meaning-making is embedded and hence influenced. Media literacy teachers help students understand and explore various themes such as race, gender, class, power and identity, situated in popular culture texts.Examining Media Representations[edit]Media literacy is a valuable way to explore issues of representation in K-12 classrooms. Students explore representation by examining and deconstructing media portrayalsof gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability. Lessons in representation serve to examine how roles are socially constructed and how personal identity is shaped in political, historical, and cultural contexts which include an examination of issues of power and hegemony. Representation can be exploredin meaningful ways by: using examples from various historical periods and making connections to their socio-historical context; investigating the economics behind representations, recognizing that different people have different readings of the same text; scrutinizing what is missing from a representation; and inviting students to express their own identities.General themes discussed in a typical media literacy curriculummay include: journalism and information; advertising, propaganda, and persuasion; representation of race, gender, andsocial class; and narrative and visual structures and conventions in storytelling for fiction and non-fiction (Hobbs,2007). The topic of representation explores the relationship

between media portrayals and the complex social realities that people like.Five Core Concepts of Media Literacy[edit]The Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, created the five core concepts of media literacy, using the Canada's eight "Key Concepts" for media literacy (Pungente, 1989) as a guide. The Five Core Concepts are:

All media messages are constructed. Media messages are constructed using creative language

with its own rules. Different people experience the same media message

differently. Media have embedded values and points of view. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit

and/or power. (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 186)After discovering that many teachers had trouble incorporating the Five Core Concepts into their curriculum, the Center for Media Literacy developed Five Key Questions in 2002 to use alongside the Five Core Concepts. These five questions can be adapted for various age levels.Core Concept/Key Question 1: All media messages are constructed. [Who created this message?]

This concept acknowledges that media texts are constructed by authors. The final product is not a natural or objective text, rather, it is made up of various elements that was created by authors (writers, photographers, directors, producers, etc.). Many decisions go into the creation of a text, and the audience sees the end result. The audience does not, however, get to see the ideas that were rejected along the way, which could have produced endless variations on the media text. By asking who created the message, students are able to conceptualize both the human element behind the media text and the process of actually piecing a text together (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 192).

Core Concept/Key Question 2: Media messages are constructed using creative language with its own rules. [What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?]

Each media text has its own language, which can be understood through careful consideration of the sounds and visuals that are employed to convey meaning. One of the waysin which students can learn to analyze the language of mediatexts is by creating their own.Core Concept/Key Question 3: Different people experience the same media message differently. [How might different people understand this message differently from me?]

Because audience members all differ in backgrounds and life experiences, we are positioned to interpret media texts in different ways. Two people who consume the exact same media text may come away with completely different meanings.Core Concept/Key Question 4: Media have embedded values and points of view. [What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?]

Media texts are not objective, they all contain values that tell us who or what is important. By virtue of what is omitted, they tell us who and what is not important as well.Core Concept/Key Question 5: Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power. [Why is this message being sent?] Most media messagesare made in order to create an audience so advertisers can market their products. It is important for students to understand this financial motivation in order to discern whose interests are actually being served.

Media Literacy DefinedIn the United States, the most widely used definition of media literacy is "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms." This definition was a collaborative result of participants who attended the 1992 Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Institute. The Center for Media Literacy, however, suggests a more expanded definition of media literacy that emphasizes citizenship and democracy in addition to skills: "Media

Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides aframework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in avariety of forms--from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy" (Thoman and Jolls, 2005, p. 190).Media Literacy Defined (Canadian perspective). "Media literacy is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. More specifically, it is education that aims to increase the students' understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide studentswith the ability to create media products." ( Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ministry of Education Ontario, 1997)Media Literacy is Not...Thoman and Jolls (2005) note that, because the definition of media literacy can be so vast, it is almost easier to define what is not media literacy. For instance, they state that medialiteracy is not media bashing, but involves critically analyzing media messages and institutions. It is not just producing media, although production skills should be included.Media literacy is not simply teaching with videos, the Internet, or other technologies, but it is teaching about the media in society. It is not just looking for stereotypes or negative representations, but exploring how these representations are normalized in society. It's not just based on one perspective, rather, it encourages multiple perspectivesand various viewpoints. Finally, media literacy is not an effort to restrict media use, but to encourage mindful and critical media consumption.Thoman and Jolls (2005) also cite media literacy consultant Faith Rogow who cautions teachers against conveying pre-ordained denouncements of the media and challenges them to reflect on the analytical skills they teach. Are they

encouraging critical environments that allow for the expressionof substantiated interpretations that may differ with their ownor are they inadvertently "preaching" only the "right" answers?She posits this negative approach as "fatally flawed," often resulting in the creation of a "cynical" rather than an "intellectually skeptical" attitude among students.Why Is Mass Media So Important?When considering the importance of media education, Buckingham (2003) first defines the central role of the mass media in social, economic and political processes today:“The media are major industries, generating profit and employment; they provide us with most of our information about the political process; and they offer us ideas, images and representations (both factual and fictional) that inevitably shape our view of reality. The media are undoubtedly the major contemporary means of cultural expression and communication: tobecome an active participant in public life necessarily involves making use of the modern media. The media, it is oftenargued, have now taken the place of the family, the church and the school as the major socializing influence in contemporary society” (Buckingham, 2003, p. 5).Buckingham posits that people increasingly define themselves and interact through the mass media, which serve as a cultural ‘glue’. Consequently, without clearly understanding and effectively using the media, individuals are unable to participate in public life and contribute to the public discourse. Tanya: This seems to have a narrow view of what public life and discourse consists of, I wonder if Buckingham would additionally acknowledge the active public lives of ruralcommunities, for example, that may more often have public meetings than they would refer to blogs for community public discourse. Therefore, Buckingham concludes, traditional social institutions, which previously served as socialization venues, have ceded power to the media. Buckingham makes a nuanced and valid comment on the nature and prominence of mass media. First, we can only agree that industrialization, urban living, and more recently globalization and digital technologies, have

converted mass communication into the primary means of learningabout the world and society, leaving one’s print on them, and building one’s identity. The mass media, therefore, provide both the material and the channels for the construction, transmission and maintenance of culture. Buckingham, however, underlines the nature of media content as a representation and not as “transparent windows on the world”, and also stresses the indirect communication and selective versions of the world provided by the media (2003, p. 3). This inevitably raises concerns over the ability not only of young people, but of any member of society, to understand the characteristics, content and role of the mass media on one hand, and the capacity to access and use the media as an arena to voice their own opinions and to conduct a meaningful dialogue with others. Separating the understanding and the use of the media would be a misguided step.Another question regarding Buckingham’s position concerns the extent to which people are aware of the broad implications of the media’s influence on their lives and how the public is reflecting on them. Since the views of protectionists or the ‘moral majority’ often take the front seat, the public debate may fail to address critical aspects of the mass media in modern society.Traditional social institutions like the family, the church andthe school may refuse to recognize the mass media’s growing influence and attempt to restore traditional relations of power, to denigrate the mass media, instead of adapting to the new conditions. The ordeals of media education initiatives and activists indicate that the predominant response is one of opposition and reluctant acceptance rather than openness, cooperation and accommodation, and this signals not just a reactionary response by traditional bastions of social order, but also further setbacks for media education. Tanya: for readers of this, it may be important to add Buckingham's optimism in his views towards 'a new paradigm.' I think his discussion about the move 'beyond protectionism' that outlines the changing views on youth's relationships with media will garner supporters for the media education movement.

Key Themes and Ideas[edit]

Media literacy draws on the concepts of the larger critical literacy movement, begun in the latter half of the twentieth century, which stresses the expansion of the term literacy beyond just the interpretation and construction of meaning. Critical literacy emphasizes the socio-cultural, political and historical contexts within which the process of meaning-making is embedded and hence influenced. Media literacy teachers help students understand and explore various themes such as race, gender, class, power and identity, situated in popular culture texts.Examining Media Representations[edit]Media literacy is a valuable way to explore issues of representation in K-12 classrooms. Students explore representation by examining and deconstructing media portrayalsof gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability. Lessons in representation serve to examine how roles are socially constructed and how personal identity is shaped in political, historical, and cultural contexts which include an examination of issues of power and hegemony. Representation can be exploredin meaningful ways by: using examples from various historical periods and making connections to their socio-historical context; investigating the economics behind representations, recognizing that different people have different readings of the same text; scrutinizing what is missing from a representation; and inviting students to express their own identities.General themes discussed in a typical media literacy curriculummay include: journalism and information; advertising, propaganda, and persuasion; representation of race, gender, andsocial class; and narrative and visual structures and conventions in storytelling for fiction and non-fiction (Hobbs,2007). The topic of representation explores the relationship between media portrayals and the complex social realities that people like.Five Core Concepts of Media Literacy[edit]

The Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, created the five core concepts of media literacy, using the Canada's eight "Key Concepts" for media literacy (Pungente, 1989) as a guide. The Five Core Concepts are:

All media messages are constructed. Media messages are constructed using creative language

with its own rules. Different people experience the same media message

differently. Media have embedded values and points of view. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit

and/or power. (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 186)After discovering that many teachers had trouble incorporating the Five Core Concepts into their curriculum, the Center for Media Literacy developed Five Key Questions in 2002 to use alongside the Five Core Concepts. These five questions can be adapted for various age levels.Core Concept/Key Question 1: All media messages are constructed. [Who created this message?]

This concept acknowledges that media texts are constructed by authors. The final product is not a natural or objective text, rather, it is made up of various elements that was created by authors (writers, photographers, directors, producers, etc.). Many decisions go into the creation of a text, and the audience sees the end result. The audience does not, however, get to see the ideas that were rejected along the way, which could have produced endless variations on the media text. By asking who created the message, students are able to conceptualize both the human element behind the media text and the process of actually piecing a text together (Thoman & Jolls, 2005, p. 192).Core Concept/Key Question 2: Media messages are constructed using creative language with its own rules. [What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?]

Each media text has its own language, which can be understood through careful consideration of the sounds and visuals that are employed to convey meaning. One of the waysin which students can learn to analyze the language of mediatexts is by creating their own.Core Concept/Key Question 3: Different people experience the same media message differently. [How might different people understand this message differently from me?]

Because audience members all differ in backgrounds and life experiences, we are positioned to interpret media texts in different ways. Two people who consume the exact same media text may come away with completely different meanings.Core Concept/Key Question 4: Media have embedded values and points of view. [What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?]

Media texts are not objective, they all contain values that tell us who or what is important. By virtue of what is omitted, they tell us who and what is not important as well.Core Concept/Key Question 5: Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power. [Why is this message being sent?] Most media messages are made in order to create an audience so advertisers can market their products. It is important for students to understand this financial motivation in order todiscern whose interests are actually being served.

Teaching Students to Filter Information[edit]In his essay Technology as a Dazzling Distraction (1994), Neil Postman argued that the modern emphasis towards including technology as an integral part of the education system in America is actually overlooking the real issues which educationought to address. Postman argues that technologies tend to limit peoples’ options more than they increase them: society creates needs to match available and new technologies, instead of creating technology to match existing needs. In this argument, Postman appears to be agreeing with McLuhan’s famed claim that “the medium is the message,” and that the form of media employed by a society is, in itself, a far more powerful

force of cultural change than any particular statement conveyedby means of that media.However, Postman’s argument goes beyond a claim that technologycan shape society, and the educational system, in unintended orunnecessary ways. Postman argues that schools no longer serve the purpose of information-giving. Since the advent of mass media, people have had access to far more information outside of a school setting than can be accessed within the school itself. This point becomes even more clear when considering thegrowth of the internet and the easy, near-instantaneous access to a plethora of information. Thus, since information, in itself, is no longer particularly difficult to gain, schools need to focus on two other goals: teaching students how to behave as part of a community and, how to ignore and disregard useless information. Thus, the problem of education today is nolonger obtaining information; it is now filtering information. This point is, in many ways, addresses a central goal of media literacy education.

Robert CahillMIT ProgramLiterature ReviewFall Quarter 2006                   

 

“Media Literacy in K-12: Using Media to Advance CriticalThinking”

Defining Media Literacy

            Modern United Sates has witnessed the rise of mediaculture.  With advancements in technology, the youth are indoctrinated into a world of television, films, advertisements, commercials, billboards, slogans, the Internet,music, video game consoles and a plethora of other forms of media messages.  The Nelson Media Center reports that in 2005, the average household in the United States kept the TV on for over eight hours per day (Nelson Media Center, 2005). A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that in the twenty-first century,99 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 18 years-old

live in homes with a TV set (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).  These numbers indicate exposure to only one form of media.  That same Kaiser study reports that the average child spends six-and-a-half hours with various forms of media – from television, music, to video game consoles and computers.  In this sense, media have become the dominant “texts” of youths (Bruce, 2006).  Youths spend more time with media than with traditional print texts.  Advocates of media literacy see the potential of education to effectively prepare students to participate in a world saturated with media messages; these educators strive to expand the definition of literacy to include media literacy (see: Adams & Hamm; Daley, 2003; Hobbs & Frost, 2003; Johnson, 2001; Kist, 2005; Silverblatt, 2001).                The definition of media literacy varies.  Media literacy is often defined as “literacy” that includes all formsof media as “texts.”  If literacy is the ability to read and write; consequently, media literacy is the ability to “read” (analyze) the media, and “write” (produce) the media (Johnson, 2001).  According to Professor Renee Hobbs (2005) “media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that encompasses the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of forms” (p.61).  Media literacy is not merely showing a documentary, or informing students how to navigate the Internet, however rewarding those experiences may be.  Students learn to inform themselves using media, engage critical thinking, and likely use hands-on skillsto produce media.  Understanding how the media manipulates people is essential to media education, which also leads students to reflect on how the media effects society and their individual identities. 

Effects of the Media

            Debate ranges as to the extent the media affects individuals and society.  Media scholars believe the media not only “reflects” reality, but “creates” it (Schwarz, 2003, p. 53; see Galicaian, 2004; Goodman, 2003; Hobbs, 2001; Silverblatt, 2001).  However, most individuals are not directly or immediately manipulated by the media, because they rely on other sources of information such as family, friends, coworkers and other social groups.  Over time, the media does have a long-term influence on “beliefs, attitudes, and behavior that can change shared cultural norms and social

institutions in society at large” (DeFleur & Dennis, 1998, p. 459).  In reference to education, the media is often consideredpart of the “hidden curriculum,” because students are influenced by the media before they ever step into a classroom.  Although media does not tell people what to think, it sets the agenda of what gets talked about (see: Martinson, 2004; Schwarz, 2003; Silverblatt, 2001; Torres & Mercado, 2005).  For example, if television or print news extensively covers celebrity sex scandals, and neglects to cover information that affects the health and wellbeing of people, this impacts the way people inform their decisions.  Also, media is the way that people learn about those people who they do not come into contact with (Silverblatt, 2001; Horn, 2003). What we do not know, we rely on what we have seen or heard in the media – however biased or limited this perception.  For instance, a white middle-class suburban person with little personal experience interacting with people in urban areas, without any other experiences to draw from, will have to rely on what he has understood from the mass media (Horn, 2003).  The techniques and messages of the media are shaped to increaseprofits.  The commercial for-profit media is not responsible for educating people, however, the media still “educates.”  Theimpact of media over time influences values, beliefs, and opinions, which eventually shape behavior.  Media have become powerful influences in the United States, which the effects have not been fully understood or discovered.   

A Theoretical Foundation of Media Literacy

            The Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles tracesthe theoretical foundation of media education to the early 1960s, with the works of media philosopher Marshall McLuhan andHarvard professor John Culkin.  Heavily influenced by McLuhan, Culkin incorporated films, photos, and television into traditional forms of humanities, and eventually founded the Center for Understanding Media, Inc.  This was the first organization in the United States with the objective of understanding the media, and training educators to understand media (Moody, 2003).  An influential media professor Kathleen Tyner (1991) provides a framework for understanding media education in the United States: in the 1970s, educational protectionists led efforts to defend the youth against violenceon television.  Educators emphasized critical viewing of media

in order to minimize children immitating violent acts on TV.  By the 1980s, the federal government sought educational reformsto train students to compete in the global maketplace.  Viewingmedia critically lost priority to computer literacy programs.  During this time, guidelines that regulate children’s programming diminished, whereas the youth were increasingly exposed to media.  Since the 1990s, the United States has seen the proliferation of media education organizations, resource programs, federal grants, and higher education courses to address media literacy.  Much of this work has been influenced by international efforts.  Britain, Canada and Australia are regarded as leaders of media eduacation, where media literacy is taught nationally in public schools.  In Canada, for example, media education is required for seventh- through twelfth-grade and has been since 1987 (Silverblatt, 2001).  In the U.S. media literacy has struggled to flourish, despite the dedication of media education advocates. 

Guidelines for Implementing Media Literacy

            Advoates of media literacy aim to increase acceptance in the K-12 curriculum.  The Center for Media Literacy (2004) unveiled Five Key Questions appropriate and applicable to engage media literacy for all ages in the K-12 system.  The focus of media education is on helping students reflect on and understand the following:

            (1) Who created this message?            (2) What creative techniques are used to attract myattention?            (3) How might others understand this message differently from me?            (4) What values and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?            (5) Why is this message being sent?

            These questions respectfully engage discussions of authorship, format, audience, content, and motive.  This analysis is critical for understanding core concepts of media literacy, which include:

            (1) All media messages are “constructed.”            (2) Media messages are constructed using a creative

language with its own rules.            (3) Different people experience the same media message differently.            (4) Media have embedded values and points of view.                                   (5) Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

            The key questions and core concepts of media literacy play out depending on age and development of students.  Younger students may analyze boxes of cereal to understand how marketing techniques and advertisements on packaging  influence them.  Studying magazines geared towards teenagers, high school students can examine and analyze stereotyping, and how this affects their self-image (Schwarz, 2003).  The goal is to stir students to critically analyze everything they come across.  Several techniques can foster student learning and critical thinking: students create DVDs, post commentaries online, read newspapers, critique commercialsand song lyrics, write news stories, compare websites to books or film, compare the coverage of an event from multiple forms of media (see: Adams & Hamm, 2000; Hobbs & Frost, 2003; Scharrer, 2003; Silverblatt, 2001; Torres & Mercado, 2005).  The methods of implementing media literacy continue to change, as educators adapt new and creative ways of integrating media in the classroom.  Educators often assign students to reflect on their own habits of media consumption. Some educators ask students to examine how media is funded, in order to understandpoint of references, media bias, and corporate interests (Flores, 2001).  Most advocates of media literacy do not believe the subject should taught only in language arts courses, because media touches upon any subject (see: Galician,2004; Hobbs, 2001, Shea, 2003; Torres & Mercado, 2005; Tyner, 1991).  Advocates of media education, such as David Martinson (2004) strongly recommends that all high schools provide a specific media literacy class, and that people with expertise in “contemporary mass communication” instruct the course. 

The Potential of Media Literacy

            The benefits of media literacy continue to unfold, as the possibilities of media literacy continue to be explored and advanced.  Educators view media literacy as necessary for “protecting” children, “informing” citizens, “demystifying” themedia, and “creating” new forms of self-expression (Zaslow & Butler, 2002).  Media educators are interested in the potentialof studying the media to help students construct concepts of self, and to empower students to face social problems (see: Goodman, 2003; Hobbs, 2001; Tyner, 1991; Zaslow & Butler, 2002).  Video technology, for instance, can help students address issues they could not deal with before.  “Marginalized youth, equipped with a video camera, can transform issues that once hobbled their academic and social development – racism, crime, stereotypes, poverty – into opportunities for research, problem solving, and social action” (Walker, 2002, p. 45).  Media education is used to confront inequalities, increase political participation, increase awareness about materialism and consumerism, and change students’ attitudes about racism, sexism, violence and homophobia (Hobbs, 2001).  Whereas school seldom offer the opportunity to discuss race, for example, students are able to incorporate this into curriculum.  In the traditional classroom, textbooks constitute the “major mass media,” which tends to lack the cultural diversity in the United States (Tyner, 1991).  Media education can enable the exploration of social justice issues in the classroom, allowingteachers and students to circumvent textbooks with other media.  Teachers must bear in mind that students, faculty, and parents may object to teachers imposing values on students, especially if the teacher is proslytizing, dogmatic or authoritative.  For this reason educators, such as Mary Galician, view media literacy as neither necessarily political or ideological, but a pedagogical necessity to advance learningand critical thinking.             The author of The Rise and Fall of English, Robert Scholes argues that English courses should focus on the “meaning-making” process instead of “grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric (Hobbs & Frost, 2003).  When students make meaning by deconstructing messages in the media, this critical thinking ability carries over into more traditional writings.  The research is limited, but does suggests that “media literacy instruction improves students’ ability to identify main ideas in written, audio, and visual media” and that secondary media

literacy curriculum in English courses improves reading and writing skills more than “traditional literature-based English curriculum” (Hobbs & Frost, 2003).  The improvement in students’ reading and writing skills relate to several factors.  Media literacy connects language in school to that ofstudents’ home cultures, and lives outside of the classroom (see: Goodman, 2003; Hobbs, 2001; Hobbs & Frost, 2003).  Also, media literacy uses hands-on learning, peer-involvement, and collobarative group work, which engages students, and allows them “to translate their own voices into the language of the more formal, dominant culture” (Goodman, 2003, p. 59).  With media used in the classroom, the power dynamics change, becausethe youth become experts (Hobbs, 2001).  Studying the media explores contemporary issues, which are often more relevant andinteresting to students.  Also students are more motivated by visual and electronic texts, they are more interested and find more practical relevance in studying newspapers, television, movies, magazines, and websites (Hobbs, 2005; Schwarz, 2003).              Media literacy is encouraged to advance consumer education and the critical viewing of marketing and commercialism.  Students are targed by advertisers from an early age, by no choice of their own.  Educators seek to develop ways for students to deconstruct the media's persuasivetechniques (see: Hundley, 2004; Galician, 2004; Sharrarer, 2003).  However, educators of media do not exaggerate the negative effects of media, or encourage the youth to be quarantined from media (Galician, 2004; Hobbs, 2001).  For one,the media provides enjoyment, entertainment, and genuinely beneficial and helpful messages.  Media is not necessarily negative, but people must be educated to view the media critically.   From this Vygostkian perspective, students are not passive observers, or “helpless victims” of media, but bring their own experiences and participate actively while experiencing media (Hobbs, 2001; Zaslow & Butler, 2002).  The media is so pervasive that parents will not be allowed to prevent their children from this influence.  Even if students were shut out from media’s influences at home, in schools students are bombarded with media messages, advertisements, andbrand recognition efforts by large corporations (Molnar, 2002).  Students who are media literate are better prepared to assess the techniques used to manipulate their manufactured wants through commercials and advertisings.  In this context,

media literacy stands as “intellectual self-defense,” leading students away from corporate for-profit media (Torres & Mercado, 2005).  In Democracy & Education, John Dewey recalled that: “Plato once defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct”  (Dewey, 1944, p. 85).  In this sense, media literacy works to counter the slave-like acceptance of media commercialism.  Understanding how media influence what students believe is essential for a democratic society because for a society to function, citizens must be informed and know how their views, beliefs, and knowledge are influenced. 

Criticims & Limitations of Media Education

            Criticism of media literacy hinge on what is deemed“appropriate” for students to learn in public school.  This criticism is twofold.  First, the potential of forging into political and ideological waters may distance teachers from approaching the subject matter.  Teachers are often uncomfortable when class discussions deal with complex issues that challenge students’ values and beliefs, such as racism or homophobia.  In order for teachers to address these subject matters, they must confront their own values, which is difficult(Horn, 2003).  Secondly, educators may not believe studying popular culture is serious enough to merit study in schools, orelse fear that parents and community members may question the appropriateness of the content.  How might a parent react if a student comes home talking about how a Simpson’s episode and a Mark Twain story help explain parody or satire? (Hobbs, 2001). Given that students are already inundated with media, spending more time with media in school may either seem counterproductive, or enforce students’ belief that TV watchingis okay, and preferrable to traditional print texts.  Teachers’biases reflect a concern that newer media will render reading and writing obsolete, however, this has not been supported by research (Hobbs & Frost, 2003).            The concept of media literacy itself challenges a widely held assumption that only print media is important in education.  Print media often defines how literate or educated a person is (see: Daley, 2003; Semali, 2002; Silverblatt, 2001).  Students are rarely taught to analyze and study the “language” of visual, audio and multi-media “texts,” even though these forms of media influence their lives.  In the era

of accountability, ushered in even more extensively with the NoChild Left Behind Act, skeptics criticize why educators are teaching material that will not be adopted or evaluated with standardized tests (Bruce, 2005).  The pressure of grades and adhering to specified curriculum increases the difficulty for teachers to implement media literacy, as more time is spent preparing for standardized tests, and less time for innovative curriculum.  Media literacy is also criticized for lack of accountability.  Little emperical research is based on how media literacy curriculum affects students’ reading and writingskills in schools (Hobbs & Frost, 2003; Scharrer, 2002).  Students are often directed towards creating their own form of media as a way of engaging media literacy.  However, educators fear that students will merely mimic what they see on screens, therefore lose the practical and analytical skills they could develop by analyzing the media (Hobbs, 2001).               Finally, schools often lack the resources and training to start media education programs.  Video and multimedia technology are expensive.  Educators may instead resort to play performances, role playing, skits, and more imaginative adaptations in place of expensive technology.  Lackof trained, qualified teachers is another obstacle to moving media education forward in U.S. schools (Galician, 2003; Hobbs,2001; Tyner, 1992).  Teachers often lack the understanding of how to teach media literacy, and may not feel suited to addressthe curriculum.  Educators themselves may not undestand ways the media influences viewers.   Media education also gets a badname when lackidasical teachers kill time by playing films without connecting it to curriculum.  Since media education is not emphasized in the United States, teachers cannot get certification to teach media literacy; therefore, they lack thedevelopment and resources to teach the subject matter (Goodman,2003).  Teachers are already busy educating and testing to mandated curriculum, and may be overwhelmed to take on additional material – especially when faculty are not trained to teach media literacy, must learn the material on their own, and must negotiate with the school in order to address the curriculum (Goodman, 2003).  Teachers often readily assume thatstudents know how to analyze the information that comes across various media, whereas media literacy advocates emphasize the importance of analyzing various media just as much, if not moreso than written texts (see: Daley, 2003; Hobbs & Frost, 2003;

Semali, 2002; Tyner, 1992).  Designing a curriculum based on media literacy is not an easy task.  Educators will need to seek imaginitive ways to educate themselves and students to learn how to examine and evaluate media messages.  For instance, college professor Heather Hundley (2004) wrote an ethnographic article after teaching 4th graders media educationin a four-week unit.  This unique colloboration brought the skills of a trained media expert into the public school system,and helped young students undestand how media affects and influences their lives.  These efforts must be expanded upon for media literacy to be adopted into K-12 curriculum.

 

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Tyner, K. (1991).  The Media Education Elephant.  Media Literacy Review.  (available at: http://interact.uoregon.edu/medialit/MLR/readings/articles/tyner/elephant.html).Tyner, K. (1992).  Implementation: The Next Step.  Media Literacy Review.  (avialable at: http://interact.uoregon.edu/medialit/mlr/readings/articles/tyner/implement.html).

Tuggle, C. A., Sneed, D., & Wulfemeyer, K. T. (2000). Teaching Media Studies as High School Social Science. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 54(4), 67-76.

Walker, Tim.  “Fresh Takes,” Teaching Tolerance 21 (Spring 2002): 44.

Zaslow, E., & Butler, A. (2002). "That It Was Made by Our Age Is Better" Exploring the Role of Media Literacy in Transcultural Communications. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 30(1),31.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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