Resources

 

Videos

These videos have been used in classrooms around the world to teach people about media literacy and about technology in the classroom. Click the titles for more information.

Teaching Media Literacy: Asking Questions

This program explains how to teach media literacy through the application of three basic facts and five key analytical questions that can be applied to any media message. This simple and highly effective approach is reinforced by insights and observations provided by important figures in the media literacy movement, including Elizabeth Thoman, Tessa Jolls, and Jeff Share, of the Center for Media Literacy. Fight passive consumerism and promote critical thinking with Teaching Media Literacy. (31 minutes)

Understanding Media Literacy

This program explains the basic concepts of media literacy, including five key analytical questions that can be applied to any message, and then presents examples from a variety of media types that appeal specifically to teens. Examples are conveniently divided by type of media, and include specific analytical questions corresponding to each type. This is perfect for in-class viewing at any grade level, and will certainly lead to lively discussions. (33 minutes)

Teaching Media Literacy: Asking More Questions

This program is a perfect companion piece to 2006's critically acclaimed Teaching Media Literacy: Asking Questions. It contains previously unseen interviews with important figures in the media literacy movement discussing issues such as consumerism, body image, politics and media, early childhood media education, and more. Continue to fight passive consumerism and to promote critical thinking with Teaching Media Literacy: Asking More Questions. Great as a companion piece or on its own. (117 minutes)

Media Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom

This title explores media literacy using popular forms of media that are relevant to young people today. It also gives numerous examples of media from television, films, and commercials, and it helps the audience understand how they're being influenced by media. Memorizing facts and information are skills from the 20th century. The 21st century is the era of information overload, so the 21st century citizen needs to learn how analyze information and so called facts. Media literacy helps people be critical of the information they receive. (40 minutes)

 

 

Books

Below is a list of books we have personally used and recommend to people on a regular basis.

Media Literacy by James Potter
This is the book I have chosen to use for my media literacy course at Santa Monica College. - UM
"This book offers a detailed approach to studying media influences and presents readers with a clear vision of what it means to operate at a higher level of media literacy. W. James Potter argues that the media have a profound influence on the way we perceive the world by shaping our beliefs and expectations. By becoming more media literate, we can avoid the potentially negative effects of those media messages as well as amplify the potentially positive effects."

 

Media Literacy by Donaldo Macedo
A great reader with articles from some of today's most prominent media literacy scholars. - UM
"Media Literacy: A Reader produces a critical understanding of media culture designed to help students develop the ability to interpret media as well as understand the ways they themselves consume and affectively (emotionally) invest in media. Such an appreciation encourages both critical thinking and self-analysis, as students begin to realize that everyday decisions are not necessarily made freely and rationally."

 

Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom by Renee Hobbs
Ms. Hobbs is a leading voice in the media literacy movement. - UM
"Leading authority on media literacy education shows secondary teachers how to incorporate media literacy into the curriculum, teach 21^st-century skills, and select meaningful texts.

 

 

Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood by Susan Linn
An eye-opening perspective of how the media helps make kids into consumers.
"With the intensity of the California gold rush, corporations are racing to stake their claim on the consumer group formerly known as children. What was once the purview of a handful of companies has escalated into a gargantuan enterprise estimated at over $15 billion annually. While parents busily try to set limits at home, marketing executives work day and night to undermine their efforts with irresistible messages."

 

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man : Critical Edition by Marshall McLuhan
THE text to begin your journey into media education. - UM
"When first published, Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media made history with its radical view of the effects of electronic communications upon man and life in the twentieth century. This edition of McLuhan's best-known book both enhances its accessibility to a general audience and provides the full critical apparatus necessary for scholars. In Terrence Gordon's own words, "McLuhan is in full flight already in the introduction, challenging us to plunge with him into what he calls 'the creative process of knowing.'"