Texts for a new time: Faith Rogow's "Media Literacy for Young Children"
Introducing Faith Rogow's guidebook on how to help young children explore digital media
Texts for a new time is a space where I share recommendations. Mostly book recommendations, with a few other media occasionally sprinkled in — like apps, music, films, even toys. In each edition you’ll find the things I read or discovered that made me say “THIS.”
I say “THIS” when I am so excited about something I want everyone to know it immediately. When I see it as a cultural linchpin: a perfect, perfectly timed, perfectly crafted thing that answers some question we were all asking, without realizing it. A thing that, in the face of ambiguity, brings forward humanity’s potential.
Today’s text for a new time is a book by Faith Rogow: Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates, published in March by The National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates by Faith Rogow
We can step out of the panic cycle and beyond the screen time debates.
We can meet the rich, ambiguous world we live in with wonder and imagination instead of anxious constriction. We can invite children into inquiry and creation, instead of just limiting their access to digital technology. Faith Rogow’s excellent handbook shows how we can cultivate a generation of empowered digital citizens.
To me this book feels like the bedrock on which to base today’s efforts into literacy education, and thus citizenship education.
I appreciated the solid research and experience behind this book; the calm, encouraging tone; the user-friendly design; the no-nonsense humanity of the author; the specificity of the guidance; the rich lists of useful resources and references.
Who this book is for
The book is written for educators, and indeed, I believe anyone who teaches or designs learning experiences for young children will be grateful to have read it.
Beyond this, I believe it’s a valuable and liberating perspective for any parent, co-parent, or adult who spends time with little kids.
Beyond even that, I think any person who consumes or creates media can benefit from it. It made me personally realize how much more I myself, as a relatively media-friendly adult, I have to learn about media literacy.
Have you ever felt conflicted about pulling out your smartphone in the company of children? Then this book is for you. End the guilt, start the education.
Please read it and share it generously and so we can all better mentor youth about the complex world of digital media, and help them achieve the fluency we need to thrive together.