In a world of media saturation, children today are not future consumers of information and goods, but targeted participants involved in a game in which they don’t know the rules or even that they are playing, yet one that will affect them throughout their lives. This book is a teaching manual that helps teachers not only explain the concepts of consumer economics and media literacy to middle schoolers but supplies lessons for students to get hands-on experience recognizing, deconstructing, evaluating, and choosing for themselves whether to accept the tangible product or intangible message offered. Teachers can use the lessons to help students build a toolbox of analytical skills that they can carry with them and develop further throughout the rest of their lives to distinguish information from persuasion, from what people tell them they should believe to what the students, through critical thinking, decide is worthy of their belief.

This book is a teaching manual that helps teachers not only explain the concepts of consumer economics and media literacy to middle schoolers but supplies lessons for students to get hands-on experience recognizing, deconstructing, evaluating, and choosing for themselves wheth...

High school students today are no longer insulated from the vicissitudes of messaging/counter messaging in today’s always available, always blaring media (coming into their cars, homes, and ears through ever-more personal devices), including the cross-accusations of “fake news” that leave true seekers of information spinning in circles. Young people are no longer “future consumers,” as products they are not even old enough to buy are pitched to them, while groups with political agendas seek to make future voters already on their “team” before they first step into a voting booth. Fortunately, there is now a call for empowering teens with the knowledge and skills to decode such messaging so that they are no longer passive receptacles of messaging, but active participants in their own media processing. This is the field of media literacy.

In a world of media saturation, children today are not future consumers of information and goods, but targeted participants involved in a game in which they don’t know the rules or even that they are playing, yet one that will affect them throughout their lives. This teaching manual will help educators to not only introduce the concepts of economics, financial literacy, and media literacy to elementary students but supplies lessons designed to provide hands-on experiences recognizing, deconstructing, evaluating, and choosing for themselves whether to accept the tangible product or intangible message offered. The lessons help students to build a toolbox of analytical skills that they can carry with them and develop further throughout the rest of their lives to distinguish information from persuasion, from what people tell them they should believe to what the students, through critical thinking, decide is worthy of their belief.

Today’s educators are confronted on a daily basis with the challenges of navigating digital resources, tools and technologies with their students. They are often unprepared for the complexities of these challenges or might not be sure how to engage their students safely and responsibly. This book serves as a comprehensive guide for educators looking to make informed decisions and navigate digital spaces with their students. The author sets the stage for educators who may not be familiar with the digital world that their students live in, including the complexities of online identities, digital communities and the world of social media. With deep dives into how companies track us, how the Internet works, privacy and legal concerns tied to today’s digital technologies, strategies for analyzing images and other online sources, readers will gain knowledge about how their actions and choices can affect students’ privacy as well as their own. Each chapter is paired with detailed lessons for elementary, middle and high school students to help guide educators in implementing what they have learned into the classroom.

Kids today are in a media-saturated environment. Even as they are first discovering who they are and learning about the greater world, they are nudged and swayed by media. To help empower children to be resilient and have more self-guidance in their development, we have written a two-book series about choice-making. This book explores the general process of how we make choices, from consciously rational to subconsciously emotional. Through exploratory lessons supplied in each chapter, kids learn the techniques of effective choice-making so that they have the tools to stand against outside sways.

Drawing on the wisdom of educators, researchers, and twenty years of personal experience in the middle school classroom, Rick Wormeli lays out a clear vision of what responsive middle-level teaching can be. Both a "how-to" book and a thoughtful narrative on important topics, Meet me in the middle gives you successful strategies for addressing key middle-level teaching challenges, including: differentiating instruction; motivating early adolescents; teaming; teaching in block-length classes; using authentic and alternative assessment effectively; writing in all subjects; holding students and teachers accountable; involving parents; mentoring teachers; using games in the classroom; applying the latest in brain research; the National Board Certification process; and understanding the young adolescent.