Successful approaches to media literacy can take many forms in contemporary classrooms. For English teachers, who are required to assign a book or “cover” a novel for curricular reasons, the question arises: how do we do this, how do we make a classic relevant, how do we pull the significant points from a time-worn text and meet the objectives of the curriculum? How do we connect literary analysis and media literacy? The answer, I believe, lies in the ability of students, with the guidance and support of their teacher, to appreciate how works of literature are situated in the context of history, psychology and current events. By using media texts and technologies, we can present works of classic and contemporary literature with clarity and relevance.
