Media Literacy

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media. According to the Media Literacy Project, media literacy skills are a part of educational standards-- in language arts, math social sciences, and other subjects. Media literacy have been discovered by teachers to be an effective, and engaging way to apply critical thinking skills to a wide range of issues. In addition, media literacy is a 21st century approach to education. Skills that are obtained from media literacy are useful in school and in "the real world". It is important to have media literate because it can help expand our critical thinking. It can also help us understand how media messages shape our culture and society. "Many of the complex messages we receive come from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media". It's important to teach students to evaluate messages from media to make decisions on their own and not just after what the media tells them.

As a result, by helping our students become media literate, we can help protect them from pressures from advertising. Sometimes, even media that may encourage them to  smoke, drink, use drugs, have sex, or eat unhealthy foods. This is an example of critical skills because they are taught how to analyze the media and make a wise decision. In addition, we can help them build communication skills, encourage them to consider multiple interpretations of media messages. For example, sometimes one message can be manipulated to present only what the creator wants to show the viewer. That's when media literacy skills come on and evaluate and analyze other forms, and decide which media is portrayed better. Media literacy is certainly another set of skills that all students should be taught.





http://www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov/families/media/whyimportant.aspx
http://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more

http://medialiteracyproject.org/learn/media-literacy