Letter from the Guest Editor
Jeanne Buckley
Jeanne Buckley is a teacher-librarian in two elementary schools in the York Catholic District School Board, north of Toronto. She is a graduate of the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Masters Degree program at the University of Alberta.
Issue Contents
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Dear Readers:
It is a changing world we live in. As teacher-librarians we know that the nature of information use has changed drastically with the advent of the Internet and other new media. We know that many of our students are immersed in a digital information world that is vastly different from the one in which their parents were raised. Educators are aware that we need to prepare our students to deal with information and to be safe in a world where the best and worst of the universe is waiting at the click of a button.
The May issue of School Libraries in Canada is devoted to raising awareness about media-related issues. A special partnership with the Media Awareness Network brings us 7 articles about issues important to today’s students and teachers, issues related to the new “wired” culture.
The first, by Valerie Steeves and Cathy Wing, is a summary of recent research into children’s use of the Internet. The Young Canadians in a Wired World project was launched by the Media Awareness Network in 2000 and is now releasing their Phase II results. The study reveals that for many students the Internet is a social space that has been integrated into their daily lives. It also points to some of the benefits and dangers of this increasing use of the Internet among children.
The next four articles written by Anne Taylor and others at the Media Awareness Network (Helping Kids Deal With Online Hate, Cyber Bullying: Understanding and Preventing Online Harassment and Bullying, Portrayals of Race in Popular Culture, and Drink Up: Alcohol Advertisers Recruit Young Drinkers), bring more information about specific issues in children’s interactions with the media, and help educators and parents understand how to protect children and to teach them to be safe and critical consumers (and in some cases producers) of media.
The role of educators in teaching our next generation about media is clear. Media Literacy is a must for our future graduates! With permission of Orbit, we reprint Barry Duncan’s article about this topic. In it he encourages educators to “pursue thoughtful media analysis” with their students and gives some example of how this might be done in different subject areas. The final article brought to us from the Media Awareness Network presents a wealth of media literacy lessons that can be adapted to classrooms of various grades and subject areas. This article highlights only some of hundreds of lessons that are available at www.media-awareness.ca – a site that, if you haven’t visited yet, is a must for teacher-librarians wanting to support media literacy in their schools.
An important aspect of media literacy is learning to produce media. Through understanding how media is created, students can develop a greater understanding of the media they are presented with in their daily lives. Anita Brooks-Kirkland brings us information on how we can use and produce podcasts with our classes.
Finally, with the shrinking of the world that is brought about by the media, David Ward reminds us that it is important to keep our Canadian identity forefront in our minds when we are selecting resources for our students. As he discusses teachers’ knowledge (or lack thereof) of Canadian literature, he reminds us that teacher-librarians have an important role in helping to preserve our Canadian culture.
Working on this issue has been for me an eye-opening and enriching experience. As Barry Duncan points out, Canada has been a leader in the area of media literacy education, and hopefully, this issue will help us continue to lead the way for the next generation of students.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Buckley,
Divisional Program Teacher-Librarian,
York Catholic District School Board
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