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Critical Media Literacy:

Where do YOU fit in?

+Critical Media Literacy

Being literate in the digital information age: more untraditional texts

Ideology analysis

Critical media literacy = digital literacy

“The ability to produce messages via media…does not render one media literate” (Bass & Bandy, 2010, p. 29)

Protectionist

Media Literacy Movement

Arts Education

Critical Media Literacy

Kellner’s Media Pedagogy

Approaches (1995)

Protectionist

Media Literacy Movement

Arts Education

Critical Media Literacy

Young people as agents.

Young people as victims.

(Burgess & Green, 2009)

+Protectionist

Media Literacy

Movement Arts

Education

Critical Media

Literacy

Robert Ferguson’s Iceberg Metaphor

• Privilege• Capitalism• Homophobia• Sexism• Oppression

“When the content of what is taught is stressed in

schools rather than a way of thinking about that

content, the assumptions underlying that content,

and the way in which that content is represented, the content is made central to the exclusion of thinking

[…] the content is not criticized but taken for

granted, and, for the most part, accepted.”

(Maher, 1992)

+Media Literacy in Canada

2006 Ontario Language Curriculum Media Literacy

Grades 1-12

Focus: to foster critical thinking as it applies to media products and messages.

+Media Literacy in Canada

Media literacy explores the impact and influence of mass media and popular

culture by examining texts such as films, songs, video games, action figures,

advertisements, CD covers, clothing, billboards, television shows, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and websites.

+Media Literacy: Grades 1-8

“This strand focuses on helping students develop the skills required to understand, create, and critically interpret media texts. It examines how images (both moving and still), sound, and words are used, independently and in combination, to create meaning. It explores the use and significance of particular conventions and techniques in the media and considers the roles of the viewer and the producer in constructing meaning in media texts. Students apply the knowledge and skills gained through analysis of media texts as they create their own texts.”

The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language, 2006.Ontario Ministry of Education and Training

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But what does it mean to

“critically interpret”?

+ The Partnership for

Twenty-First Century Skills

(Bass & Bandy, 2010, pp. 31-32)

+Technology challenges:rapidly evolving technological changes

professional development

relevant/reliable software and equipment

Internet access & filters (“walled gardens”)

“commentators (are either) euphorically optimistic about the technology’s potential or mordantly disturbed by its perversions, in almost equal measure” (Ross, 2010, p. 123)

(CCL, 2008)(Kellner & Share, 2007)

(Hagood, Provost, Skinner, & Egelson, 2008)

+Classroom challenges:

instructional time constraints

control in the classroom

constantly changing school schedules

(CCL, 2008)(Kellner & Share, 2007)

(Hagood, Provost, Skinner, & Egelson, 2008)

+Critical media literacy challenges:

lack of firmly-established principles

absence of a canon of texts

no tried-and-true teaching procedures

(CCL, 2008)(Kellner & Share, 2007)

(Hagood, Provost, Skinner, & Egelson, 2008)

+Multimedia and responsibility:

You use multimedia everyday, but: WHAT are you using? Are you using it critically or accepting everything? Are you being a responsible digital citizen? Are you creating content, digesting content created by

others, or a bit of both?

• Why do many teens take their cues for behaviour from the media they consume?

• How does it affect their perceptions and perpetuations of ideologies such as privilege, capitalism, homophobia/heteronormativity, sexism, and oppression?

These companies (used to) control what you see:

http://www.cjr.org/resources/

Things to think about:

+Social Media Revolution

+Our students are always connected

+Five Core Concepts of Media

All media messages are constructed.

Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.

Different people experience the same messages differently.

Media have embedded values and points of view.

Media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power.

Source: Center for Media Literacy (CML).

+Five Key Questions:

Ask the following questions when using any form of media.

Who created this message?

What techniques are used to attract my attention?

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?

Why was this message sent?

Source: Center for Media Literacy (CML).

+Real to not-so-real http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

+Five Questions:

Who created this message?

What techniques are used to attract my attention?

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?

Why was this message sent?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33307721/ns/today-today_fashion_and_beauty/

Five Questions:

Who created this message?

What techniques are used to attract my attention?

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?

Why was this message sent?

+Collage

The task: Students were asked to rip out images of men and women from magazines and newspapers. The images were categorized into two categories: (1) images that demonstrate sexual stereotyping and sexism ABOUT BOTH MALES AND FEMALES, and (2) images that demonstrate gender equality and respect.

Students could tear out images, headlines, words, or ads.

Challenge: Students were challenged to find images that featured males AND females.

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+Initiatives

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.p21.org/

Project SMARTArt: http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/project-smartart-case-study-elementary-school-media-literacy-and-arts-education

Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/

Center for Media Literacy: http://www.medialit.org/

Media Awareness Network: http://www.media-awareness.ca/

+“Critical media literacy is not an

option – it is an imperative.”(Kellner & Share, 2007, p. 68)

Expose pupils to ‘disruptive’ texts

Challenge dominant discourses

Offer alternatives

(Skelton & Francis, 2009, p. 86)

+Social Media Revolution