Media Smarts

Here is a Q & A with Media Literacy and TV Production teacher Tom Reid.

The Q & A concerns his Nov. 1 testimony at the State House on behalf of a bill that advocates for media education. The bill would provide comprehensive media literacy education for children in schools. 

After the Q & A comes background information from Tom and a transcript of his testimony, as well as a statement from Sen. Clark.

Q & A:

1. How many SHS students have taken your Media Literacy and TV Production classes the past 10 years — ballpark?

Media Literacy — an average of 20 per year in the early years and 40 per year more recently, so probably about 300.   

Also, the Health teacher, Mr. Harris, and I sometimes co-teach a course called Health and Media, in which we show and discuss media related to health issues and help students look at the way media influence their values and lifestyle decisions.  Probably about 200 students have taken Health and Media.

2. What is media literacy? In a sentence or two — a general description?

Media Literacy education helps students develop the ability to apply critical thinking to all media, to understand the influence media have on their ideas, opinions and values, to notice the techniques of media, to observe not only which viewpoints are expressed in media but also which ones are ignored, and to build skills of inquiry and self-expression that they will need to become active creators of their own values and ideas, as well as active participants in our democracy.  

3. What tools do you offer SHS students to encourage them to think critically?

There are certain key concepts of media analysis that we start with — all media contain embedded values, media are not reality, but constructions of reality, media have financial implications, each medium has its own language or grammar, each of us negotiates individually with media and so on.  

We begin the course with a History of Film unit, watching classic films like “Casablanca,” “Rebel without a Cause,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “The Graduate,” “Network” and “Annie Hall.”  We  discuss how these films of earlier decades embodied the ideas, stereotypes, values, fears, hopes and dreams  of their eras, then we move forward in time, watch modern media, some of it suggested by students,  and discuss how modern films and TV shows represent and influence the values students hold today.  We look at the techniques of documentaries and news to discuss concepts such as bias and point of view.

We analyze ads, web sites, sitcoms and reality TV to see which ones promote positive human interaction and which ones consist mainly of people “winning” by insulting or exploiting others.   I try to model respect for all points of view by encouraging students to enjoy speaking out and comparing their individual reactions to media with enthusiasm but always with consideration for differences of opinion.

4. Are media literacy classes on the chopping block or otherwise being threatened in Massachusetts?

I don’t think there are enough Media Literacy classes for them to even get to the chopping block.   Mostly, Media Literacy is taught within the context of other classes, at least on the high school level, such as TV Production, Health, English or Social Studies.  In part, this is because the Mass Curriculum Frameworks include Media Literacy strands within those last three academic areas, so there are very few teachers who only teach Media Literacy.  I think this bill is a first step towards changing that, a recognition that media have such a powerful influence on students that it’s really time to help them be more thoughtful about how they are affected.  When people call for schools to focus on the basics, I’d say what could be more basic than studying the primary influence, outside of the family, on what the students believe and who they are becoming?  

5. Will you tell your students about your experience at the State House? If so, what will you tell them? In a sentence or two — a general description?

I did briefly discuss the idea of the bill and what the day was like.  My students weren’t surprised that I spoke up as I did - they’re used to my enthusiasm for Media Literacy - but they were initially surprised that the largest number of proponents of Media Literacy were elementary school teachers.  I asked if they could guess why that was, and we discussed the tremendous influence of images, especially ads, on vulnerable young students, who are just starting to figure out who they are and want so much to fit in.  As always, my students had interesting ideas.  For example, Tobin Bartolo said I should remind teachers of Media Literacy that students are more influenced by seeing positive values and images than by being preached to or warned against negative values.   I agreed and pointed out that this why we spend more time in class watching interesting, positive films and TV than watching negative programming.  We do watch some “bad” media in order to analyze manipulative techniques, but I never want students to become so cynical that they think all media are useless. Like all art forms, modern media can be wonderfully entertaining, informative and inspiring, but you need to understand the language of each medium.  You need to be media literate!

Background information:  

I have been to a number of seminars and conferences on the teaching of Media Literacy over the years and someone I knew from these conferences asked if I would be willing to give testimony at the Education Committee’s hearing on Senate Bill 1956, sponsored by Katherine Clark, a bill to promote the teaching of Media Literacy in Massachusetts schools.

I believe in the importance of teaching Media Literacy, having taught it now for about ten years at Swampscott High School in addition to my TV Production classes, so I was happy to write a short speech and go down to the State House to deliver it.

It was kind of like a hands-on civics lesson, as I learned that the hearing was only the first step.  The purpose of the hearing was to help the committee as they decide whether to even send the bill on to the Massachusetts house and senate for a vote.  

I was joined by about eight or nine other presenters, and we each were given three minutes for our testimony.  There were about ten members of the committee, a combination of state representatives and senators.  

A few had to come and go from time to time, but everyone was there listened very attentively and asked some excellent questions in their follow-up.

Also speaking for the bill were two teachers of Media Literacy on the college level, an author of books on media, a child psychologist, a member of the Media Education Foundation and a couple of elementary school teachers who integrate lessons on media awareness, especially advertising techniques, in teaching young children.

There were also a few parents, who joined the elementary teachers and the child psychologist in testifying to the powerful and often potentially harmful effects on young children of ads and TV shows containing violent images, sexual images or messages telling elementary-school age children, for example, that they need to look a certain way to be popular.

My own testimony came more from my experience teaching Media Literacy on the high school level.  I find that films, TV and the Internet influence my students’ opinions, values and ideas about the world so much, yet they’ve rarely been invited to stop and think critically about what they believe and why, where their ideas come from, and the positive as well as negative effects of the media.  

I encourage them neither to believe everything they encounter in the media nor to retreat into not believing anything, and offer them tools for critical, thoughtful analysis.

I also think it’s important for students to have the opportunity, in an MCAS-driven age, to have classes in which there is more room for flexibility, in which they can discuss and debate whatever issues and ideas come up in class, for example, after we watch a film, to have the freedom to follow intellectual tangents and debate respectfully.  

In fact, I feel one of my most important roles as a teacher is to model and catalyze respectful, creative thoughtful debate, keeping it positive and civil even on subjects about which there are passionate opinions.

Too much of what students run into on the Internet, on TV and even in modern politics is based on insults, name-calling, stereotyping and black and white thinking in which you demonize anyone who isn’t like you or doesn’t agree with you.  

I try, as do all good teachers, to deal in a different kind of communication: respecting diverse opinions and having fun discussing ideas in a positive manner.  

I think the most thoughtful films and other works of art also help students grow in that direction, too, which is part of why I enjoy helping students encounter and, often, embrace media from other cultures, other time periods or simply other points of view that are different from the crude reality TV shows or simplistic blockbuster films that they normally see.

I have appreciated how many students, during and after their Media Literacy courses, have told me how valuable the classes were for them.  A number of parents have also told me that they shared my feeling that helping students be positive and thoughtful in their interaction with the media was important.  

I have recently joined an organization of teachers, authors, child psychologists and parents who are working to provide additional support for this bill and to find other ways to support Media Literacy in our schools.  If any parents or teachers would like to know more, I’d be happy to have them contact me at reid@swampscott.k12.ma.us.

Tom Reid’s Testimony:

Nov. 1 — Transcript of testimony to the Committee on Education considering S. 1956, a bill to promote the teaching of Media Literacy in Massachusetts schools.

Hello.  My name is Tom Reid.  I teach TV Production and Media Literacy at Swampscott High School and I’m here to speak in support of S. 1956. 

I actually began my career back in the 1970s as a high school English teacher, and of course I still believe that it’s essential for students to learn to read, write and appreciate the power and depth of literature.  However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that we now live in a culture in which students are more influenced by film, TV, video games and the internet than by anything they read.   

Certainly from the 17th through the 20th centuries, the spread of print-based literacy was of vital importance in the establishment of democracy in America.   It helped create an educated population, better able to consider multiple perspectives, learn from history, rise above prejudice and work towards creating a democratic, diverse and free society. 

I fear that unless we work equally hard to help students develop similar media literacy skills in the 21st century, that democratic society will be in grave danger.   Modern media, used well, could help bring us together, but too often modern media messages contribute to polarization and demonization of the other guy and inundate us with misinformation and outright lies.

Students desperately need our help with this.  Otherwise, it’s such an unfair battle – in one corner, teams of well-educated skillful adults creating ads and other media, and, in the other, children with no tools to defend against the power of the images and ideas with which they are bombarded on a daily basis.   No wonder too many students retreat into cynicism and stop believing anything they see in the media.   That’s not what our democracy needs and that’s not what they need.   We need to help them grow beyond that cynicism and that’s what this bill will begin to do.

I’m not implying that the entire purpose of media literacy is defensive.   A good Media Literacy classroom can be a lively and exciting place, as students discuss and debate not just advertising but also great films and other media.   Like literature, films can be used to help students connect with other eras and other cultures.  To offer just one example, I’ve had students tell me that they had studied World War II in other classes but never really understood the feelings of people all over the world and the sacrifices they had to make during the war until they viewed and discussed “Casablanca” in our history of film unit.

After being passive viewers of media for so many years, my high school students genuinely enjoy actively claiming ownership of their own values formation and critical thinking skills.   As they study media’s tremendous influence upon their ideas, values and opinions, they are essentially studying themselves - why they believe what they do, who they are now and who they want to become.   As an example of this, I’d like to close with an excerpt condensed from a letter written to me by a girl named Marina, who kindly has given me permission to use it.   She wrote this just before graduating last spring, after taking all three of my Media Literacy classes at Swampscott High School.  

Mr. Reid,

I’ve changed a lot since you met me back in those early Health and Media class days, and, in part, that’s a result of your helping me to discover the power of expression, of opinion, and of earnest discussion.  I am beginning to formulate my values and beliefs, my perspective; I am beginning to piece together what I had only intrinsically sensed before.  There’s such beauty in the confidence of knowing what you stand for and what you won’t accept – what you believe in and what you don’t.  If growing up means gaining a greater sense of such self-identity, then there’s a lot for me to look forward to. 

I couldn’t be where I am right now without those intensely interesting and momentarily infuriating arguments and discussions with you!  I know that you enjoy challenging students to look deeper into what they think and feel, to approach their reactions to media as a reflection of themselves - and it works. We need to be challenged.”

Thank you for your consideration of Senate Bill 1956.   

Tom Reid

Teacher of TV Production and Media Literacy

Swampscott High School

200 Essex Street

Swampscott, MA 01907

reid@swampscott.k12.ma.us 

Statement from Sen. Katherine Clark.

Senator Katherine Clark testified in front of the Joint Committee on Education on behalf of her bill that would provide comprehensive media literacy education for children in schools. This legislation would develop within the existing curriculum standards and objectives for media literacy.

“We know that children are highly influenced by many different forms of media that affect their behavior and contribute to issues that include aggression, violence and bullying, depression, body image issues, and obesity,” said Senator Clark. “In this 21st century media saturated culture we must provide our children with the tools and resources that will help them think critically about what they see in the media.”

This legislation aims to empower students with the knowledge to make decisions independent of popular media culture. This includes accessing and evaluating from the internet and other media sources, understanding how advertising messages are constructed and for what purposes, evaluating media’s explicit and implicit messages, creating media and messages using a variety of media tools, and participating in a global media culture.

A 2010 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically over the past five years. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote more than 7 hours in a day and 53 hours a week with some type of entertainment media.

“Well-financed marketers prey on children’s vulnerabilities in the drive for profit,” said Erin McNeill, a founder of the Massachusetts Media Literacy Consortium. “It is wrong to leave them unprotected to fend for themselves in this environment of wall-to-wall media.”

“Modern media can inform us, entertain us and bring us together, but it also inundates us with sensationalism, stereotypes, misinformation and outright lies.   Students need our help with this.   Otherwise, it’s an unfair battle – in one corner, teams of skilled adult creators of ads and other media, with degrees in marketing, communication and psychology, and, in the other, children with no tools to defend against the power of the images and ideas with which they are bombarded on a daily basis,” according to Melrose resident and Swampscott High School Media Literacy Teacher Thomas Reid.