Media Literacy Education: Helping Teachers Forge Smart Trails Through the Common Core State Standards Jungle

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Missing the Boat? Examining the Potential Power of Media Literacy Education for Policy and Practice

Abstract

Objectives
This paper explored integration of the Core Principles of Media Literacy Education into teacher education. Research questions:
• How do preservice teachers integrate CPMLE into their assignments and practice?
• How do preservice teachers define the benefits and challenges associated with integration of CPMLE into their assignments and practice?

Perspective
Jenkins’ (2006) white paper discussed the need for media education in the evolving participatory culture. Traditional literacy research began to include broader approaches within the last twenty years. Terms such new literacies (Liu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004) began to describe the need for students to be able to ability to read, analyze, interpret, evaluate, and produce communication in a variety of textual environments and multiple sign systems, yet many teacher education programs remain focused on text and print as the main vehicles of information. The six CPMLE (NAMLE, 2007) provide a cohesive framework for teachers to extend concepts and skills related to literacy as well as critical thinking skills.

Methods & Data Sources
Students within three courses related to literacy provided the data. The sources included journal entries, lesson plans, and a short open-ended questionnaire. Qualitative data were coded, and analyzed for themes and patterns.

Results
Several themes emerged from the data:
• The pervasive nature of media information for K-16 students coupled with a lack of tools to effectively evaluate and mediate this barrage
• The value of media literacy skills as components of instruction related to content assessed with high stakes standardized tests (Common Core State Standards)
• The need for basic media literacy thinking and skills as part of digital citizenship within the growing participatory culture
• The benefits of media literacy skills to examine issues of race, gender, and class
The author will share challenges and obstacles to the integration of the CPMLE in the teacher education along with specific assignments and course syllabi as the basis for an extended conversation within the symposium.

Significance
Pre-service and in-service teachers can utilize the CPMLE as the basis for lessons across grade levels and content areas. However, without a federal or state mandate to teach media literacy education, most teacher education programs merely touch on these concepts and skills briefly, if at all. In this program, there was a systematic effort to incorporate media literacy education into key courses within the initial and professional certification programs. The CPMLE were introduced an applied as part of the curricular shift in four areas: literacy, differentiated instruction developmentally appropriate practices, and instructional technology. Specific courses required pre-service and in-service teachers to apply the CPMLE within assignments such as units and lesson plans. Media literacy became a core component of these courses, not as an add on, but as the foundation for instructional thinking and planning. Pre-service and in-service teacher reflections and assignments provide data on resulting shifts in teacher cognition regarding media literacy, and the possibilities of redesigning classroom practice to create students who are able to examine and critique the barrage of media messages they encounter.

Author

• Cathy C. Leogrande, Le Moyne College