By Molly Berger
Media literacy is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication,” NAMLE. Access is generally considered to be the ability to find and obtain the source, but implied is also the ability to read or comprehend it. This is where Media Literacy and the English Language Arts literacy are so connected. We tend to think that if one can read the words then they understand them, or if one can open a site or view a film, they understand it. But literacy means so much more. Reading implies understanding or comprehension, and that requires a multitude of skills beyond simply recognizing words or viewing sites or media.
Because information (and entertainment) comes to us in so many modes or mediums, we all must build our literacy skills across those mediums. We must be able to comprehend not only printed words but spoken ones. We must be able to comprehend images both static and moving. We must be able to infer meaning from music and lighting and camera angle and all the techniques of the source.
For educators, this may seem a bit overwhelming in the already-packed curriculum, but when we look closer, it is all interrelated. As we look at the new Washington ELA Standards ELA.R 6:4, 5, 6, and 7 and expand our thinking to include all types of texts, teaching in one medium will reinforce the others. In addition, when students encounter a variety of texts, they also build their background knowledge, another key component of comprehension.
Click here to see a list of classes for this summer and books to build your understanding of how we comprehend texts of all types.
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| KQED Professional Development | KQED is a public television studio in California that offers workshops and resources for media literacy. They offer fourteen online courses including AI topics and evaluating sources. Of particular interest for reading media are courses on infographics, video, audio, and photo essays. |
| Library of Congress Self-Paced Modules | Library of Congress offers teachers a variety of resources for analyzing primary sources. A number of these activities teach students how to read photos which build critical thinking not only for photos but for all reading. |
| Library of Congress: Evaluating Photographs | Although these lessons use photos from the past, students learn to read photos and understand beyond the image that they see. These skills apply to other media and build comprehension overall. |
| Teaching Multimedia 101 | NAMLE’s Event calendar shows online courses available this summer. Starting June 22 is this Multimedia course which will deal with practical strategies for integrating digital literacy and future-ready skills into classroom learning. |
| Connected Reading: Teaching Adolescent Readers in a Digital World Turner and Hicks | Turner and Hicks argue that we must teach adolescents how to read digital texts effectively, not simply expect that teens can read them because they know how to use digital tools. Turner and Hicks offer practical tips by highlighting classroom practices that engage students in reading and thinking with both print and digital texts, thus encouraging reading instruction that reaches all students. |
| Teaching Students to Decode the World: Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum Chris Sperry and Cyndy Scheibe | Sperry and Scheibe introduce readers to constructivist media decoding (CMD), a specific way to lead students through a question-based analysis of media materials—including print and digital documents, videos and films, social media posts, advertisements, and other formats—with an emphasis on critical thinking and collaboration. |
| True or False?: The Science of Perception, Misinformation, and Disinformation Jacqueline B. Toner | Written for middle school students, this book explores how we think and perceive and why false beliefs, superstitions, opinions, misinformation, or wild guesses can stick around and cause problems. Readers will see how misunderstandings and misuse of scientific findings can lead people to the wrong conclusions and will learn how to outsmart their own brain to gain critical thinking skills and find ways to identify and correct false beliefs and disinformation. |
| AI Literacy in Education Online Canvas 5 Clock Hour STEM/Equity Course (2025–26) Sep 10, 2025 – Jul 15, 2026 Administered by NWESD | This fully asynchronous course defines AI literacy and explores strategies for teaching AI literacy in education. |
Dear Molly and Team Action for Media Lit,
I’d love to see you include “Trust Me” Documentary and its K-12 Curriculum, Parental and Collegiate Guides written by News Literacy Project in your list of resources: http://www.trustmedocumentary.com
I’d be happy to jump on a call or zoom to brainstorm ways we can collaborate on bringing awareness to people’s need for MIL.
Rosemary
Rosemary, thanks so much for being our first Media Literacy Champion and for sharing the wonderful “Trust Me” resources again. We look forward to highlighting them more in the future!