MEDIACY

Mediacy is the Association for Media Literacy’s podcast that examines 21st Century culture and current events through a media literacy lens. From politics to popular culture, we guarantee that you won’t leave an episode thinking quite the same way ever again.

Listen to all our Mediacy podcasts with experts and classroom teachers here.

Banning Books: Who Decides, and Why?

Book bans risk narrowing students’ worlds by removing complex, meaningful works from libraries. Representation matters—students need to see themselves reflected in books, and diverse collections help build empathy and understanding. So, context is key: reducing rich stories to a few controversial images distorts their purpose – and at the heart of it, students’ voices, not institutional bans, should guide library collections.

In this episode, Carol Arcus (AML) moderates a conversation with Irene Faiz (AML director and teacher) and Monique Twigg (teacher-librarian, TDSB) about the recent controversy in Alberta, where four graphic novels (Gender Queer, Fun Home, Blankets, and Flamer) were pulled from school libraries pending review.

A Conversation with Dr. Faith Rogow

In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with Dr Faith Rogow. She helped found the U.S.-based National Association for Media Literacy Education, Project Look Sharp, and the Journal of Media Literacy Education. And she’s written a number of books and articles on media literacy education, including the recent groundbreaking text, Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates (2022). To purchase a copy of the book visit https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/books/media-literacy.

In this episode of Mediacy educators will gain valuable strategies on how to engage young children with media literacy including using the media literacy competencies, making media and easy ways to start the year with media literacy as a vehicle to build classroom community! Don’t miss this conversation! Happy listening. 

This episode is a part 2 to our conversation with Dr. Rogow last spring. To hear the first podcast in this series click here.