Media Literacy Now

Twenty years ago, when my eldest of three was in elementary school, I became an outspoken advocate for commercial-free schools and classrooms. I learned about efforts in Massachusetts and across the country to limit the impact of commercialism in our schools and I carried the issue forward with PTAs at local, state, and national levels. I met good folks then with whom I now interact on the broader issue of media literacy and I am a proud member of Media Literacy Now.

Today, literacy means

media literacy.

The need for media literacy in our schools is more important than ever because we live in a 24/7 media environment. Children's future well-being depends not only on their literacy, but that they have the media literacy skills necessary to navigate, analyze, and respond to all forms of media.

Whereas my eldest is in that first generation of digitally socialized people who entered school at the dawn of the internet age and adopted computerized technologies in elementary school and facebook and twitter while still in high school, my rising high school senior is a digital native who has been accessing online curriculum content since elementary school, came through facebook and twitter and beyond, with access to personalized on-screen edu-tainment.

Classrooms today are learning labs where students prepare for the world beyond school walls, equipped with the skills necessary: Communication, empathy, critical-thinking, and global citizenship. Schools continue to add and improve technological access to curricula across all grades yet there is little coordination to ensure media literacy skills acquisition. We must empower our children to be critical thinkers who analyze content in print and can navigate media in all of its forms to become informed digital citizens.

The internet is not going away. Our children must move beyond being media consumers to become media creators. Their future - and our democracy - depends on it.

Literacy Today = Media Literacy

Lexington's community forum about the positive and negative impact of media on societal behavior and the development of children got me thinking about our current media landscape and what individuals, families, and communities can do to improve positive outcomes. The forum was held on October 10th at Lexington High School and was co-sponsored by the School Committee, League of Women Voters, and numerous Town and School Department groups, and individuals.

The impact of media on children is always a topic of concern and today's media landscape has dramatically changed over the last decade; all of us are now living in a world of 24/7 media saturation. One startling finding of a Kaiser Family Foundation survey (2010) showed that young people are devoting more than 7.5 hours each day with entertainment media - an increase of 1 hour and 17 minutes since 2004. The survey also found that:

"...because they spend so much of that time 'media multi-tasking' (using more than one device/medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7..."

Schools and individual teachers are working to bring media literacy to students, but media literacy is not broadly implemented in our public schools and media literacy is rarely part of the public debate on education. A bill in the Massachusetts State Legislature (S.213) proposes to change that.

S.213/H.472 (language is identical in both bills) would bring media literacy education to all Massachusetts K-12 public school classrooms. Media literacy education teaches students to apply critical thinking to messaging and to use media to create their own messages. It's a methodology, a pedagogy, a strategy and key skill that's vital to the health and well-being of all children, as well as to their participation in the civic and economic life of our democracy.

The irony is that, used well, media can entertain and inform our children in positive ways. However, since most children are not taught to use media thoughtfully, they are not able to think critically about it's content. Research shows that media literacy education has been effective in reducing risky behaviors among children and youth of all ages and for all topics of focus, such as tobacco use, violence, and sex.

Media Literacy Now, a 501(c)4 non-profit organization focusing on grassroots and legislative media literacy activity for K-12 schools in each state, has formed a coalition in support of S.213. Public testimony is being planned to present to the Joint Committee on Education's public hearing on Thursday, October 31, 2013. If you are interested in being in touch with parents, teachers, and others working for media literacy education in our schools, visit their website, where you can learn more about media literacy and sign up to join their mailing list. Watch on this site, too, for updates to this issue.

Panel members, Anthony Brooks, moderator

Tom Fiedler, Dean, College of Communication, Boston University

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D. Professor Emerita, Lesley University

Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Director and Founder of the Center on Media and 

Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital

Word.

Whereas Arts education comprises an array of disciplines including dance, music, theater, media arts, literature, design and visual arts; and

Whereas Arts education can help students develop a variety of skills such as