What is Media anyways?

Over the past 2 days I attended a wonderful workshop on teaching Media Literacy.

In Quebec, Media Literacy is one of the four strands of our Language Arts program, yet most teachers are a little vague about it. Teach reading – sure! Teach writing – No problem! Teach talk – We can do that! Teach Media Literacy – Ummm, so we could look at TV commercials and design cereal boxes maybe?

This workshop broadened our horizons about media literacy and our students' ability to be creators of media. We considered medias that we had not thought of before. A key for me was the following statement: “Media Literacy is not about having the right answers, it is about asking the right questions.” As life-long viewers of media, our students can figure this stuff out, we just need to send them in the right direction.

Thank goodness for wonderful workshops like this that allow me to recharge my batteries, and inspire me to try new things.

A big thanks to the MELS team for the great workshop.