New Book Helps Students (and Educators) Pull Back the Curtain on Media Messages

Online, January 17, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The 2012 election campaign cycle is in high gear, with political commercials everywhere: film studios are promoting their films; diet advertising is rampant in magazines and on television; and 2012 Super Bowl ads are in the news. These topics and many more should be addressed in the nation's classrooms. Thanks to a new book Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom by nationally recognized media educator Frank W. Baker, teachers can easily integrate media literacy in all subject areas. The book is being released this month by ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education. (Among other things, ISTE, www.iste.org, promotes the effective use of technology in schools and advocates for media literacy education.)

"This new book," says Baker, "is a guidebook for what to teach and how to teach in order to prepare students for life in the 21st century. Many of our students are media savvy, but they are not media literate. Many of our students passively absorb what they are exposed to on the screens (mobile, video, film). They don't question what they see. Media literacy is designed to pull back the curtain to help them understand not only how a production gets onto the screen, but also what creative techniques are being used by media producers."

As an example, Baker cites toy commercials, so common during the holiday time of year. Toy advertisers, who know that young children aren't media literate, use all of the persuasion tricks in the book. After parents have spent hard earned money purchasing the toys, seen on commercials, their children are often frustrated when the toy fails up to live up to their expectations.

The book could not come at a more appropriate time. Several studies have already shown that many of today's young people don't question what they see in the media and on the Internet. "At the heart of media literacy," says Baker, "is teaching healthy skepticism." Media literacy introduces a set of critical thinking and viewing questions, all of which align to today's learning standards. The new book introduces those questions and offers recommendations on how to engage students in critical thinking about popular culture, the news and youth media.

Media literacy is recognized and recommended by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21).P21 (www.p21.org) also recommends Baker's nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse web site (www.frankwbaker.com), which contains thousands of resources and recommendations for incorporating media literacy into the classroom.

For more information about the book go here: www.iste.org/medlit, or to set up an interview with Frank W. Baker, contact him: (803) 582-8802 or [email protected]