Week Eleven Blog - Critical Media Literacy

  Critical Media Literacy 

Through exploring this week's readings, I was interested in understanding the importance of meeting the needs of children in the classroom by exploring content that was relevant to them and how this supports learning. Pennel et al (2018) demonstrate just how important it is that children are supplied with resources (books) that portray their abilities/disabilities in an acceptable and understanding way suitable for all reading levels, for the purpose of raising awareness of the diverse needs, interests and children in classroom settings. This was something that she felt was not done well enough by authors or the book world. Through this discovery, it was brought to my attention just how crucial this is for children and their learning, as well as self-view and value. Likewise, Callow (2017) explored a similar topic, exploring the importance of understanding texts and their ability to explain a valuable storyline or link to real-life events and what this meant to the audience and how this would shape children's view of critical media literacy and whole world issues that may be common in their space. Including the varying requirements for understanding the world and what is required from children from a young age, and the use of books and other resources to achieve this.

It was through discovering both of these texts that I have understood the need for teaching/learning diverse resources and exploring them with children to support their understanding of the critical world around them, and relating this to the media in which children are subject to every day. by exploring this, children are learning about world issues in critical ways that are acknowledging the human world and the way that this is not always easy for everyone. Specifically with reference to disabilities and refugees (these are age-appropriate topics to discuss with children that alert them to the harsh but important knowledge of the critical media world) (Callow, 2017; Penell et al, 2018). Both texts explore critical media literacy from a different point of view, but have the child at heart each time. Therefore, this is something I felt crucial to understand and implement as a teacher. 


Reference List: 

Callow, J. (2017). "Nobody spoke like i did": picture books, critical literacy, and global context. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 231-237. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1626

Pennel, A., Wollak, B., & Koppenhaver, D. (2018). Respectful representations of disability in picture books. The Reading Teacher 71(4), 411-419. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1632

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