Media Literacy

Being literate in today’s society means being able to perceive, differentiate, analyze and create a variety of media genres from newspaper to television to blogs. As Barish (2002) stated the new media literacy is a “language of screens” from television, to the “big” screen, and from computer screens to iPod screens. The world of media has expanded tremendously during the technological revolution and the education of media literacy must expand to the same degree in order for our students to be successful citizens.
According to the Center for Media Literacy, urban dwellers are exposed to more than 1500 ads a day and as an urban educator, that means my students have a lot of media to decipher and they need media literacy to assist them. The Center for Media Literacy recommends the four-step model of awareness, analysis, reflection and action. I feel that this is a step in the right direction for my students. They need to first become aware of the media influencing them and then be able to critic and process the messages. One they have become aware they can then reflect on the purpose and perspective as well as take action based on the information they interacted with, either through creating media or creating a movement.
According to Considine (1995), media literacy is the “ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of format including print and nonprint. Although the majority of our educational system began using print, the technological revolution has created an increase in visual literacy from the big screen to the iPod. For my students I would plan to increase the education of visual literacy through access and evaluation of others’ media, then through critical evaluation of their own creations.


References
Center for Media Literacy(2002-2007). Media Literacy: Education for a Technological Age. retrieved on October 11, 2009 from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article337.html

Considine, D., (1995). An introduction to media literacy: the what, why and how to’s. Telemedium, The Journal of Media Literacy. 41(2). retrieved on October 11, 2009 from http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html