My Corner for Education

Last Thursday I went to a workshop hosted by Scholastic Canada on Media Literacy. Media Literacy is one of the new additions to the newly revised Ontario Language Curriculum for K to Grade 8 students. Ontario Ministry of Education revised the language curriculum last year and created a separate curriculum focus on Media Literacy. Our daily life is immensely bombarded with mass media, so it makes sense to teach students the importance of reading, writing and conversing about the mass media that we are exposed to on the daily basis.

Although this workshop was organized by Scholastic to promote their latest Literacy program, the workshop itself was very informative and provided us with many practical ideas to use in class. I hate to attend a workshop that is full of sales pitch, but this one had none of that. I can easily use some of the activities to enhance my literacy program without spending too much money to purchase this specific program. Teachers are generally conscientious about the budget and cost, because we work for the TAXPAYERS. If I could get something for nothing for my program, it would be like winning the lottery! The following tips are a few small ideas that cost nothing but can go far.

1. Start Collecting: Pamphlets, newspaper and magazine clippings, brochures, menus, programs, tour guides, maps, posters, timetables, etc. Many of these resources could be easily obtained locally from the city visitors’ information centers, tour operators, train or bus terminals, shops, and theaters. Teachers could use a pamphlet to teach how to design the title on the front page, the message and information provided for the intended readers. These materials can supply teachers with abundant resources for teaching text and design. You can give children opportunities to create their own brochure or poster, or even design the concert program. You would be amazed what children could derive from learning about all the 2D designs from a little pamphlet.

2. Start Recording: Commercial jingles, TV commercials, radio advertisements, songs, or raps, etc. Children are constantly exposed to commercials, so why not use these media that they are familiar with to teach them how to infer messages from the commercials (making inferences) and find its purpose and target audience. Students can even write their own jingles later for a given topic. Remember those annoying commercials that you can not shake them off your head. Well, that could be a gold mine for your next media literacy program.

3. Integrate Arts and Language: Talk shows, news broadcast, radio program, or musical, etc. After you have the drama lesson, why not encourage your students to take on script writing. You just simply introduce the basic script format to them, and let them take on a form of media to write their own script. Children need motivation to boost their learning. It will also be a fun idea to use a production of a play to incorporate all designing and writing skills, such as agenda, program introduction, poster design, promotional advertisements, script writing, and finally performance. Students will plan the production from scratch to the final performance in front of the other students or parents.

Any good program still requires teachers’ interpretations and careful planning in advance. As long as you plan ahead thoroughly and involve students through the whole process in every possible way, you would be amazed with the result! These are just my quick two cents off my head. I welcome anyone to add a few more tips to the pot.