Today marks the start of Media Literacy Week, and there is no better time than now to brush up on your own media literacy as well as that of your child. With new advancements in technology made every day, the media we consume is changing constantly. We don’t have to wait for the morning edition of our local newspaper to read what is happening in the world; we can read about it as it’s happening on blog posts, tweets, and text messages. We can share our hot takes with friends and strangers alike on Instagram and TikTok. We can watch a livestream of major events as they happen rather than wait for the evening news. And with all of these different sources for gathering information, it’s important for children to be able to recognize these differences in the sources and how reliable their information is. Below are some helpful resources to help you and your child brush up on your media literacy skills.
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization that reviews books, movies, and television to help caregivers find age-appropriate content for their children to read or watch. Because media literacy is kind of their thing, they’ve also got a page dedicated to media literacy and how to provide lessons for your child in everyday life so they can understand what they’re reading or watching and discern for themselves what information is reliable and what is nonsense.
MediaSmarts
MediaSmarts, a Canadian organization dedicated to digital and media literacy, has made it their mission to educate the next generation of media consumers since 1996. They have many K-12 educational resources available on their website for teachers and caregivers to use. They raise public awareness through various campaigns and provide ongoing research into a wide range of digital and media literacy issues, including the long-established Young Canadians in a Wireless World research program. Check out some of these great educational games they’ve created on media literacy!
Billie’s Book Picks
Facts Vs Opinions Vs Robots by Michael Rex
It’s never too early to teach your child the difference between fact and opinion, and this delightful picture book is perfect for your preschoolers. The robots in this story will show your children how it’s a nice thing to listen to our friends’ opinions, but it’s an important thing to stand up for facts.
Information Literacy & Fake News by Diane Dakers
With this non-fiction book, part of a series for children on why media literacy matters, you can delve into more other important concepts of media literacy like perspective, bias, and objectivity to teach your older children how to stay informed about the accuracy of news media.
The Impact Of The Internet by Tim Cooke
In this age, the Internet is home base for most media sources these days, and it plays a huge role in media literacy education. Not only will this book explain how the Internet has affected media consumption, it delves into other hot topics like cyberbullying and e-waste.
However you choose to acknowledge Media Literacy week, know that the library is always here to help! Authenticating our sources and upholding the truth is kind of our thing
POST WRITTEN BY HANNAH V., CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMER