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Need Event or Classroom Lesson Ideas?
The mission of Media Literacy Week is to highlight the power of media literacy education and its essential role in education all across the country. U.S. Media Literacy Week calls attention to media literacy education by bringing together hundreds of partners for events and activities around the country. Whether this is your first Media Literacy Week or your sixth, everyone can use some inspiration to help kickstart your media literacy activities.
Want to Host an Event?
There are many ways to host an event during Media Literacy Week. Here are some possible events that you can apply or modify for your context and audience:
- Gather teachers for a professional development workshop
- Organize a screening and panel discussion at your school or in your community
- Create a film festival of youth media projects developed in your classroom
- Take your students on a tour of a local television station
- Host a webinar about news literacy
- Partner with your local maker space and explore new forms of reading and writing with emergent technology
- Explore a community issue and have youth come up with civically-minded creative solutions
- Debate the ethical opportunities and challenges of what “free” or “private” means online
Need Lesson Ideas?
There are a lot of great media literacy lessons online, but sometimes it’s just hard to determine where to go. We got you! The following organizations host a range of resources where educators might find what they need:
Media Education Lab
The Media Education Lab is a public benefit corporation that advances the practice of media literacy education through leadership development, research and scholarship, and community engagement. This is a great resource for educators seeking professional development opportunities. Learn more here.
PBS NewsHour Classroom
PBS Newshour Classroom provides “news for students and teacher resources” for grades 6-12. This includes resources such as the Daily News Lesson videos, and their Journalism in Action interactive website allows students to “learn about ten key moments in US History through a journalist’s lens.” Learn more here.
Project Look Sharp
Project Looks Sharp is “a nonprofit, mission-driven outreach program of Ithaca College. Our mission is to help K-16 educators enhance students’ critical thinking, metacognition, and civic engagement through media literacy materials and professional development.” In one lesson, for example, “students analyze political campaign ads for messages about female presidential candidates, historical and cultural context, and techniques of persuasion.” You can find this lesson here. Learn more here.
KQED for Educators
KQED is a nonprofit, public media station and NPR and PBS member station that provides free media literacy teaching and learning resources for educators and students, including professional development and classroom resources that support critical thinking, media making, and civil discourse. For example, teachers can learn media making skills to enrich their lessons–and earn Grad Units–on KQED Teach. The KQED Youth Media Challenge projects amplify the voices of middle and high school students through media making for authentic audiences. And in Above the Noise videos, host Myles Bess takes viewers along on his journey to cut through the hype surrounding controversial topics in the news to find out what’s really going on. Learn more.
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
Of course, we have resources too! NAMLE seeks to support educators as they help students “learn how to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.” NAMLE offers a definition for media literacy, core principles, and key questions that can help better understand the basics of media literacy. The Media Monsters offer a fun way to introduce grades 3-5 students to key media literacy concepts, including this lesson plan. Learn more here.
News Literacy Project (NLP)
The News Literacy Project offers several resources and services for educators, including an online learning platform, a free weekly newsletter, professional development opportunities, a variety of classroom materials and more. RumorGuard is an NLP resource that aims “to help us all learn how to recognize misinformation and stop it in its tracks. Each fact-checked viral rumor contains concrete tips to help you build your news literacy foundation and confidently evaluate claims you see online.” Educators can use this resource with students, or just to hone their own fact checking knowledge and skills. Most resources are intended for grades 6-12. Learn more here.
You can also find more event ideas and resources based on grade level.
This list of resources design specifically for K-5 educators, librarians, and community practitioners provides a sampling of past events that have been created by previous MLW participants as well as a list of age-appropriate media literacy resources from leading educational organizations like Common Sense, PBS Learning Media, and Scholastic.
This list of resources design specifically for educators, librarians, and community practitioners serving grades 6-8 provides a sampling of past events and activities that have been held by previous MLW participants as well as a list of age-appropriate media literacy resources from leading educational organizations like PBS Learning Media, KQED, and NewseumED.
This list of resources design specifically for high school educators, librarians, and community practitioners provides a sampling of past events that have been created by previous MLW participants as well as a list of age-appropriate media literacy resources from leading educational organizations like NewseumED, PBS Learning Media, and Project Look Sharp.
This list of resources, design specifically for educators, librarians, and community practitioners in the higher education setting, provides a sampling of past events that have been created by previous MLW participants as well as a list of age-appropriate media literacy resources from leading educational organizations like NAMLE, Media Smarts, and Project Look Sharp.
Library/Community Ed Resources
This list of resources design specifically for K-5 educators, librarians, and community practitioners provides a sampling of past events that have been created by previous MLW participants as well as a list of age-appropriate media literacy resources from leading educational organizations like Media Smarts, PBS Learning Media, and Project Look Sharp.
