Seeking Justice in Your Own Backyard

Abstract

This chapter analyzes a summer workshop that invited middle and high school students to create digital public service announcements (PSAs) about a social justice topic of their choice. In this chapter, the author investigates the concepts of media literacy, critical literacy, and critical media literacy, then describes in detail the two-week workshop, ending with examples of student work as well as student reflections and instructor recommendations for future workshops. Detailed lesson plans are included to encourage teachers to replicate this workshop in their own classrooms as part of a unit on critical media literacy.