This month we’re please to present new media literacy resources, as well as some exclusive freebies to start off the holiday shopping season.

1. Consumerism During the Holiday Season
   

As the “holiday season” begins, consider discussing the issue of consumerism with students.  Here are some resources:

Adbusters - magazine about consumerism and advertising.

Lecture Notes on Consumerism

50 Possible Ways to Challenge Over-Commercialism

1. New Educational Video (and free copies!)
   

We’re proud to announce the official release of our new educational video, Teaching Media Literacy: Asking More Questions.  The video is a sequel to last 2006’s video of a similar name and contains previously unavailable interviews with media literacy education experts such as Elizabeth Thoman, Tessa Jolls, Mathew Needleman, Jeff Share, Megan Parlen, and Michael Gougis.

To celebrate the release of this new video, we’re giving away 10 copies of the video.  If you’d like a copy, and you’ve never received a free video in the past, then send us an e-mail.  We’ll send them out on a first-come-first-serve basis.

If you didn’t receive a free copy, you can buy the video today and receive a free copy of Lynn Ziegler’s wonderful book about kids and television, “Spongeheadz: U & MEdia”. 

1. Updates to UnderstandMedia.com
   

We’ve been hard at work making the user experience more enjoyable for UnderstandMedia.com users. 

The first thing we did was add a media literacy news feed to our front page.  Now you can get the latest media literacy-related headlines by simply visiting UnderstandMedia.com.

The second thing we did was to remove ALL third-party advertisements from the site.  We think the ads are unnecessary, and having them makes the site load slower and detracts from the main purpose of the site.  Don’t worry though, we kept the links to sites for trusted Understand Media contributors so it’s easier than ever to get where you want to go.

Finally, we updated the “About” section of the website.  The section now not only includes information about the site and its founder, but also a new Press Room section containing the latest news and clippings about Understand Media.

1. Comic and Lesson - Rabbit and Bear Paws
   

If you’re teaching lessons about Native Americans and you still don’t know about Rabbit and Bear Paws, now you will!  Rabbit and Bear Paws is a comic that combines traditional stories with historical moments, and attempts to show Native Americans in a true light - free of stereotyping and negative portrayals as is common in the mass media.

We’re pleased to present an exclusive episode of Rabbit and Bear Paws that helps children learn about media literacy through the eyes of the characters.  We’ve also included a short list of lesson questions that can be used together with the comic at home or in the classroom.

Visit Understand Media to download the comic and lesson questions, and also learn more about the comic’s creators.

1. Understand Media Adopts AMLA’s 6 Core Concepts
   

We’re pleased to announce that Understand Media has decided to adopt AMLA’s recently introduced 6 Core Concepts of Media Literacy, a part of the new Core Principles introduced at NMEC 2007.  We began our site with a unique but well researched set of 3 Core Concepts, but after seeing the great work by AMLA, we thought that this is the future of media literacy education.

1. New things on the horizon!
   

Big things are happening at Understand Media.  After the new year, we plan on introducing some big surprises to the world of media literacy education.  Until next time, stay active in your media consumption!

Visit us online at www.UnderstandMedia.com.

You can also e-mail us anytime at UnderstandMedia@gmail.com.