Media Literacy

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What is Media Literacy?

Media literacy is what we take from the media that we see. Media literacy is the message we take from the media and how we interpret that. We are able to access, analyze, evaluate and create media. There is a quote I saw in a screencast when learning about media literacy. I kept thinking about it. I even had to go back to write the quote down because I wanted to share and elaborate on it. “We are the 1st generation of educators with the power and responsibility to shape how the future generations will use technology to become good digital citizens.” This is so much to wrap your head around. As an educator, I use technology and the internet everyday with my students. When I was in my students' shoes as a fourth grader, we barely used technology. I remember it being a big thing to go to the computer lab for a project. In fourth grade, my teacher had a projector with transparencies. I vividly remember in fifth grade, one of the fifth grade teachers getting a smartboard and each fifth grade class getting a chance to use it. It wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school that each student was given a Chromebook to have with them at all times. Now, it's uncommon to hear of students without a 1:1 device or a teacher without some sort of Smartboard in their classroom. Our students are surrounded by media all the time. 

The 5 Competencies

Renee Hobbs expands on this and says there are five competencies that help with digital literacy in the classroom. These five competencies include: access, analyze, create, reflect, and act. All five of these are intertwined and I do think they are all important. But there are a few I think are more important than others. If I were to put them in order I would order them: Access, analyze, reflect, create, and then act. I agree that accessing media is important and all our students have access to media. However, what's important is how to find information that is applicable to them for their task at hand. The one that sticks out to me as the second most important would be analysis. I think analysis is the most important because analyzing a source is being able to understand the message, the content, and if the source is a reliable one. Students shouldn’t just be doing this when completing school assignments. They should analyze the media whenever they are using the internet. I often hear my students say, “Well a Tik Tok said….”. So because they saw it on Tik Tok it must be true. Therefore, teaching them to analyze all media they see from all sources. I then think that reflection goes hand in hand with being able to analyze media. Hobbs says reflection is thinking about how the media they say or create affects them. Reflection is a hard concept to grasp, especially for our younger students. However, having students just think about how something affects them, and then going a step further to have them think about how it may make someone else feel. I believe this is something attainable for all students. After reflection I would say create. Students are on Youtube and Tik-Tok creating content for others to view. They should be applying the analysis and reflection aspect as they create content to post. 

Different Apps Impact the Message

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I do think that Hobb’s competencies tie into Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" idea. Where we receive our media from has a direct impact on how we perceive and understand the message. Different mediums give different messages. It isn’t intentional but that is just how it plays out. Especially for mediums that have a limit on the length of your content. I think the medium directly impacts all five of the competencies. Children’s access to different mediums vary. When they have access to these different mediums their analysis and reflection of the content may be altered. For example, a student watching a video on Tik Tok versus reading an article. I think as educators it is important to expose our students to a multitude of mediums in the classroom and how to use them. 

What does it look like in my classroom?

When my class is in any sort of research unit, I do take time to teach students how to find sources that are reliable, accurate, and credible. In fourth grade, it came as a shock to some of my students that when you Google things, the first thing that pops up isn’t always the most accurate. I tell them they have to scroll down and click on some links. In fourth grade, I start with the basics. We talk about how when using the internet .org, .gov, and .edu are where we may want to start when looking for something. I share with them how Wikipedia is accessible to anyone and while it has a lot of information anyone can add to it so we shouldn’t always rely on it. I then teach them to find a date of when it was published. The rule of thumb I go by with my students is within the last five years. Lastly, I tell them to investigate the author of the article or website. I tell them to see what their title is and their experience. I do have to be honest, often times when my students are conducting research I find numerous websites for them to look through rather than having them look on Google and find millions of websites to sort through. This allows them a manageable amount to look through. I do throw in some sources that they should know to try and avoid such as an article more than five years old.