Today's definition of literacy is more than reading and writing. In order to be functionally literate in our media-saturated world, children and young people—in fact, all of us—have to be able to read the messages that daily inform us, entertain us and sell to us. Media literacy education, therefore, must begin long before children become print literate to prepare them to critically engage with the media they consume.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Screen-Free Week (May 4th to 10th), and it’s striking to consider just how our relationship with screen media has changed in that time.
One of the reasons why teens turn to shortcuts, such as judging a claim based on the reliability or apparent authenticity of the person making it, or turning to peers and influencers over trusted expert sources, is that they simply encounter too much information to deal with. To overcome this, we need to learn information sorting: how to quickly tell whether or not a source is even worth our attention before considering it.
One of the biggest changes in our understanding of bullying has been an increased awareness of the important role witnesses play in any bullying situation. This has been partially because of cyberbullying, which makes it possible for witnesses to be invisible, to join in anonymously, to revictimize a target by forwarding bullying material – or to intervene, to offer support to the target and to bear witness to what they have seen. Just as we're coming to realize how important witnesses to bullying are, though, we need to be careful to recognize how complex their role is.
Connecting: The learner develops understandings about the significance of dance, dramatic arts, music, or visual arts by making connections to various times, places, social groups, and cultures.
The learner develops understandings about people and practices in the visual arts by:
Students are expected to be able to do the following:
Understanding context
Defining
Overall Expectations:
CM 1.1 develop and realize artworks demonstrating skillful knowledge of formal principles, and present a body of work in a formal exhibition
CM 1.2 explore and demonstrate intrinsic properties of art media to express specific intent
CM 1.3 sustain a concept through diverse approaches and art media in a series of artworks
The Close Reading Media Across the Curriculum program provides teachers with a comprehensive approach to fostering critical thinking skills at all grade levels, with particular attention to addressing misinformation, propaganda and hate through teaching students how to apply close reading skills to media.
It’s ironic that as computers and other communications technology have become more accessible to the general public over the last thirty years, they have actually become less accessible to a segment of the population, one to whom access is everything: people with disabilities. More ironic still is that the history of communications technology is intimately tied to the drive to integrate people with disabilities more fully into society.