Review: Media Literacy is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media (2009)

Abstract

Teachers of secondary English have a difficult challenge. They must prepare students to pass state reading assessments in order to meet Adequate Yearly Progress levels and at the same time create lessons which stimulate and inspire students to read and write. In my own classroom, I find myself negotiating assessments which fit in the middle of second semester. The testing cycle effectively consumes much of the semester and tremendously curtails my options for innovative lessons—especially lessons which move beyond the course textbook. Even getting access to computers for projects can be difficult as they are constantly reserved for student testing in a variety of curricular areas from reading, math, science, and social studies. That being said, I recognize the increasing need for Media Literacy Education (MLE) in the classroom. “Meaning making,” as Love (2005, 300) observed, “is becoming more multimodal because language is continually being reshaped by new forms of communication media.” In the past two decades, literacy itself has taken a new meaning. No longer entirely print based, literacy is understood to be comprised of a variety of shifting textual modes which may include images, sounds, and animated movements (Jewitt, 2005, 316). In addition, these multiliteracies necessitate different skills unique to each literacy mode (Ajayi, 2009, 585). Unfortunately in some states, standards have not recognized the shift in literacy; while students are tested on computers, they are not yet required to utilize the computer (or other non-print modes) as a means of communication even though they will be required to do so by their employers once they graduate from high school. Benson (2008, 637) noted that “global economies rely heavily on critical thinking work: reading contexts, designing products to better fit individual needs and desire, and adapting quickly to new meaning-making situations.” A curriculum based entirely on print media “short changes students of future opportunities” (ibid., 637). Hence, the creation of a project which bridges the gulf between testing demands and the demands of a multimodal society. The project is dubbed the “LieSearch Presentation” and is a pun on Macrorie’s “ISearch Paper” (1988). It was created in order to address reading standard, Kansas 1.4.15: the student “distinguishes between fact and opinion, and recognizes propaganda (e.g., advertising, media, politics, warfare), bias, and stereotypes in various types of appropriatelevel texts.” To spark ideas for fellow educators, this article outlines the Lie-Search unit and demonstrates how presentations meet state standards while teaching students media literacy. The standards discussed here are from the 2005 Kansas Reading Standards, but are applicable to many other state or national standards.