Glossary
Everything we do with young children should also be centered in Every Child Ready to Read practices. We know that children learn through Singing, Talking, Reading, Writing, and Playing. Even when we are discussing media consumption and creation, we must also remember that those five practices are key to ensuring a child is developing their literacy skills in all areas.
Media
Media are vehicles and tools for communicating and expressing ideas and thoughts.
"The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms." Or, "a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and participate with messages in a variety of forms - from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy" ("Media Literacy: A Definition and More.")
How a family/person decides when/where/why to use media and what kind for themselves and/or their child.
Media Mentorship
A media mentor supports children, teens, and families in their media decisions and practices relating to media use and shares recommendations for and research on children’s and teens’ media use (Haines, Campbell, & ALSC, 2016, p. 6).
The three ways to be a Media Mentor are through Media Advisory, Programming, and Access to Curated Media (Haines, Campbell, & ALSC, 2016, p. 62).
Pillars of Practice in Media Literacy in Early Childhood
Modeling: “What They See is What They Learn. Modeling is more than just making consistently healthy or intentional choices about when and where we use media technologies. […] as we model, it’s important to explain what we’re doing” (Rogow, 2015, pg. 95). Libraries are exemplary modelers. Reference interviews, programs, displays, resource lists, etc are all ways where librarians can model media literate behaviors. Tips for parents throughout these interactions fulfill Rogow’s suggested explanation of what we are doing.
Questioning: “Creating a Culture of Inquiry. Media literacy education builds on children’s natural curiosity, encouraging their questions, helping them learn how to find credible answers, and also expanding the types of questions that they routinely ask about media messages” (Rogow, 2015, pg. 96). Librarians are often masters of this themselves – we learn to do this as we research. The key for media literacy education in early years
Decision making: “Let’s Give ‘Em Something to Talk About. For very young children, whose limited vocabulary and fine motor skills can inhibit complex communication, the highly accessible nature of digital media technologies opens up a world of rich expression. Carefully scaffolded tools that can help them to create media help children see tech devices as tools that can help them accomplish specific objectives” (Rogow, 2015, pg. 98).
Integration: “Making it Routine. Media literacy education is at its best when both inquiry and technology are seamlessly integrated into a child’s day” (Rogow, 2015, pg. 100).
Technology Fluency
Understanding how to operate and the use of various technologies for use as a librarian and for assisting customers day-to-day. Technology fluency varies depending on one’s role in the library. We will include a list of tech fluency competencies based on three counties’ tech competencies.
The Three Cs
A way to analyze any given situation regarding media use.
Content – “What exactly are our daughters watching? Can they make sense of it? Will they try to imitate what happens on screen? Could they learn from it? Are they learning what we think they are learning?” (Guernsey, 2012, p. xiv)
Context – “What would our children be doing if they weren’t watching a video? Where are they watching/ Is an adult helping them figure out what they see? Are they really watching, or is the TV background noise? How does the time our child spends with media compare to the time she spends on other activities? Is she getting enough quiet time for pretend play?” (Guernsey, 2012, p. xiv)
Child – “Is it appropriate for this particular daughter’s age, her stage of development, or her temperament? How much simulation can she take? What scares her? What types of media experiences trigger the most curious questions, the most playful reenactments, the most engagement, the most joy?” (Guernsey, 2012, p. xv)