Teachers Edtech: Media Literacy

Our Beliefs

At WAB, we believe that media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society. It also helps build essential skills of inquiry and creative self-expression necessary for citizens of a 21st-century democracy to reflect on the role of media in their lives and take action in their media environment. 

There are 5 key concepts of critical media literacy: 

• All media messages are created by people. 
• Every author has a unique point of view (POV) that affects their media-making decisions (what’s recorded, what’s left out) – therefore, all media messages are unavoidably biased or reflect someone’s perspective. 
• Every audience is unique – we decode media messages according to our perspective. 
• Each medium, tool, or technology used for communication has strengths and limitations for communication that affect how messages are constructed and how they are consumed.
• Media messages affect how people see the real world and see themselves. 

Source: Mediaspot.org 

You can view our full Media Scope and Sequence document for JG1 - G5 here.

Creation

In the elementary school, we have identified six key media types that all students need to be exposed to and taught to create effectively. You can find teacher resource packs below that we use in the teaching and learning of these six media types. Each resource contains a glossary of terms, skills checklists and exemplars for each phase, and other relevant resources.