Using Media Literacy Activities in Middle School
Help Students Improve Reading Comprehension with Multimedia
Jun 18, 2009
Some teachers shy away from using multimedia in the classroom. They may feel that media resources are not really relevant to hard-core teaching techniques. Teachers might show a film, for example, at the end of a unit as a “reward” for a job well done on the students’ part. However, multimedia can be integrated into the classroom to actually improve student learning. Teachers who include multimedia in their lessons will motivate reluctant readers while energizing the entire class.
Using Multimedia Builds Student Confidence
Teachers have successfully used multimedia to improve their students' reading comprehension. In "Improving Reading Comprehension by Using Media Literacy Activities," Renee Hobbs asserts that “for middle-school students who don’t read well, media and computer technologies seem effortless and more ‘natural’ as compared with the laborious process of decoding print symbols and forming images in the mind’s eye” (44). If this is the case, many students feel defeated before they ever pick up a book and that the task of comprehending and analyzing literature is insurmountable. By analyzing media, students increase their confidence to become better readers.
Analyze Specific Scenes in Multimedia
Hobbs suggests that teachers start off on a level that will attract students while helping them develop the necessary skills to critically read literature. By looking closely at a scene of a film, for example, students can more readily access and develop comprehension strategies of reflective thinking, self-monitoring, close observation, and visualization applied towards media. Once reluctant readers are more confident of these necessary literacy skills, they will have developed patience enough to tackle the written word.
Motivating reluctant readers by inciting interest is key to improving reading comprehension. Hobbs suggests that “including a range of diverse narrative and expository texts from the realms of film, television, popular print media, radio, and the Internet helps create authentic learning environments that connect the classroom to the living room” (45). Teachers need only be creative to help students develop important skills which will carry over to their study of literature and provide a positive foundation for future independent reading.
Create a Positive Learning Environment
Many students who do not normally participate in class discussion while conversing about a short story or a novel tend to perk up when a topic with which they are familiar pops up in class, such as a movie that had particularly effective characterization. Therefore, Hobbs claims that “engaging students and providing meaningful opportunities for them to contribute their experiences is an important strategy in creating a learning environment that is effective for reluctant readers” (47). Once they analyze characterization in a movie clip, students can then apply this knowledge to literature.
An important point is that students must understand more about how they learn. Teachers who help students develop metacognitive strategies can use film as a stepping stone since it is more accessible and less intimidating than a novel. They can then step up to the novel when students feel confident that they have developed important literacy skills.
It is unfortunate that media and film analysis is often reserved for college courses. Middle schoolers not only enjoy analyzing films and commercials, they are often naturally adept in doing so. Once students feel comfortable analyzing characters, plot or theme in a movie, they can easily transfer these skills to literature. Studying media provides scaffolding for future critical analysis.
Hobbs, Renee. “Improving Reading Comprehension by Using Media Literacy Activities.” Voices from the Middle. May 2001.
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