Reviews
Literature Reviews
March 6, 2007
Barry Duncan
1. Teachingmedialiteracy.com by Richard Beach. Teacher’s College Press; in Canada through University of Toronto Press
Richard Beach, a professor of English at the University of Minnesota has worked for some time in doing multimedia/multimodal projects with his students. There are many merits to this book- especially the connections he makes with his students. At the outset, teachers will be grateful for his conveying so effectively the ambiance of a media literacy classroom. While some material is geared to the college market, there are plenty of ideas and resources for teachers, K-12. There is a judicious combination of theory and practice. Critical frameworks are followed by what is called "a teaching idea.
Beach links dozens of his ideas with innumerable websites. For Beach’s comprehensive list alone, this book deserves your attention. Chapters include topics such as digital media tools, advertising, genres, media representation.
Possibly the most engaging section is on ethnography and media literacy. The territory includes audience as consumers, class, gender and racial identities, Internet chat rooms sports events and rock concerts, amusement parks and shopping malls. Beach relates all these to audience theory and provides a variety of pedagogies to work with.
I put this book in the ’must have’ shelf. You won’t regret it.
2. Fact Finders published by Capstone Press, 151 Good Counsel Dr. P.O. 669, Dept R, Mankato, Minn. USA 56992
A new series of books for Elementary level teachers teaching media:
Titles:
At the Controls: Questioning Video and Computer Games
Coming Distractions: Questioning Movies
Music Madness: Questioning Music and Music Videos
Pretty in Print: Questioning Magazines
TV Takeover: Questioning Television
Virtually True: Questioning Online Media
Media educators say that getting a foothold on the young kids is critical to our success. However, many elementary teachers feel insecure in launching a basic program without reasonable teaching resources to back them up.
To the rescue comes Capstone Press with its Fact Finders series covering movies, music, magazines, television and online communication. Each of these 30 page, hard-cover mini books is beautifully illustrated and encourages kids to take a critical but not a media bashing approach. Throughout, students are asked for their opinions.
Typical sections in each book include background information on a media phenomenon e.g. product placement, the different roles played by a production team and a glossary of terms.
A writer of two of the mini books is AML’s own Neil Andersen, earning his spurs, quite cleverly, with our American cousins.