Media Literacy Matters
In order to prepare all students for college, career, and civic life we must acknowledge how the media dominant, disinformation rich world we live in shapes what that readiness looks like. In 2019, CPS formed a strategic advisory group designed to make recommendations for a robust strategy to advance media literacy instruction and student leadership opportunities for grades K-12. The outcome was an ambitious three-year plan that includes media literacy curriculum for all content areas grades, and enrichment learning and leadership opportunities focused on community-based journalism. Learn more about the CPS Civic Life, Media Literacy vision.

Today we are making progress towards this vision and are looking for districtwide participation in three key areas. Learn more below and please join us in this critically important work.

  1. CPS Teacher Feedback, Innovation, and Needs Assessment
  2. Curriculum Advisory Group
  3. Student Voice and Leadership in Media Creation, High School Opportunity

Any questions or interest in the CPS Media Literacy strategy, please contact Heather Van Benthuysen.
Teach Media Literacy? Don't Teach Media Literacy?
We Want To Hear From You!
We are conducting a district media literacy assessment across grades and content areas to learn more about what schools and teachers think and value, what works and what doesn't, and what teachers need or want to see in media literacy instruction.

Looking for teachers in all content areas to complete this survey, so please share with colleagues across grades K-12! Should take 5 minutes.
Civic Media Literacy Curriculum, Advisory Group
Open to all CPS educators who work with students in grades 6-12. We are especially seeking educators across content areas who already incorporate media literacy into their curriculum.

Requirements:
  • Interest/investment in developing civic media literacy curriculum in the district
  • Experience in planning curriculum scope and sequence of learning
  • Knowledge of inquiry-based instruction
  • 3+ years of teaching experience
  • Availability to meet virtually once per month after school hours
Student Voice and Leadership in Media Creation
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT Opportunity
We are now recruiting for a high school youth advisory team that will work directly with CPS to shape and inform the district wide media literacy strategy. These students will shape a new after-school program focus called Civic Media Labs.

The advisory team will: 
  • Meet virtually with staff from the Department of Social Science and Civic Engagement twice a month, after school
  • Conduct action research, finalize recommendations, and present findings to the civic media literacy stakeholders team
  • Receive a monetary stipend at the end of the school year

A student might be interested if they: 
  • are invested in their community
  • are interested in media production and/or journalism
  • would like to be a part of an initiative to improve access to media literacy opportunities for students in schools that lack journalism or media programs

Students are expected to: 
  • Attend and actively participate in bi-weekly meetings
  • Provide their vision for and feedback on media literacy instruction plans
  • Document their experiences and findings through a form of media 
K12 Media Literacy Resources
K-5 Media Literacy Lessons & Resources

  • Digital Literacy Framework - Grades K-3 | MediaSmarts: Lessons for a wide range of media and digital literacy topics–including news literacy–searchable by grade level and topic. MediaSmarts is a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy.
Video from Break the Fake Lesson Plan (K-2, 3-5)
6-12 Media Literacy Lessons & Resources

  • Civic Online Reasoning: A project of the Stanford History Education Group, the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum provides lessons and assessments that help students build necessary skills and habits of mind to evaluate online information, including news.

  • Checkology: This News Literacy Project site features interactive lessons hosted by noted journalists that teach critical thinking skills related to navigating online news and information.

  • The Sift Archive — News Literacy Project: Another great resource from the News Literacy Project, The Sift is a free weekly newsletter for educators that includes activities, links, and discussion prompts that explore timely examples of misinformation and other news literacy topics. 

  • CTRL-F: This Canadian learning module has engaging and current short videos, lessons, and activities that provide a solid introduction to skills needed to evaluate the credibility of online information.
Join Our Team!
Attention Educators! Are you passionate about culturally responsive social science? Do you innovate in civic learning practices like discussion of controversial issues or community-based learning? Come join our team!


Email us at ssce@cps.edu with questions.  
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