Media Literacy: Teaching Kids to Spot Fake News? Far From It.
With educrats claiming lessons in “media literacy” help to combat “disinformation,” the trend has been quietly gaining inroads in states across the U.S.
“Media Literacy” instruction is the new darling in K12 education.
But what is "media literacy" and why should you care?
The National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) offers this definition: "The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication ... to become a successful student, responsible citizen, productive worker, or competent and conscientious consumer.”
In reality, media literacy programs encourage children to:
1) Trust a certain type of media
2) Raise the voices of "marginalized" communities
3) Advocate as socialist, global citizens
4) Promote climate justice through climate activism
5) Defend the rights of trans individuals above all others' rights
Organizations have sprung up to promote and track the adoption of media literacy. There's even a U.S. Media Literacy Week and an annual "media literacy" report.
BELOW: The 2023 Media Literacy Now annual report shows trends in media literacy policy adoption.
Recommended "Media Literacy" Resources from the Arizona Department of Education
During Democrat Kathy Hoffman's term as Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Arizona Department of Education endorsed media literacy resources such as the Pulitzer Center, which offers the following lessons:
A series of 13 lessons focused on the 1619 project
A lesson on LGBTQ+ identities that encourages educators to teach children "What identities are, and aren’t, included in the acronym LGBTQ+?"
A "global citizenship" lesson on advocating for global change
Students are taught to be climate activists who fight for climate justice
Kids are encouraged to be political agitators framed as "agents of change"
One lesson focuses on vaccine hesitancy and historical trauma
You get the idea.
Read this terrific newsletter on the topic from Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity: https://www.scottsdaleunites.com/so/00Ov87PEE?languageTag=en&cid=796087e0-a130-4576-8bbc-5d34f3ccbd94&fbclid=IwAR1xz2sHkAMTfRMhSGRpAoxFr3UPdxd_GZhwCz67ldgjE3f0_JIIlrfgzNA_aem_AVriWANsD3oVfiNMJQHDLLUOJDzXOIB0GHJJND800vvAS7xLC-BYePYrUpQ_GUFi6xo
#KIDSFIRST
Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KatyMcP
Katy, two 'quality of life' tips I've learned on the substack platform is when posting links, cut out the question mark & beyond to give the link a cleaner look (it's usually just source tracking identification)
[Shortened 👇]
"https://www.scottsdaleunites.com/so/00Ov87PEE"
The second is if you end your post with pasting your site it will turn into a subscribe box [https://katy515zu.substack.com]
I wrote this here in the comments to help out anyone else that may come across it. If you have any questions, message me.
I posted the images as a note:
https://substack.com/@schoolingdelaware/note/c-53351926
Thank you. I will be cross-posting this. Delaware has passed a 'media literacy' bill unbeknownst to many - and once that 'shiny thing' goes away, just like cats, people go back to curling up on the couch & licking themselves!