Teaching Media Literacy: A How-to-do-it Manual

Television, radio, movies, magazines - information reaches kids through all formats. How can you help students develop the critical-thinking skills to navigate information in all media? "Teaching Media Literacy" offers an introduction to this important new area for use in the library or classroom. This unique how-to includes ready-to-use lessons for: Television - assessing sitcoms' and dramas' impact on and reflection of American values, deconstructing the construction of "reality" television, and looking at the multiple perspectives of "the news"; Movies - determining historical accuracy and inaccuracy in films and looking at movies as cultural touchstones; Photography and Images - learning about photo manipulation, reading and writing photo captions, understanding photo essays as storytelling, and critically appraising photos in journalism; Music and Videos - coming to understand how images and lyrics affect our perceptions of women, body image, and ethnic cultures; and more. De Abreu provides curriculum connections to English/Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and other core areas; tips for adapting the lessons for different grade and ability levels; a complete glossary of terms; and bibliographies of helpful print and electronic resources. The companion CD-ROM features all of the worksheets and lesson-planning tools for easy replication or modification.