Media Literacy and the Civic Mission of Schools

Our country and constitutional democracy can only thrive when schools prepare the next generation to be literate and independent consumers and producers of news and media. That mission can only be achieved when schools first reflect a broader civic mission. For decades, that mission has been underresourced in terms of both funding and time on topic. The bipartisan Civics Secures Democracy Act offers an opportunity to invest a billion dollars a year for the next five years in civics and U.S. history, explicitly calling out functions of media literacy. Come learn about how the media literacy community serves as a linchpin to getting this bill to the finish line and reclaiming the civic mission of schools.

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Getting Involved with the Teaching for Democracy Alliance

TFDA is a national alliance composed of 19 national nonpartisan organizations that was formed in 2016 as a collective voice to encourage democratic learning and to better equip K-12 teachers and administrators to bring practical democracy lessons to their students. Please join us for an information session to learn more about TFDA’s work, high-quality resources available for teachers and school leaders, and learning opportunities.

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Outside the Frame: Teaching Media Literacy Through Film

To complement the Media Literacy Week Film Festival, Kendra Hodgson of Women Make Movies and Alexandra Peterson of Media Education Foundation will show clips from the week’s available films and discuss how to incorporate documentaries into your classroom as vehicles to explore key media literacy concepts.

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Teaching about Mis/Disinformation in Early Elementary Grades Using Constructivist Media Decoding

How can we introduce in grades K-3 the type of deep questioning and critical thinking skills necessary for all students to evaluate the media messages they see, read and hear in today’s world? Highlighting dozens of free lessons from Project Look Sharp that use the kinds of media children already have in their lives (food packages, movies, YouTube videos, etc.), this highly interactive presentation will demonstrate how inquiry-based, student-centered, curriculum-driven media analysis can engage even the youngest students in questions about what’s true and what’s not.

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