Critically Close

"When digital and media literacy educators began to see themselves as a learning community, it became obvious that there was a set of shared ideas that unified their interests in teacher and learning." Pg. 55 

I strongly agree with this quote about a "learning community." I think digital and media literacy need to be taught with in the curriculum. It needs to be relevantly applied as students are using media. It is just easier to teach one lesson on it, check it off and move on. Because I can't be sure all my teachers are teaching digital and media literacy within their discipline and I don't have a good way to track this currently, I have to resort to the easier method for the masses. My goal is to move toward being able to prove that teachers are doing this in their classrooms on a regular basis. It is more likely that you would cover all students in the school in this way. 

"Media Messages can have variable and unexpected effects as a result of differences in meaning and interpretation. Some messages that are innocuous to some people can be destructive or hurtful to the human spirit of others." Pg. 59 

I agree with this quote. This class is helping us deconstruct media messages that we see or are presented with. We need to teach our colleagues and students to do the same thing in their every day lives. It is not just the ads and commercials that can touch and affect our lives but the every day media that we consume. I was reminded of this video from Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/power-of-words 

"Digital and media literacy education reflect a deeply humanistic idea of education. When teachers and learners are both required to 'invest something of themselves' in learning, this results in personal fulfillment and genuine receptivity to new ideas. That's why we must respect students' engagement with mass media and celebrity culture. As with the humanities, digital and media literacy education helps to integrate the academic disciplines by promoting the core competencies:" Curiosity, Asking Questions, Interpretation, Synthesis and Expression. Pg. 63 

I was talking with a new teacher at my school yesterday. She was asking me about a project her students were doing. She wanted to post them safely for parents to see. We were going over a permission form she created. I was thinking about Author, Audience and Subject. I mentioned she should be writing this in her lesson plans. She can use digital literacy learning objectives and standards in her classroom. She said she thinks she does this without thinking about it. I told her she should note it and if we need it for "proof" school wide we can look back at it. I have to show that this has been covered in my school for e-rate and CIPA compliance.  We have a whole school lesson twice a year, but I'm sure my teachers are doing this in the classroom almost every day. I think the activity she was doing supports the above quote as well as the Common Core Standards. This has very strong relevancy.  

Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011.