Blog Post 1: Media Literacy

Hello Everyone!

Going on nature walks can help inspire students.
Chan, W.M.© (2015). Photograph.

My name is Kathlene Katic, and I am a teacher candidate at Brock University. I have many passions in life, and becoming an effective educator is clearly one of them! I aspire to teach my students effectively, and engage them with many valuable life lessons and foundational principles. I am an advocate that anyone can reach their fullest potential in life granted they have a supportive foundation and underlying moral values. In addition, I am also a huge supporter that one needs to have a healthy mind, body and environment if they are to be successful in life, and in the future I aspire to become that teacher who will be able to inspire my students to become the absolute best they can be. One strategy I find particularly helpful to become more productive is to go on a nature walk; being outside in the environment helps the body and mind relax within the present moment, then become fully engaged when it is time to work again.

Currently, I am engaging with critical discussion within our Ontario School system. Have you ever wondered about the function of our Ontario school system? I don't just mean classroom dynamics, but the Ontario Curriculum and how this affects student learning. Within the Ontario Language Curriculum, there are 4 different literacy strands that are critical to students; media literacy, reading, writing and oral communication. Throughout the duration of these posts, I will be reflecting on each strand. The first strand I will discuss is the media literacy strand.

Recently, I have discussed with my peers how important I believe it is for students to be critical readers and thinkers. As such, there are many teaching strategies I am going to encompass within my lesson planning, some of which can be found here. According to the NEA, the 4Cs of the 21st Century include Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and Innovation. This directly relates to the requirements within the Ontario Language Curriculum, media literacy strand. The curriculum specifically states that students must be able to demonstrate an understanding of various media texts, make connections, create their own media texts, and finally reflect. In a recent class activity, I found that the topic I engaged with reflected each of these principles, and is one that I will use in the future. I wrote a review regarding Banned Book Week in the American context. In short, Banned Book Week is a week allocated in America where students can access a variety of books that have been placed on the banned book list. Many teachers are advocates for promoting their students to explore these banned books (as a class collectively) as it teaches them to engage with controversial media material, make connections, create their own opinions and reflect on the issues.

Amazon.ca (2015). Autobiography of Malcolm X.

It further allows students to explore the overarching idea that this Banned Book List prohibits them from the right to read whatever material they so wish to do so. I believe that inquiry in the classroom is extremely important as the skills that students learn during the inquiry and critical thinking process are transferable skills they can take with them into their adult lives. There are a multitude of banned books on this list that, arguably, have shaped American History: see the list here. For example, to the right is a picture of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a book on the American Banned Book List, however, it is argued that Malcolm X is one of the most influential human rights activists and one of the most influential Americans in recent history.

However, in the Canadian context, there are only a few books on the Banned Book List, which can be found here. As an emerging educator, I find this to be a fascinating observation, and it would be a source of discussion for my students. I would ask them discussion questions such as, Why do you think the government bans books? Do you think the government banning books is a good or bad idea? Why do you think that the States has such an extensive Banned Book List compared to Canada? Questions such as these will teach my students to holistically engage with controversial topics, think critically about the information presented to them, and further reflect on how this will affect their personal lives. As such, there are many fundamental aspects within the media literacy strand of the curriculum that I am a huge advocate for, and I am going to incorporate many of these fundamentals within my lesson plans in the future.

References: 
Amazon.ca (2015). Autobiography of Malcom X, 2007. http://www.amazon.ca/Autobiography-Malcolm-X/dp/0141032723 
Banned & Challenged Books (2015). Frequently Challenged Books. American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks 
GDC Team (2015). 12 Ways to Teach Critical Thinking. https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/12-ways-to-teach-critical-thinking-skills 
The Ontario Language Curriculum (2006). The Government of Ontario. https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf 
Wikipedia (2015). Book Censorship in Canada. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_censorship_in_Canada