From my own personal experience a project that I can vividly remember from a high school english class was when we were asked to critically think about different forms of media and present them to the class. The reason I can remember this project so well is because I choose to look at sexism and how media portrayed women, and I was shocked at what I saw. The ketchup ad below was one of the ads that I critiqued for this project and it is evident when seeing this image how blatantly they mocking females and making them seem unintelligent in the ad.
Ketchup Ad[Imagine]. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.contagious.com/blogs/news-and-views/14026621-advertising-why-so-many-men
Clearly this ad is offensive and it is a reason I can still remember my project from english class to this day. From this project I personally think that media literacy is so essential to teach students so that they can critically think about media images that they view daily. Students need to be able to think deeply and ask questions about the media that they see so that they can break down the hidden meanings and understand how it effects our society.
Do we really want students passively viewing these types of ads in their daily lives, or do we want then to critically analyze them and break down the demeaning messages that it is sending?
Aside from my own experience with media literacy within an english class setting, in lecture it was discussed that media literacy can be incorporated into almost all of the curriculums in different ways. Media literacy can be used in a math class by counting the amount of ads seen on television in a day and graphing them into categories such as television ads, newspaper ads, radio ads, etc (L. Lane, Personal Communication, March 4, 2016). By doing this it is a simple way of incorporating media literacy into everyday lessons in subjects that you otherwise wouldn't think that you could teach media literacy in. Media literacy involves the skills of analysis and production by being able to analyze the media and gain an understanding of the underlying message, but also through production to think of ways the message could be portrayed effectively (L. Lane, Personal Communication, March 4, 2016). In the video below it shows a Ted Talks with a teacher that uses media literacy within her own classroom. She says that she tried to get her students to understand the subtext of media, or the underlying messages, as well as understand the target audience and how the media might impact our general society.
TEDx Talks [Video]. (2013). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAApvHZ6XE
In addition, after watching the video you can see that she actually teaches media literacy by having students break down the meanings of media and recreating the ads to show the real message they are portraying. By not only having students express a underlying meaning to a form of media, but also having them change the media to show what it is really saying allows students to use both analysis and production skills. I think this is a great way to show and teach media literacy in classrooms to get students critically thinking about the different media they see everyday.
As a future teacher I would definitely want to incorporate this idea of having students recreating the ads to show the real message that it is sending. The example that I used earlier from my own experience in an english class may be too advanced for some younger grades looking into how females may be represented in media, however I would want to do something similar. Maybe looking at toy ads as a class and having students ask questions like "Who is this ad directed towards?" or "Is there anything misleading about the ad?". By doing this students might begin to understand media literacy and see different underlying meanings in media content, such as gender bias within toy ads. In addition, instead of just having the students analyze media or recreate them to show their real meanings, I would also want students to use their production skills to recreate the ad in a way that doesn't have problematic messages. For example, talking with my class about how a toy ad can be changed so that it is not directed at one particular gender and the photo below gives and vision to this idea and something I would potentially show to a class. That way students can be imaginative and actively think of ways that media can be changed to send better messages. As a teacher I not only want my students to critically think about media, but I want them to take an active role in trying to change the problematic messages that some forms of media may have.
Toy Ad [Image]. (2012). Retrieved from: http://saptk.ee/naited/
Although the textbook does not talk specifically about media literacy, it does give an example of a teacher using digital literacy in their class. Digital literacy is similar to media literacy since it is both about technology, although digital literacy can be seen as more of how you utilize digital technologies. David Truss created a digital literacy course where he has students about their digital footprint and responsible usage of social networks (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). I think this is relevant to talking about media literacy because it is important that we not only teach students how media messages you view online can impact society, but also the way you individually use technology can have an impact on yourself. Students need to be aware that what they themselves post or how they use technology can impact others and themselves.
We must ask ourselves as teachers, do students really know the ramifications of what they post online? To be it is essential that students not only are able to break down the messages of media, but also understand their role with technology and how the things that they post online can have consequences.
As a future teacher I would want to bring in lessons on cyber bullying and how hurtful comments online can be harmful to others, and have consequences for the bullies. I think this would be important because cyber bullying is so prevalent today and students often do not understand the implications of their actions when they bully others over the internet.
Overall, as a future teacher I definitely see the importance in educating students on media and digital literacy. Both are essential to how students not only view media, but how they use technology. Through my own experience with learning about media literacy through my english project, it showed by how essential it is that we give students the tools to be able to break down messages in media and ask questions about them.
References
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and assessment: Engaging 21st Century Learners. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.
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