Stephanie Aquino
Return to: ETAP 623 Spring 2017 | Integrating Media Literacy Skills in a Secondary ELA Classroom Mini-Course
About Me
Hello All! My name is Stephanie Aquino and this is my third semester in the CDIT Master’s program. Currently, I work for the Department of Education in NYC as a high school ELA and Poetry teacher. This is my second year teaching and I absolutely love what I do! I completed my undergraduate studies at SUNY Oneonta in December 2014 and I currently reside in the Bronx. In my spare time when I am not lesson planning or grading, I usually like to indulge in a good book and try new foods. If I were not a teacher, I would definitely be a food critic!
Topic/Purpose
For this mini-course, I would like to focus on the importance of media literacy when it comes to educating students in a 21st century media-driven culture and society and how we can design media literacy instruction in our own content areas.
Learning Outcomes
Learners will be able to:
- Define media literacy
- Review research which illustrates the benefits of media literacy
- Understand and make use of concepts related to media literacy education
- Apply media literacy concepts to classroom teaching and learning
- Design media literacy activities and lessons to integrate into an English Language Arts classroom
Needs Assessment/Learner Analysis
1. Instructional problem: We live in a society where media and technology play a significant role, therefore media influences learning and media literacy can motivate students and enhance learning in schools of the 21st century. Media literacy education can be defined as “teaching about media, with a heavy emphasis on analyzing and critiquing media messages” (Scheibe & Rogow, 2012, pg. 35). The goals for students for media literacy is to “develop a desire to question and enable them to be open to change their opinions in light of new information, to communicate effectively in a variety of media modalities, and to reflect and act on new understanding” (Scheibe & Rogow, 2012, pg. 35). Media literacy education allows students and teachers to learn from one another while understanding themselves and their world while engaging in a plethora of media content. Essentially, media literacy education helps develop strategies for “habits of inquiry” and “skills of expression”.
Despite this positive influence, many teachers have avoided incorporating media literacy into their own curriculum and instruction because of the “increasing demands of testing and mandated curricula place astonishing burden on both teachers and students and in many schools that means that anything that isn’t mandated or won’t “appear on the test” is bound to be given short shrift” (Scheibe and Rogow, 2012,pg. 201). Because of a lack of media literacy, students are not developing nor strengthening their media literacy skills. If educators continue to view media literacy education as a separate content area as opposed to part of pedagogy, they will never find the time to incorporate it into their pedagogy. Media literacy education is supposed to be integrated into the curriculum to enhance the learning. Of course, integrating media literacy may be time consuming the first time around, but once it is done educators can find different ways to continue to implement media literacy into curriculum. With that said, the goal of this mini-course is explore media literacy through a curriculum-driven approach in hopes that educators will find the need and importance of incorporating media literacy skills into their curriculum.
2. The nature of what is to be learned: Participants will learn the importance of media literacy when it comes to educating students in a 21st century media-driven culture and society and how they can design media literacy instruction in their own content areas.
3. About the learners: Workshop participants will be secondary teachers (7-12), primarily English Language Arts educators, seeking knowledge and guidance on how they can successfully implement media literacy into their curriculum. Participants come from a variety of disciplines, and many have experience teaching online from minimal (first time teaching), to significant (has taught at least once online prior to the workshop). The participants have voluntarily registered for this professional development lesson and are both intrinsically and externally motivated.
4. Instructional content: All instruction will take place fully online. Each unit will be designed in a similar fashion with a variety of readings, videos, media and information. Each unit will allow participants to become knowledgeable on the meaning of medial literacy and the importance of it. Units begin with an overview of that unit's learning objectives (target outcomes), followed by an overview of the topic in the form of a text based lecture or a video-lecture using multimedia tools. Each unit will have several activities, based on the information learned. Units will also contain relevant scholarly articles or web resources on topics. Each unit ends with a discussion forum where participants can share their thoughts and questions. Upon completion of all units, participants will complete an online survey for the purposes of collecting data on the quality and effectiveness of this lesson.
5. Explore instructional problem/solution: Participants will explore the positive influences of media literacy. By the end of this mini-course, participants will review research illustrating the benefits of media literacy, understand and apply media literacy concepts to their own classrooms, and lastly design and implement media literacy lessons and activities.
6. Generate goals: The goal for this mini-course is for participants to gain a better understanding of media literacy and how they can implement it into their own classrooms.
Performance Objectives
1. Participants will be able to define media literacy and explain the importance of incorporating media literacy into our curriculum.
2. Participants will be able to explain the benefits of media literacy by reviewing research pertaining to media literacy.
3. Participants will examine curriculum-driven approaches to media literacy in a 7-12 classroom.
4. Participants will be able to analyze and critique media documents using the NAMLE key questions.
5. Participants will be able to create curriculum using media literacy concepts.
Task Analysis
Unit One: Understanding the Importance of Building Students' Media Literacy Skills
Unit One Objective: Participants will understand the importance of building students’ media literacy skills and become familiar with curriculum-driven approaches to Media Literacy in a 7-12 ELA classroom.
Lesson One: What is Media and Why is it Important?
Lesson One Objective: Participants will reflect on their own knowledge and usage of media and the importance of incorporating media in the classroom.
Lesson Two: Reviewing Media Literacy Research
Lesson Two Objective: Participants will explain the benefits of media literacy by reviewing media literacy research.
Lesson Three: Examining Curriculum-Driven Approaches to Media Literacy in a 7-12 Classroom
Lesson Three Objective: Participants will examine curriculum-driven approaches to media literacy in a 7-12 classroom.
Unit Two: Applying the Curriculum-Driven Approaches to Media Literacy in an ELA Classroom
Unit Two Objective: Participants will apply learned knowledge of media literacy skills and concepts to create a lesson plan that builds on students’ media literacy skills in a 7-12 ELA classroom.
Lesson Four: Analyzing and Critiquing Media Documents using the NAMLE Key Questions
Lesson Four Objective: Participants will analyze and critique media documents using the NAMLE key questions.
Lesson Five: Creating Curriculum using Media Literacy Concepts
Lesson Five Objective: Participants will be able to create curriculum using media literacy concepts.
Curriculum Map
File:Media Literacy Mini-Course Curriculum Map.pdf
References and Resources
Scheibe, Cynthia L. (2004). A Deeper Sense of Literacy: Curriculum-Driven Approaches to Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. American Behavioral Scientist 48(1): 60-68.
Scheibe, C., & Rogow, F. (2004). 12 basic principles for incorporating media literacy and critical thinking into any curriculum (2nd ed.). Ithaca, NY: Project Look Sharp—Ithaca College
Scheibe, C., & Rogow, F. (2012). The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Shepherd, Daniel.(2013, March 15). What is Media?.[Video File].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89_wjcwzfY
