Media Literacy Sources
Following are some media literacy sources I used in my overview research. Reviewing these materials gave me a better understanding of where media literacy is in society as well as the classroom.
Classroom-Centered Books
Alverman, Donna E.; Moon, Jennifer S.; and Hagwood, Margaret C. (1999). Popular culture in the classroom; teaching and researching critical media literacy. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
- This book is particularly pertinent to teaching, with a K-12 concentration. The authors express faith in students’ natural resistance to media, and therefore explore how to use this in the classroom rather than concentrating on the negative impact of media. The three authors are women discovering pop culture for themselves. The book begins slowly with background on who the authors are, where they are coming from and why they wrote the book. It contains good discussions on applying the lessons and uses details in the examples.
Semali, Ladislaus M. (2000). Literacy in multimedia America. NY: Falmer Press.
- Semali uses an active approach to understanding and using the media. He concentrates on critical questions such as: “Who produces multimedia texts? Visual images? For whose consumption? For what purpose? What alternatives are excluded?” (Semali, 2000; p.8) Semali encourages politicization of the classroom education with lessons on media using a literacy = power foundational theory. Semali seeks to break students out of oppression by showing them how to question, but he falls into the same trap by studying the existing power structures rather than showing the students how to create media. The book has partial lesson plans but does not address application.
Other Books
Castells, Manuel. (1996). The Rise of the Network Society. (vol. 1) Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers
Goldfarb, Brian. (2002). Visual Pedagogy. Durham, : Duke University Press.
Lloyd-Kolkin, Donna and Tyner, Kathleen R. (1991). Media and you an elementary media literacy curriculum. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
Postman, Neil. (1992). Technopoly. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Reinking, D., McKenna L. Labbo & R.D. Keiffer (Eds.) (1998). Handbook of Literacy and Technology Transformations in a Post-Typographic World. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Rosenberg, Daniel. (2003). “Early Modern Information Overload.” Journal of the History of ideas. Vol. 64., No. 1, 1-9.
Online Resources
Center For Media Literacy. Project SMARTArt: A Case Study in Elementary School Media Literacy and Arts Education. http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article659.html
Children’s Media Project. Highlights critical viewing and creation of media. http://www.childrensmediaproject.org/
The Film Foundation. The Story of Movies. For middle school students. http://www.film-foundation.org/eduprogram/content.cfm?TopicID=112&ContentID=140
Heldref Publications. Bringing Graphic Novels into a School’s Curriculum. http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=29715
Media Awareness Network. Media and Intenet education resources for teachers. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/index.cfm
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy Maps. available as PDFs for downloading. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=33
PBS Video. Synopsis: Merchants of cool. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/etc/synopsis.html
Pew Internet & American Life. Project Report: Blogosphere. With links to other Technology & Mediua Use reports. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/144/report_display.asp
Youth Communication. Public forum for teens. http://youthcomm.org