AML Blog

Read AML’s latest news, classroom strategies, and commentary on current issues through a media literacy lens.

Neil Andersen

OTF Community Walk Lesson Design

Here are Chelsea Attwell’s slides from her lesson design lecture for the OTF Summer Institute. Lesson Design Community Walk
Neil Andersen

Ike Interviews God

* Provocative on so many levels… Ike Interviews God What would YOU ask? Video URL at https://vimeo.com/129115072
Neil Andersen

Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History

* Malcolm Gladwell has a podcast called Revisionist History. It’s smart, fun, and feels like listening to a chapter of one of his books. I especially…
Neil Andersen

Where are the Super Heroes of Colour?

I have often used the theme of Super Heroes to teach media literacy with junior students. It is a great tool to get students to think…
Diana Maliszewski

Bias, Understanding Texts, and Widening Perspectives

The following thread from @Jess5th on Twitter (otherwise known as Jessica Lifshitz, an American elementary school teacher) is a great example of rich discussion, excellent scaffolding,…
Neil Andersen

Students First: The Health Curriculum Debate

* One of media literacy’s strengths is its ability to explore ideas from multiple perspectives. So let’s employ a strategy pioneered by Marshall McLuhan, Canada’s foremost…
Neil Andersen

Why must there be villains?

by Neil Andersen, Carol Arcus, Margie Keats, Diana Maliszewski and Michelle Solomon How could victims need rescuing without villains to abuse them? How could a hero…
Carol Arcus

On Maps, the New Renaissance, and Media Literacy: A Response to the Ideas of Chris Kutarna

“It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.” – Tom Stoppard “Societies have always been shaped more by…
Neil Andersen

Telling Stories: Using Student Experiences within the Classroom

Since taking a series of story telling workshops three years ago, I have always been interested in the medium of telling stories as a way to…
Neil Andersen

Reason and Emotion

*Reason and Emotion is a Walt Disney propaganda video (1943) that is a rich text for a variety of reasons. For one, it reveals a sample…