Media Literacy in Schools
Introduction
The incorporation of media in secondary English education is a call to integrate mass media in the course of teaching the curriculum for English language. This will require the use of media literacy. Media literacy educates people how to gain admittance, scrutinize, assess and create media. With such kind of syllabuses being offered to students, the result is the production of respected adolescents and children. Some of the major stakeholders in support for media literacy include substance abuse programs and the president, as they reason that children who can comprehend and interpret the motives and production methods behind media have a low likelihood of acclimatizing the destructive attitudes and conducts portrayed in the media.
As a result, media education is a way of representing a new and exhilarating perspective to caring for children and adolescents from the unhealthy effects of media. Some secondary and elementary schools in the United States have already adopted media literacy in their curriculum and they say that it is a life transforming approach in the lives of the young adults. The main forms of media to be incorporated in schools include the Television, social media, music industry, and others like newspapers, magazines and films as well as advertising.
In the United States media literature began in the 1970s with the support of the government. Despite financial drawbacks in the 1980s, and surprisingly growth in media literacy was proved by the 1990s when most teachers received training on how to incorporate media literacy in both secondary schools and elementary schools and currently, this is a basic practice in most of the United States classrooms. Some of the main benefits associated with media literacy include encouragement of critical thinking, assistance in teaching democracy, and finally, provision of student empowerment. The intention of this paper is to discuss how one can incorporate mass media-Television, films, music industry, magazines, newspapers, and advertising-into secondary English Classrooms with the main focus being on the media forms involved.
Media literacy incorporation in Secondary English Classrooms
According to a report by the national youth anti-drug media campaign (2001), media literacy enables children and young adolescent to acquire skill to cleverly navigate the media and sift the multiple messages broadcasted in it each day. One of the main reasons for incorporation of media literacy in schools campaign is the effect of prevention of drug abuse as students are taught how to be acquainted with influential messages broadcasted in the media daily. In addition, young adults are also taught how to think critically by carefully examining the values connected with each message and make the right choice regarding what is presented to them. Furthermore, students learn how to criticize wrong messages and learn to creatively generate their own messages that endorse healthy self-appreciation. Incorporation of media literacy is not without impediments like the use of media clips with adult content, and the irregular depiction of illicit drugs in some media among others (NYAMC 2001 P. 5).
One of main project involved in teaching how to incorporate media literacy in any curriculum is the “Project Look Sharp” by IthacaCollege (1999 P 6), through the use of several basic principles. These principles apply even for Secondary English Classrooms which is the main concept of this paper. One way to incorporate media into the curriculum is through the use of media to exercise general surveillance, critical thinking, and scrutiny, perspective-chatting, and fabrication skills. This can be achieved through encouraging the students to take a closer look at the information presented in any media message, and outlining all the possible ways through which such information maybe interpreted putting in mind that this will differ from one person to the other depending on age and background. In addition, teacher require the students to view videos or print medias and then test their memory and surveillance skills by asking them questions related to the content of both ( Potter 2010, P. 27). The teacher can even require the students to analyze the presenters in a certain media or provide them with a topic from which they should develop media messages.
Another way to incorporate media in secondary English curriculum is by comparing the different ways through which media presents the information about a particular topic (Buttler 2010 P 34). For instance, a teacher can take newspaper article, an advertisement or even a news report from TV and require the students to compare and contrast the way information is represented in all the various media categories. For such information, the teacher can require the students to point out the information that is given most weight and the information that is least valued and the techniques used to present each. The significance of information can also be assessed by estimating how much time has been devoted to a given topic by a particular media and the depth of which the material has been covered. With such comparisons and contrasts, the student can be in a position to establish the form of media which is more detailed for what information and the form of media that presents information as a way of attracting more sales and not so much on the provision of education.
In addition, incorporation of media in secondary school curriculum can focus on the issues of honesty and bias as portrayed on different forms of media and the teachers can provide the student with the right knowledge to assist them be familiar with the presenter of any given message on a media and the purpose behind the production of such kind of a message and the influence it might have on the purpose of such information (Burn and Durran 2007 P. 8). On the same note, the teachers can provide a clarification on how to differentiate between fiction and non fiction in media messages and methods of reporting on a given topic and so, encourage the students to always get information from different sources first, then weigh the average before jumping into conclusion about any given media topic. For instance, a teacher may encourage students to obtain information from documentaries and newspaper articles based on research rather than from mere advertisement which are mainly based on personal opinions of people about a particular product or services. As of the motive, most advertisements are just after customers and more customers and sometimes what is advertised is not in agreement to one’s tastes and preferences.
A teacher can also encourage use television programs or video clips to encourage their students to identify the producer or presenter of a message where information requires clarification from a third party and not the teacher themselves (Kubey 2001 P. 81). The teachers can also use media for give room to students to air their views and demonstrate their understanding of a given topic. For instance, a teacher may require students to air their Debate or discussion about a given topic to the rest of the school to inform them about a given topic and enable them to confront a given issue using different perspectives and weighing the options. Students may also be allowed to publish their in-depth knowledge about a given topic in the school newspaper for all other students to read and motivate them to work harder to earn such a position in the future. The teacher can also encourage students to put across their own knowledge and feelings by producing media messages for the same. In addition, students should be allowed to criticize information from various media types as well as discuss the available perspectives about the popular and different media items.
Media can also be used in building and applying particular curricular skills like reading and comprehension skills where a teacher can use books, magazines, newspapers, and advertisements to enhance reading skills (Kubey 2001 P. 83). A teacher can use excerpts from newspapers in place of ordinary class stories or comprehensions or literature like short stories and poems to assist students’ correct spellings identify adverbs and adjectives or generate themes, analyze characters, and plots among others. A teacher can also use media to practice skills like grammar and poetry. A teacher can foster computer skills by encouraging students to search for materials from the internet using social Medias and blogs as well as online discussions and forums. Students can also develop multimedia projects where the computers will be used to present the information about certain topics.
During the introduction of a given topic, a teacher may use media to establish the ways by which students are familiar with a given topic through media (Christenbury, Bomer and Smagorinsky 2009 P 156). Students can be encouraged to provide examples from a given media’s content to demonstrate what they might already know about the topic and any other thing about a given topic that they might be aware of from media. to show familiarity to given topic, student’s might draw links between the way a topic is typically handled academically and how it might be used in popular media for instance advertising tinkles, printed poetry and lyrics songs. From the students’ opinions, a teacher may clarify the way a topic is used in used in the academic sense compared to how it is used in popular culture and elaborate on the differences to avoid causing confusion among the students which may result to poor performance and understanding of a given topic among the students (Kubey 2001 P. 83).
For instance, some heading in the newspaper may mean totally different from the same while used in class context. The teacher can also build on the intuitive knowledge of the students as obtained from the media about the content area. For instance, a teacher can use the music industry to build on poetry features like rhyme, and poetry language and content. In addition, a teacher can use music industry to build on the character development and plot and themes in a story.
With such information about the prior knowledge students have about a given topic, the teacher can use media as a conventional educational tool to provide facilitate students’ learning like newspapers or magazines articles, as well as books, instructional videos and websites to drive a point home and provide additional information about a given topic (). On that note the teacher must be careful to ensure they provide information about a given how useful each form of media is and point out the conflicting information that may result from different media forms. The teacher may use media to provide information more effectively and richly which would not have been possible through normal classroom discussions. For instance, the teacher can use videos to provide the elaboration of a literature book or short story or even a poem. In addition, a teacher can demonstrate the qualities of say a good speech by providing the class with a sample speech available in a newspaper or a live speech from a video or film.
Another effective way is to encourage students to remain up to date with current events and situations as reported in different media from which the teacher may require comprehensions and compositions about certain events (Workman and Jones 2004 P 82). The teacher may also call for the analysis and summary of a given world event from which the students will build their critical thinking by providing argumentative essays about certain topics. At the end of the topic, the teacher can allow the student to post a comment on the wall of an established class page on the social media stating what they liked about the topic and what they feel should be recovered to facilitate more understanding.
To access the students’ knowledge about a given topic, the teacher may decide to use a certain forms of media. For instance, the teacher may require students to write reports about their knowledge about covered topic beyond the hand written class report. For instance, a teacher may require that the students using audio or video productions like school Radio programs, or using photographic illustrations like in the form of power point presentations. The teacher can also divide the students into groups and require each group to come up with tests about the topic of study which will be covered by all the other groups or print the best in newspapers or magazine reports. The students, especially in literature, can come up with skits or drama items that can be video recorded to watching by other students in the school or other schools. Finally the teacher may allow the students to look recommend relevant and irrelevant sources of the information covered in that particular topic to see how well the students can analyze information and sources as well as the presenters.
On the other hand, the teacher may use media to motivate interest in a new topic (). For instance, a teacher may decide to use video or film clip to develop the knowledge of student on a given topic or theme or even for the analysis of a given character in a book or, in general provide the students with an overview on a given book through a newspaper or magazine book review. The teacher may also allow the student to get information about a given topic from online discussions or even forums pertaining a given notion or idea in class. For further research, the teacher may allow students to use online search engines to get information from online sources like Google books and other electronic books.
For any controversial information or idea, the teacher can encourage student’s to form discussion groups to read and analyze and then discuss the content and then stimulate the discussion using short video or brief newspaper or magazine article to present their knowledge and conclusion about the controversial topic (Tyner 1998 P. 119). For new topics, the teacher can also provide the students’ with the right methods to search for information online to eliminate chances where students may be faced with controversial information that may mislead or reduce the chances of them understanding the topic. The teacher can also encourage students to plan and design a media product about a topic for others to view. This could be in the form of a video clip newspaper or magazine article or even an advertisement.
Finally, the teacher may use media to link the students to the society and work towards productive change (Potter 2011). First and foremost, the teacher may allow the students to identify mutual possibilities for projects with community organizations like libraries, or problems facing English as a language in secondary schools within the community that may involve students scrutinizing and creating effective high quality media messages (Silverblatt, Ellen and Eliceiri 1997 P. 49). Encouraging the secondary school students to provide teachings on media literacy ideologies to students in elementary schools in the same locality as this will facilitate more understanding on the topic as well as on media techniques. Students may also get involved in media forums like local access TV, magazine or newspaper article to communicate information or share research results.
References
Burn A. and Durran J. (2007). Media Literacy in Schools. Paul Chapman Publishing. London: UK. P.8.
Butler A., (2010). Media Education goes to School. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. New York: NY. P. 33
Christenbury L., Bomer R., and Smagorinsky P., (2009). Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research.Guilford Press. New York: NY. P. 156.
Kubey R. (2001). Media Literacy in the Information. Transaction Publishers. New Jersey: USA. P. 80
NYAMC, (2001). Helping Youth Navigate the media age. Retrieved: 01-05-2011 from http://medialiteracy.net/pdfs/media_age.pdf last updated: 04-06-2001
Project Look Sharp (1999). Basic Principles for incorporating media. Retrieved: 01-05-2011 from http://medialiteracy.net/pdfs/12principles.pdf last updated: 1999
Potter J. (2011). Media Literacy. Sage Publications, Inc. London: UK. P. 26
Silverblatt A., Ellen M. and Eliceiri E., (1997). Dictionary of Media Literacy. Greenwood Publishing Group. United States of America: USA. P. 49
Tyner, Kathleen, (1998). Literacy in Digital World: Teaching and Learning in the Age of Information. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. United States of America: USA. P.119.
Workman N. and Jones T., (2004). Dimensions of Curiosity: Liberal Learning in the 21stCentury. University Press of America. Oxford: UK. P. 82.
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