Building Media Literacy

I believe building media literacy in the classroom is a skill essential not only for students in school, but also in life. Our society is now set in technology: we can post, tweet, tag, read, and comment all with the quick click of a button. We are synced with the world 24/7 it seems. Why should the classroom be any different?

By building media literacy in the classroom, we are teaching our students various ways in which they can go about not only finding and critiquing information but also connecting with people on a variety of platforms. In today's global society, students as well as adults must be able to share ideas, opinions and arguments. Students must learn that there is an entire world outside of their own in which people may or may not agree with them. Learning the skills of media literacy: accessing and analyzing information, evaluating the credibility of the media sources they are using and then moving on to create their own message based on what they have read, analyzed, and evaluated create a person who can hold an academic and intelligent discussion. They may not see eye to eye but they are able to analyze and evaluate someone else's opinion without immediately casting them aside for having a different point of view than their own.

I believe media literacy is more than just teaching skills to access information in a variety of ways. I believe it to be the foundation for a life skill in which students are able to critique and be critiqued with the understanding that people are inherently different and because of that, we must be open and able to maintain connections without judgment.