“The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World” by Cyndy Scheibe and Faith Rogow includes 139 lesson ideas using media literacy. The companion website has been updated to include digital resources and complete support documents such as student worksheets, relevant video clips, example PowerPoint slides and key questions for the analysis of media messages for the seven complete lesson plans.
The book poses the question: “What does it mean to be literate in today’s world, and how can those literacy skills be developed?” To answer, it provides practical tools that integrate media literacy into the K-12 curriculum and beyond. Suggested activities and teaching strategies are included to assist educators in focusing on the skills students need to thrive in a digital age.
"Scheibe and Rogow have developed an innovative approach to help teachers master the secrets of inquiry learning for media literacy education,” wrote Renee Hobbs, founding director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media, in a review. “They demonstrate how to support students' deep reading with a variety of print and non-print texts. Educators using these techniques will see dramatic improvements in the quality of student critical thinking skills."
Scheibe and Rogow have previously worked together with Project Look Sharp and the National Association of Media Literacy Education. They brought their past experiences of teaching in the classroom and developing media literacy curricula to provide teachers with the tools necessary to overcome the challenges facing media literacy today.
Scheibe said she and Rogow wrote the book to capture the key concepts, stories and pedagogies to pass along to educators in a resource they could refer to over time. While many academic books and workbooks on media literacy exist, Scheibe and Rogow felt none accomplished both in the same book. Their hope is for the book to be used extensively in teacher education classes as a model for how any teacher could incorporate media literacy in their lessons.
“Media literacy is — first and foremost — literacy, so we need to teach it the same way we teach reading and writing: using a developmental approach, weaving it into all curriculum areas where it makes sense,” Scheibe said. “It’s not a new content area that you have to add on to the others, but a pedagogy that teachers can dovetail with what they are already teaching.”
“The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy” is published by Corwin (http://www.corwin.com/books/Book236061/reviews) , and also available from Amazon.com (http://amzn.com/1412997585)
For more information, you can email us at looksharp@ithaca.edu or contact us by phone at 607-274-3471. To contact the authors, email Cyndy Scheibe at scheibe@ithaca.edu or Faith Rogow at medialited@earthlink.net.
Project Look Sharp is Ithaca College’s Media Literacy Initiative. Project Look Sharp supports the integration of critical thinking through media literacy in school curriculum and teaching. They do this through developing and providing lesson plans, media materials, training, and support for educators at all education levels. The purpose of media literacy education is to help individuals of all ages develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens in today’s world.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20151012074040374