Creating Critical Thinkers Through Media

In this TEDx Talks, the speaker ,Andrea Quijada  is the executive director of Media Literacy Project. She has over a decade of experience ad a media literacy trainer and holds a deep passion for media justice. Quijada begins by explaining the importance of deconstructing movies and television, as a first lesson to media literacy. This can be incorporated into a classroom easily by asking questions like "What is the text subject of this message?" Media can bring a strong message about a subject that the marketers may not have intended, such as a colour coordinated shoe poster can bring out a meaning that girls should worry more about the clothes they wear than the math they are learning. From bringing posters such as this into a classroom, the students can have a collective discussion on the impact on our culture, job interviews, and our economy.

Once students know how to deconstruct media, they have gained a superpower. They can see through the messages in advertisements, sitcoms, commercials, internet, etc. Media literacy connects schooling with real life, it is something students can use every day. Lets work together as teachers to incorporate media literacy into our lessons to connect school with the 21st century daily lives of our students.