Examining the world around us: Critical media literacy in teacher education

Author

Jamie Patrice Joanou

Year

2017

Publisher

Multicultural Perspectives T&F

DOI/Link

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15210960.2017.1267514?casa_token=h8SQIX8vzjIAAAAA:HWE6kTW3u51m-tfVG_0-QsiK8AXDNuW4fe2jfQAbLfIH0RcKelExX3o2N0RXLXuOARkA0lwIIUJ06g

Abstract

This article presents findings from action research
conducted in a graduate level course with practicing K–12 educators. In this article, I consider the
usefulness of critical media literacy in the graduate classroom as I engaged students in discussions
about multicultural issues including race, class,
gender, sexuality, and ability. Through an examination of student presentations and field notes collected over the course of the semester, I found the
graduate student participants were typically quite
savvy at evaluating the messages they receive from
media. Further, I found the incorporation of popular media into the classroom helped students grapple with typically foreign and often theoretically
dense concepts like unconscious racism and heteronormativity, as well as theories like critical race
theory, intersectionality, and queer theory. The
graduate student participants were able to see
deep connections between text/theory and media
and often used various media to illustrate theory in
quite complex ways. Lastly, engaging with texts of
everyday life and using visual representations
helped students interrogate the concepts explored
in the course and provided students access to theory otherwise regarded as inaccessible.

Keywords

Critical Media Literacy, Gender and Media

Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Similar Articles