Reading, Writing, and Deconstructing: Media Literacy as Part of the School Curriculum.

Media literacy refers to accessing, analyzing, evaluating, and creating media messages. This chapter defines what media literacy is, outlines media education in the United States compared to other English-speaking countries, and explores media literacy΄s role in successfully educating students. This chapter argues that media literacy from a critical thinking and social justice framework is a necessary skill for the success of learners in the 21st century. It also provides media literacy concepts, tools of persuasion, deconstruction questions, and media-making activities that have been used by media literacy educators to help give teachers a jump start in their own classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]