Teaching the 2008 Election

Want to incorporate the election into your classroom using media literacy techniques? Consider these media literacy materials related to the election that NAMLE members have put together:

NAMLE organizational member Just Think partnered with 247Townhall.org and sent youth crews to the DNC and RNC to ask politicians, celebrities, community leaders and young people what they would do if they were president. Check out the 40 short films at justthink.org.

Temple University's Media Education Lab has created ACCESS, ANALYZE, ACT: A Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement for PBS Teachers. You can find it at the Media Education Lab's website.

Frank Baker has a great collection of materials and links on his Media Literacy Clearinghouse website. Check out The Role of Media in Elections: Helping Students Understand Media's Influence at www.frankwbaker.com/media_politics.htm

Ithica College's Project Look Sharp website offers free materials from their excellent resource, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns: A Document-Based History Kit, 2nd Edition. Find it at www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/mcpcweb/

Cable In The Classroom's September 2008 issue contains an article co-authored by NAMLE members Frank Baker and Karen Zill: Lights! Camera Debate: How to Watch The Presidential Debates from a Media Literacy Perspective. The magazine also offers a number of other election classroom resources at http://www.ciconline.org

Check out a classic "Vote for Ike" commercial at NAMLE member Peter Gutierrez's Find it in Film website. It could be a valuable addition to class discussions about political advertising.

NAMLE organizational member Common Sense Media offers election reading ideas for kids, as well as some helpful tips for talking to kids about political ads.

Are we missing election materials from any other NAMLE members? Email us at namle@namle.net