For librarians, it is important to remember that media literacy must go beyond providing students access to technology, but engaging with it to promote critical thinking and creativity.  Kenner and Rivera (2007) recommend that librarians create a curriculum that is as authentic as possible.  For example, librarians should provide both positive and negative examples of media in a wide variety of formats in order to deconstruct media.  Lessons should be designed with a combination of videos clips, discussion, music, and pictures, in order to allow for detailed analysis of many types of media (p. 59).  Authentic experiences can also include students creating their own media, including music, journalistic reports, videos, advertisements, and radio programs.

 

Teaching students media literacy skills allows them to engage in authentic learning experiences that will equip them for the media they will encounter in their real lives.  By showing students examples of product placement, persuasion, and facts versus opinions, librarians can teach students to be savvy-media consumers.  For example, the Question It! Media Moguls Literacy Project (2014) allowed elementary- and middle-school students to explore real pieces of marketing and advertisements, which they then explored by producing their own media productions.