Can school district leaders afford not to make media literacy a pillar of their instructional programs? Teaching the subject effectively is key to graduating students who are productive citizens, Shari Camhi, superintendent of New York’s Baldwin Union Free School District, says on the latest episode of District Administration’s “Talking Out of School” podcast.
“When I went to school, media literacy looked like being able to read a newspaper, understand what we were being told, maybe verify that with a second or maybe third source,” Camhi notes. “But the abundance of information that’s out there requires that we teach students how to know the difference between factual information and other people’s version of that.”
Media literacy begins in sixth grade English language arts and social studies in the Baldwin Union Free School District. High school seniors can take a college-level civics news literacy course that is credited through Stony Brook University.
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“Our kids sit around the dinner table with their families, having these political discussions, and so I dare say that they probably influence the thinking in their families and in their communities,” she continues. “It’s not a skill that you can learn overnight. It’s a skill you have to grow up with.”
Media literacy is a hot topic during an election season but it’s a skill students need throughout their daily lives on- and offline, Camhi adds.
“It’s about the clothes that you buy. It’s about the friends that you keep. It’s about your community and the local newspaper. It’s about everything,” she explains. “The election is sort of the cherry on the top. I mean, it’s like the peak of the mountain. But knowing that what you read or hear is true, and being able to decipher your opinions and your beliefs based on real information, is paramount to everything that we do all the time.”
Listen to the podcast below, or on Apple, Podbean or Spotify.
