By Monika Hanley
We are pleased to honor Lesley James, OSPI’s Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship Program Supervisor. When Washington became the first state in the nation to establish this position within its Superintendent’s office five years ago, Lesley was selected to serve in this groundbreaking role.
In our interview, Lesley provides an overview of the framework she developed—a collection of suggested learning objectives, instructional resources, and ideas to help educators build a K–12 scope and sequence for Research & Inquiry, Media Literacy, and Digital Citizenship skills. She reflects on some of the professional development opportunities and other resources she has developed and coordinated during her five years as Program Supervisor. The conversation, of course, includes the new English Language Arts standards, which now incorporate media literacy. Throughout the interview, Lesley shares insights into how these efforts can help educators integrate critical media analysis and information evaluation into everyday teaching and learning.
Lesley announced recently that she will be leaving OSPI to begin a new chapter in her career. We thank her for her outstanding contributions and steadfast support of media literacy education throughout the past five years. We are grateful for all she has brought to this work and wish her every happiness and success as she moves on from her current role.