Web Watch:
Media Literacy Classroom


Susan M. Deysher
CAST, Inc.


Giving students tools to dissect and critically evaluate the messages they receive through news, advertisements, television shows, music videos, and the Web is an invaluable way to develop their information literacy skills and help them make sense of the world around them. If you are looking for ways to incorporate media literacy instruction into a variety of subject areas, then visit Media Literacy Classroom, an excellent resource for K-12 educators. This site was developed by MediaChannel.org, a "nonprofit, public interest Web site dedicated to global media issues" that closely examines "the political, cultural and social impacts of the media, large and small." Because MediaChannel.org's focus is on global media issues, there is a wealth of content available, from examining media bias in the Middle East conflict, to exploring hip-hop culture and media.

Media Literacy Classroom provides Topic Guides that include an overview for each topic, as well as a number of related articles. Some of the topics available are Media Literacy, Advertising & Marketing, Representation, Violence, News & Journalism, Teaching Media in Any Subject, and Making Media. Another useful feature of the site is the Teacher's Toolkit (currently under development), a search page that yields a variety of online resources for teaching media literacy. To use the toolkit, simply check the appropriate boxes under topic, age, media, and type of resource, and a list of available resources will be quickly provided. In addition, each Topic Guide also contains links to related resources, which makes locating information fast and easy. Another way to access MediaChannel.org's resources is to go to the Teacher's Guide to MediaChannel, which provides an overview of the site's resources, as well as tips for navigating the site.