Who New You Have To Be Media Literate?

Alligators in The Sewers? Really?
By Joy Egbert
Media Literacy is being able to understand what you have; read, heard, or seen in the media and to be able to analyze the information to determine its validity. Many students in our schools do not have the proper skills to determine what is false or true in the media, especially English Language Learners. These students need to be taught the necessary skills to analyze and evaluate the information they have been exposed to.

In her article Joy gives ideas on how to support our students understanding and media literacy. By reviewing vocabulary, going over sources, and learning how to use the internet to check the validity of a piece of news or information. There are also websites teachers can go to, to learn how to teach their students media literacy. Packets are available to guide the students in their quest for literacy and other websites to check their progress in finding the right answers.

This article sheds light on a topic that has growing over time. Many people, including myself, do not understand the medias' growing impact on young minds. And if students and teachers are not aware we will lose our intelligence. We need to teach our students how to analyze what they are exposed to so they can become intelligent adults and make rational decisions for their future. I think that going over the vocabulary for ELL is extremely helpful. Students who do not know the language are most susceptible to believing what they hear especially when they do not understand it. By reviewing the vocabulary we not only increase their media literacy but their reading literacy as well. I think that all teachers should use some sort of analyzing tool to help their students gain the knowledge they need to not only be media competent but to make rational decisions for their future.