Premiere of students' videos highlight digital citizenship at Media Literacy Week launch

November 7, 2011 (Ottawa) – Videos produced by Grade 3 students and teachers of Trillium Public School in Orleans were premiered earlier today at the launch of the 6th annual Media Literacy Week held by the Media Awareness Network (MNet) and the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF). The week runs Nov. 7 to 11. Thanks to the expert guidance of The Director's Cut, students and teachers at Trillium school were able to write, direct and produce the videos which focused on this year's theme. Videos can be viewed at: http://thedirectorscut.ca/

Hosted by Carlos of YTV's The Zone, the event also honored students who have used technology to support citizenship.

"The Media Literacy Week theme of digital citizenship calls on Canadians to encourage young people to think about their rights and responsibilities as they navigate the digital world," explains MNet Co-Executive Director Cathy Wing. "We are pleased to be recognizing youth here today who are using technology in pro-social ways that benefit their communities. They are great role models."

"Teachers have a pivotal role to help their students become active and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex," explains CTF President Paul Taillefer. "We are proud that this year special funding subsidies were offered to teachers through our CTF Imagineaction program in order to support the theme of digital citizenship."

The Week has enlisted the support of over 60 organizations including YouTube as a Gold Sponsor and Bell a Silver Sponsor. For a full list of this year's financial supporters which include many CTF Member organizations: http://www.medialiteracyweek.ca/en/about_supporters.htm and to view collaborators: http://www.medialiteracyweek.ca/en/about_partners.htm

More on Media Literacy Week: http://www.medialiteracyweek.ca/en/default.htm

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Media Awareness Network (MNet) is a Canadian not-for-profit centre for media literacy and digital literacy.

The Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) represents nearly 200,000 teachers as their national voice on education and related social issues.

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Media contacts:
MNet: Cathy Wing, Co-Executive Director, 613-224-7721, # 227
CTF: Francine Filion, Director of Communications, 613-688-4314 or 613-899-4247 (cell)