What is Media Literacy?

 This is the first week of school for me. It is an exciting time as I look ahead to new adventures. As an elementary librarian I decided that I was going to stress "Media Literacy" with my students this year. So, I had to ask myself, "What IS media literacy"? I knew I wanted to talk to my students about being safe online, proper cell phone etiquette, how to effectively search for needed information, but what else? After searching the Internet and finding a variety of definitions I came up with four words that describe media literacy to me:

*Access
*Evaluate
*Analyze
*Create

As educators it is important that we not only teach these concepts to our students, but that we allow them to experience. I want my students to learn how to access all the information they need without asking me for help. I want them to be able to evaluate what they find to determine if it is accurate and reliable. I want my students to analyze all the information and determine what they need or don't need and then decide what they can do with it. Finally, I want my students to take all of that information and create something of their own. This is how they learn. I once had a college professor who told us that his job was to make his job obsolete. He wanted to teach us how to teach ourselves so we wouldn't need him anymore. I have never forgotten that and that is my goal now.


Good luck to all you who are beginning a new school year along with me. Let the fun begin!