Media Literacy in Middle Schools
According to the Center for Media Literacy a typical American child spends over 38 hours a week with media, roughly the equivalent of a full-time job. The variety of media available to students, including television, radio, the Internet, movies and print media, means that there is a lot of ground to cover. Fortunately, a wide variety of organizations have made media awareness materials freely available online.
Other People Are Reading
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Advertising
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Because most media is sponsored by advertising, advertising is a good place to start. This can be as simple as having children view and talk about different advertisements. Questions about which ads they like and don't like can get a conversation started. Getting them to talk about the messages of advertising, about what the ads are selling and how they are selling it can make children think about advertising objectively. It can also be useful to compare different kinds of advertising, such as print and television ads.
Media and Behavior
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Studying media and behavior is a good introduction to a discussion of whether art imitates life or life imitates art. Asking children to look critically at various media and the behaviors of characters in fictional media compared to their own behavior and that of people they know can cause them to think about the media they consume. Also related to this is the question of the role media plays in their lives, in terms of how much media they consume and what impact the time spent with media has on the time spent in other areas of their lives, such as homework, hobbies and interaction with friends and family.
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Comparative Media
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With such a wide variety of media available, it is good to get children talking and thinking about the how those media are different. Assign activities designed to identify students' favorite books, movies, television shows and websites, what it is they like about them and how they are different from one another. This can help children to think about the media they are consuming. Are the things that a child likes about a movie and a website different -- and if so, how?
Media Creation
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Some people learn best by doing. Depending on the resources available, children may be able to create newspapers and magazines or, using computers and cameras, television and radio shows. Going through the process of bringing these media creations to life can cause children to think about the many different aspects of how they are made and what functions they serve.
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References
- Center for Media Literacy: Media Literacy In Middle School
- A Study in Media Literacy: Media Literacy Workshop for Middle School Girls
- San Diego State University; EDTEC 596 Interdisciplinary Teaching with Technology; Media and Behavior; Bernie Dodge; May 16, 1996
- K12 Station: Internet Safety - Advertising Awareness
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
