CML ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF 3-YEAR INITIATIVE  TO
CREATE FRAMEWORK FOR K-12 MEDIA LITERACY
Los Angeles' shiny new Walt Disney Concert Hall was alive recently —- not with the sound of music — but with the sound of LA's education community and the Board and staff of the Center for Media Literacy celebrating the completion of CML's MediaLit Kit™ "Teaching Trilogy" and the launch of a ground-breaking web site featuring methods, tools and a framework for integrating media literacy across the curriculum.
This special issue of CONNECT introduces you to the various components of the "Teaching Trilogy" and how they can help you in
planning and organizing media literacy in classrooms from kindergarten to college.
 CML's MediaLit Kit™ NOW A COMPLETE FOUNDATION
Under the umbrella of the MediaLit Kit™, CML now has a solid framework of theory, practice and
implementation — all the necessary ingredients for successfully introducing media literacy into 
preK-12 classrooms.
We've had the theory for several years, embodied in the 28-page Orientation Guide that's been on our web site for two years. Recommissioned and updated this summer as Literacy for the 21st Century: An Overview and Orientation to Media Literacy Education, Part I of the Trilogy is a plain language introduction to the basic elements of media literacy education. Learn about the Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions, how to conduct a "close analysis" of a media text, and what are the process skills for a new kind of literacy for the 21st century.
It's an invaluable reference for teachers, media librarians, curriculum developers, researchers and all who want to understand what media literacy is all about.
NEW LESSON PLAN COLLECTION EXPLORES FIVE KEY QUESTIONS
Theory meets Practice in Part II of the trilogy:Five Key Questions That Can Change the World, a collection of 25 lesson plans for the K-12 classroom. 
Unlike other media literacy classroom resources, which typically are organized by genre (news, advertising, etc.) or topic (violence, gender, etc.), the inquiry-based lessons connect the Five Key Questions to any media message in any medium. Over two years in development by CML's Jeff Share and Elizabeth Thoman with contributions from Tessa Jolls, there are five cornerstone lesson plans for each of the Five Key Questions.
The lessons are correlated with national education standards for language arts and social studies and many are related to health, math or the arts. The activities are scalable from kindergarten through grade 12.
Individual teachers may download -free- single copies of these two documents for use in the classroom. Professionally printed copies are also available through CML's online catalog. Call for quantity discounts for workshops: 800-228-4630.
It is CML's dream that by the time they graduate from high school, all students will be able to apply the Five Key Questions — almost without thinking. As Tessa Jolls explains, "For it is the practicing and mastering of the Five Key Questions that leads to a deep understanding of how media are used, what their purposes are, and how to accept or reject their messages."
Here are a few of the lesson plans to whet your appetite:
 EDUCATIONAL FORUM CELEBRATES WEBSITE LAUNCH
A capacity crowd filled the rehearsal hall at the Disney Concert Hall for the launch of www.ProjectSMARTArt.org -- Part III of the "trilogy" where media literacy theory and practice come together as implementation.
The site was created to showcase the findings of CML's 3-year federally funded media literacy demonstration project at Leo Politi Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles. There, in partnership with the Education Division of the Music Center of LA County, AnimAction, Inc and the Los Angeles Unified School District, CML trained and coached teachers to develop innovative strategies to link media literacy skills to state standards for the arts and English language development.
Project SMARTArt: A Road to Follow: Methods, Structure and Tools for Replication brings together all the pieces of the project into an impressive collection of guidelines, models, curriculum standards alignment and video interviews with teachers, media literacy coaches, arts educators and administrators who participated in the program.
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Project SMARTArt IS THE CASE STUDY WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR
The main feature of the site is the case study, Project SMARTArt (Students using Media, Art, Reading and Technology). An inside look at the media literacy demonstration program at Leo Politi Elementary School, it provides a virtual "how to" for introducing engaging, integrated lessons that address media literacy concepts, visual and performing arts disciplines and language arts content in K-5 classrooms. Follow the links to find out more about:
Project SMARTArt shows specifically how to take the Five Key Questions and bring them alive in the classroom through professional development and standards-aligned classroom activities. Here are two to get you started:
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ENHANCE USEFULNESS OF MediaLit Kit™
In addition to being online, both the Orientation Guide (Literacy for the 21st Century) and the Classroom Activity Guide (Five Key Questions That Can Change the World) are available as printed books from CML's distribution partner, GPN Educational Media. Discounts are available for quantity purchases for teacher in-service workshops. The MediaLit Kit™ may be licensed for widespread adoption by schools or districts.
A video suitable for in-service training and a set of classroom posters complete the current MediaLit Kit™ package:
Of course all of the CML classroom resources are ultimately part of the MediaLit Kit™ because they extend and provide opportunities for implementing the Core Concepts and Key Questions. The entire CML catalog of over 300 teaching resources is online and also available as a PDF.
 YOUR COMMENTS PLEASE
We invite you to become familiar with the CML's MediaLit Kit™ "trilogy" and to send us your comments and feedback. Feel free to share it with other teachers or those who are planning or developing media literacy programs in schools or after school programs, community or youth projects. With the help of a wide and growing community of users, we will learn from one another, and thus move the practice of media literacy forward!
Send your comments or questions to: Tessa Jolls or Elizabeth Thoman
Please forward this to a colleague or post it to listservs whose subscribers may be interested in these resources or information. Thank you. Subscribe to this E-Letter. Information on how to un-subscribe is sent to the registered e-mail address upon registration and is also included at the bottom of CML E-Letters. We do not share this list with any other organization. The CENTER FOR MEDIA LITERACY is a non-profit organization established to promote critical thinking about the media and to provide leadership, training and resources for media education in schools, religious and community organizations. In the global media culture of the 21st century, we believe in empowerment through education for children, young people and adults. We rely on tax-deductible grants and individual donations to sustain and expand our work. Thank you for your support.
Center for Media Literacy
3101 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 200
Santa Monica, CA 90405
USA
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Tel: 310-581-0260
Fax: 310-581-0270
To place an order toll-free in the U.S., call 800-228-4630
http://www.medialit.org/
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WORKING TOGETHER TO SERVE YOU BETTER
CML will continue to select, evaluate and recommend quality media literacy teaching resources. GPN will provide order fulfillment, e-commerce and customer service from their centralized location at Nebraska Educational Telecommunications & University of Nebraska in Lincoln. This new arrangement will make it easier for CML to focus on and nurture the development and production of new materials. For catalog orders and customer service, contact GPN. You will receive your shipment and invoice from GPN.
GPN Educational Media A Service agency of University of Nebraska-Lincoln
P.O. Box 80669
Lincoln, NE 68501-0669
Tel: 800-228-4630 Fax: 800-306-2330
E-mail: gpn@unl.edu Web: http://gpn.unl.edu |