Critical Reflection 1

Media literacy is the ability to understand how mass media work, how they produce meanings, how they are organized, and how to use them wisely. The media literate person can describe the role media play in his or her life. The media literate person understands the basic conventions of various media, and enjoys their use in a deliberately conscious way. The media literate person understands the impact of music and special effects in heightening the drama of a television program or film...this recognition does not lessen the enjoyment of the action, but prevents the viewer from being unduly credulous or becoming unnecessarily frightened. The media literate person is in control of his or her media experiences.

The following definition of media literacy came out of the Trent Think Tank, a 1989 symposium for media educators from around the world sponsored by the Canadian Association for Media Literacy:

"The goal of the media literacy curriculum must be to develop a literate person who is able to read, analyze, evaluate, and produce communications in a variety of media ( print, TV, computers, the arts, etc.)."

Media are actually many forms of communication...including newspapers, magazines, and billboards, radio, television, videocassettes, video games, and computer games. Since the students are too young to read newspapers and magazines, their activities focus on video and TV.