A school district has decided to revise its entire overall language arts curriculum. The district is under a lot of pressure to go “back to the basics” in order to improve tests scores in reading and writing. The school board is therefore skeptical about studying topics such as media studies which is perceived to be as “outside” or a deviation from a needed focus on reading and writing “basic skills.”

You need to formulate a rationale for teaching media studies that you would present to the school board that identifies specific reasons for why media studies should be taught in the district. To do so, you first need to provide a summary description of the nature of your district’s current curriculum in the subject matter you teach or are/plan to student teach and when as the school’s/community’s presumed attitudes towards the value of media studies (if you are not a teacher, create a fictional summary or use your own high school as an example).

In your rationale, you may want to provide some formulation on how you would frame your curriculum content in a manner that serves to bolster your argument. This would include:

• formulating the curriculum in terms of 4 literacies students would acquire through participating in the curriculum

• the ways in which 2 components of your media studies curriculum would help students acquire these literacies

• the value of acquiring each of these literacies in terms of larger curriculum goals and outcomes (“critical thinking,” “production and understanding of texts,” etc.), particularly in relationship to the language arts curriculum

You will then present your rationale on the chat room to your peers, who, based on your description of the school’s curriculum and community, will provide feedback in terms of whether your rationale is convincing to an audience of administrators and/or parents.

In formulating your rationale, you will be evaluated in terms of your ability to:

• specify and elaborate on your formulation of the 4 types of literacies that students would acquire through participating in your curriculum

• define specific links between the 2 components of your curriculum with the 4 types of literacies

• specify and clearly connect the components of your media studies curriculum to students’ acquisition of these literacies

Module 1: Word document

What Does it Mean to Teach Media Literacy?

Justifying Media/Film Study in the Curriculum

Defining the Importance of Media Literacy

What is Literacy? The Need for a New, Broader Definition of Literacy and Texts

Media Education: Different Goals and Approaches

What Students Report About What They Learn from Media Education

Final Task

References