Toward Media Fluency

If the last year taught us anything, it is the importance of media literacy to society. Educators have known this for a while, according to history teacher and Director of Professional Development and Evaluation Meredith Baldi ’01. “There has been a national and international push for it as part of any education. It’s the #1 competency that schools should teach and adults should model.”

As the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) puts it, the goal is for students to “develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression that they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens in today’s world.”

Sounds very George School. Hardly surprising, then, that when Meredith and film teacher Scott Seraydarian ’90 developed a media literacy course, they designed a creative, cross-disciplinary, and distinctly George School one. The course, called Producing Peace: Civic Media Literacy & Production, launched in fall 2020, but it was several years in the making.

While Meredith was exploring the historical impact of media in her classes, Scott (working as a filmmaker) was wrestling with the power that digital technology gives to media makers. He was struck by how easily meaning can be manipulated with simple devices—like music—and he started delving into media literacy issues. In 2017 he joined the faculty and, soon after, the school’s FOCUS Committee, which included teachers, including Meredith, working to heighten learning through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Scott and Meredith decided to develop— and co-teach—a media literacy course. To workshop their plans (as part of NAMLE’s 2019 Media Literacy Week), they had their IB film and IB global politics classes collaborate on four films with media literacy themes, including one about a fake news story deliberately spread around campus. When the films were screened and the story debunked in assembly, reactions varied, but a dialogue was sparked.

“It forced our students to understand and apply key questions in media literacy as both consumers and producers of media,” they explained in “A Real Take on Fake News,” an article they co-wrote for the National Association of Independent School’s Independent Teacher magazine.

This fall, despite the COVID-altered program, Producing Peace began, with several quintessentially George School features.

First, the class is driven by queries. Who made this message and why? What does its creator want me to feel and do? What techniques are used to accomplish this? How might people of different backgrounds interpret this message? What is left out? What cultural values and points of view should I be attentive to? Students must grapple with these and other important, complicated questions and embrace the certainty of some uncertainty.

Second, the course’s cross-disciplinary nature—it can be taken as either a history or art—ensures that different approaches and perspectives are always on offer, and not just in binary terms. Meredith and Scott teach together (not alternately), challenging students to look at media historically and artistically, as consumers and makers.

Sometimes they look at a broad spectrum of media throughout time, for example considering propaganda and its purposes in Ancient India and Rome, Soviet Russia, and in the US today. At other times, students will explore a specific case study in depth, for example how radio facilitated both violence and reconciliation in the Rwandan genocide. But, as student Ellie Gibson ’22 points out “we aren’t just learning, we use what we learn.”

At the end of each unit exploring the historical impact of media, students create their own media. Products so far have included persuasive speeches, graphically designed posters, PSA films, and a podcast. These products all require students to articulate a specific student-driven message, plan an intended outcome, and focus on a targeted audience to use media in a way that contributes positively to society.

Both consumer and producer roles are key. Citing a Common Sense Media report that found that “teenagers engage with media for an average of nine hours every day,” Meredith and Scott see students as frequent media makers, even if they do not initially see themselves as such.

Tyler Lechtenberg, Mick Rock, Rich Korson

Show and Tell, Ask and Learn

“Visiting” (i.e., Zoom) speakers have added to the depth and breadth of experience in Producing Peace. Prominent media makers have joined the class to reflect on their careers and answer student questions:

Tyler Lechtenberg, speechwriter for both President Barack and Michelle Obama, came while the class was exploring the power of language to convey ideas and the essential role speech has in a democratic society. Tyler talked about the relationship between a speech’s writer and speaker and gave students advice on how to make speeches impactful, focusing on Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. Students used Tyler’s guidance when creating their own persuasive speeches, advocating for their vision for a peaceful society.

Mick Rock spoke during a unit that explored the power of single image to convey complex messages and ideas. In this unit, students examined an array of media examples from Neolithic cave paintings to Banksy’s street art, and then had the opportunity to hear and talk directly with the iconic rock photographer, whose images of figures like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury transformed our cultural perceptions of music, masculinity, and sexuality.

Emmy-nominated television producer Rich Korson joined the class for a unit on audio-storytelling, discussing the power of podcasts and what makes for a compelling one. After students pitched podcasting projects, he gave feedback on their ideas and messages, ensuring that students had a clear message and unique perspective, a compelling reason for telling their stories, and creative techniques for capturing the audience’s attention.

The goal is for students to “develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression that they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens in today’s world.”

The course defines and explores the topic broadly, covering media from voice and sound to still photography and the moving image. Students learn about and create in all of them. Hyatt Sparks-Woodford ’22 has explained “there is so much creative freedom given to students. I love how each assignment requires me to have and express my own personal opinion and ideas.”

The course is decidedly mission driven, helping “to develop citizen scholars cheerfully committed to openness in the pursuit of truth, to service and peace, and to the faithful stewardship of the earth.” As Scott explains, “Media has power for destruction, but equally power for good. It’s why we call the class Producing Peace. We ask students to ask themselves, ‘What do I believe in? How can I use media to achieve it?’” Often students do not see the impact they can make. “They think that if you’re not Greta [Thunberg], you’re nothing,” Meredith continues. But the course challenges them “to use media as a tool for social justice. It sets us apart from many schools jumping on the media literacy wave.”

Producing Peace takes both a fresh and a typical George School approach. It strengthens learning by breaking down barriers between disciplines and by asking students to see from different perspectives, think about historical context while making connections to today, question sources of information and truth, understand media’s power, and harness it as a force for good. As Scott says, the course “brings media literacy to life by putting principles into action.”

MEREDITH BALDI ’01 (above) and SCOTT SERAYDARIAN ’90 (page 8) recently earned PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED, demonstrating expertise in, and commitment to, teaching students to produce media that matters—and to think critically about their role as media consumers.