Media Literacy Starts Young: Strategies for Media Mentorship in the Early Years and Early Grades

This event was held at New America as part of the National Association for Media Literacy Education's biennial conference. Video is below. To see discussion of this event on Twitter, see #NAMLE19 and #MediaMentors. To continue to follow news from New America on media literacy, libraries, critical thinking skills, and professional development for educators of all kinds, see our Teaching, Learning, and Tech page.

Text from the invitation and the event's agenda are below.

There is no longer any doubt that today’s students will need strong skills in media and digital literacy to succeed in the 21st century. How can we help children and young students gain a strong foundation for developing these skills? What does the science of child development and educator experience tell us about creating the capacity for creating and thinking critically with new technologies?

Members of the National Association for Media Literacy Education and special guests are invited to attend a free pre-conference symposium and workshop at New America in Washington, D.C. to explore these questions. This event will build on the work of the new Alliance for Media Literacy in Early Childhood and of the Technology in Early Childhood Center at Erikson Institute in Chicago, which hosted the previous early learning pre-conference session in 2017. For more on that event, see this report.

Follow on Twitter using hashtags #NAMLE19 #MediaMentors. The first half will be live-streamed here on this page.

AGENDA

8:30 a.m.

Sign In / Light Breakfast

Many thanks to our breakfast sponsor: The National Association for the Education of Young Children

9:00 a.m.

Welcome + Interactive Whats and Whys

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, National Association for Media Literacy Education

Lisa Guernsey, New America

9:15 a.m.

Panel 1: Strategies for Equity in Early Media Literacy

Vivian Vasquez, American University

Faith Rogow, Insighters Ed

Jamie Naidoo, Association for Library Service to Children

9:45 a.m.

Updates for the Field: IMLS-Funded Report on Skills for Early Media Literacy

Jenna Herdzina, Erikson Institute

9:55 a.m.

Flash Talks: Developing Adults’ Skills in Media Mentorship

Peer Coaching Media Mentorship in Maryland

Conni Strittmatter, Dorothy Stoltz, Pamela Hamlin - Public Libraries in MD

The Impact of the TEC Mentor Program

Sabrina Burroughs, Eagle Academy Public Charter School

Teaching Teachers about Inquiry Practices

Peggy Ashbrook, author, Early Years Blog for National Science Teachers Assoc.

(Re)presenting Media Mentors: Storying and (Re)Storying for Agency

Denise Chapman, Monash University

10:35 a.m.

Questions and Discussion

10:45 a.m.

BREAK

11:00 a.m.

Updates for the Field: New Books and Resources

• Tony Streit, NAMLE President
• Susan Friedman, National Association for the Education of Young Children, on forthcoming NAEYC book on tech & media
• Notes on new tools from Education Development Center for teachers of dual-language learners, from KQED TEACH for educators, and more
  

11:15 a.m.

Panel 2: Policies and Research for Equity in Early Media Literacy

Diana Maliszewski, Toronto District School Board

Carrie Sanders, Maryland State Library

Sara Schapiro, PBS Education

Katya Vogt, IREX

Moderated by Lisa Guernsey, New America

12:00 p.m.

BREAK / Pick Up Lunch Boxes

Many thanks to our lunch sponsor: PBS KIDS

12:15 p.m.

Molly from Denali:

Inside Peek at New TV Show Featuring Information Literacy and Inclusion (video)

April Wang, WGBH

12:45 p.m.

Pepper the Robot Comes to the Library (video)

Dorothy Stoltz, Carroll County Library (MD)

1:00 p.m.

Roundtables, Part 1: Tips & Techniques for Classrooms, Libraries, & Professional Development

Visit one of three tables in corners of the room for in-depth lessons and Q-and-A

Using Community as Inquiry in the Early Years

Chelsea Attwell, Hybrid Teacher/Digital Lead Learner Teaching Kindergarten in Toronto

Essential Tools in a Peer-Coaching Toolkit for Media Mentors

Conni Strittmatter, Baltimore County Public Library, and Dorothy Stoltz, Carroll County Public Library (MD)

Media Literacy for our Youngest Learners: Let’s Play, Let’s Talk

Diana Maliszewski, Teacher-Librarian, Toronto District School Board / Former Editor-In-Chief, The Teaching Librarian

1:45 p.m.

BREAK

2:00 p.m.

Roundtables, Part 2: Tips & Techniques for Classrooms, Libraries, & Professional Development

Rotate to a different table in corners of the room for in-depth lessons and Q-and-A

2:45 pm.

Whole Group: Interactive Whats, Whys, and Hows

Facilitation partner: Sabrina Burroughs, Eagle Academy

3:30 p.m.

Final Remarks and Preparation for NAMLE Biennial