Media Literacy
So I’ve been reading this online book called Literacy for the 21st Century, which you can find here, that I found particularly interesting. In outlining why and how teachers can include media in the classroom, the book touched upon a question I’ve often found myself wrestling with, which is how to allow students to use media sources while making sure the sources are accurate.
In outlining the 5 questions that students should ask themselves, I found my answer. As mentioned in previous blogs, I have only just recently fully come to terms with the idea that every source comes from an author with a single purpose. Obviously, that’s something I’ve noticed before, but which I’ve never really considered in depth. I always just assumed that the author of the book or work was an expert and could be trusted. The 5 questions forces students using media to ask themselves who the author is, what his/her intent is, what kind of visual/auditory methods is he/she implementing to convey a certain emotion or point, how can the work be interpreted differently depending on the factors the reader/viewer brings to the table and what are the “imbedded values” incorporated within the media. I think that these are all questions we should ask ourselves, no matter where we are getting the information from.
In this way, I actually think that allowing students to not only use, but understand, media will generate a new group of people who are much more conscious of the information they are receiving. When was the last time you asked yourself about the advertisments we see on TV everyday and how they are affecting your life? We ignore questions like these all the time and maybe it doesn’t matter so much when it’s a commercial for Wendy’s, but it starts to matter a lot more when it’s research for a paper or an article on how to teach.
Likewise, the book points out that media can actually encourage students to put more thought into what they are producing by asking the similar questions in reverse thus developing a greater sense of awareness in the students.
jpeel1
Awareness development is an important thing…students will often initially respond that “advertisements don’t affect me…I just ignore them.” Really? If this is the case, why do companies spend billions of dollars on advertising? Something must be working.