Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

“Media Literacy in Action: Using Teaching for Understanding and
Universal Design for Learning to Develop a Media Literacy Lesson
Series”
Jennifer Lavalle,
Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138,
Email: JLL610@mail.harvard.edu
Abstract: This project integrates a blended learning environment into a media literacy
lesson series designed for a sixth grade health classroom. Using Teaching for
Understanding and Universal Design for Learning as guiding models, this project
emphasizes the need for media literacy in school curricula and uses these learning
frameworks to structure the implementation of such activities. This presentation will
comment on the theoretical foundations of this project and will explain the activities of the
lesson series. Though this project is designed specifically for a middle school audience,
the process of integrating 21 st century learning skills into a traditional classroom using
frameworks for educational design is applicable for all ages and grade levels.
Introduction
Today’s children are growing up in increasingly interconnected and ubiquitous media environments.
These children engage with media technologies in unforeseen ways and with unprecedented frequency.
According to authors Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (2011), we are experiencing a dramatic
shift to a new culture of learning based on three principles: “(1) The old ways of learning are unable to
keep up with our rapidly changing world. (2) New media forms are making peer-to-peer learning easier
and more natural. (3) Peer-to-peer learning is amplified by emerging technologies that shape the
collective nature of participation with those new media” (p. 50).
In this new culture of learning, behaviors and practices are evolving. As such, educators must rethink
teaching methodology with a keen focus on these new learners. If the majority of child’s time is spent in
an out of school environment, what are children learning in this Out-of-School-Time (OST)? In fact,
approximately 85% of a child’s day is spent in OST (Bransford et al, 1999, p.148). Since we know that
children are engaged in learning activities during this time, the question for educators thus becomes: what
are they learning and how can we harness the power of this learning to further academic knowledge? In
other words, how do we scaffold a student’s navigation through new digital playgrounds?
This question is at the forefront of many minds and several initiatives have been developed around the
idea what it means to be a 21 st century learner. With national initiatives like the Common Core State
Standards providing the overarching goals for educators, it is necessary for researchers and curriculum
designers to provide the means for such instruction. This project synthesizes and applies modern
learning theories in order to produce a lesson series fit for classroom implementation. Teaching for
Understanding and Universal Design for Learning are the principal frameworks that underlie and support
this learning series.
Curriculum Frameworks
Teach for Understanding (Wiske, 1997) is a curriculum framework that proposes four principle areas for
lesson design: generative topics, understanding goals, performances of understanding, and ongoing
assessments. This framework is the guiding model for this lesson series, making it accessible and
comprehensive for all teachers. Secondly, Universal Design for Learning (Meyer & Rose, 2005) is used
as an overarching theme in this lesson series to ensure multiple points of entry for all students with a
variety of needs, preferences, and abilities.
Media Literacy Education
Though these learning frameworks may be familiar to many educators, the topic of media literacy is often
new. In many classrooms across the United States, media literacy is treated as an afterthought to the
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