NCJ Number
184737
Date Published
2001
Length
64 pages
Annotation
This educator’s guide on media literacy and drug prevention teaches media literacy skills to middle school students, enabling students to make finer distinctions regarding media messages about illegal drug use.
Abstract
The lessons in this guide were developed to help middle school students sort out the fantasies that the media often creates. Students learn that real consequences in the real world are often very different from what happens in media fantasies. Students learn to identify strategies and techniques of creating media messages and then discover the impact of these messages on their own behavior. The 10 lessons are designed to reinforce the following major communication objectives outlined by the Office of National Drug Control Policy: (1) instill the belief that most young people do not use drugs; (2) enhance the perception that using drugs is likely to lead to a variety of negatively-valued consequences; (3)enhance the perception that a drug-free lifestyle is more likely to lead to a variety of positively-valued consequences; (4) enhance personal and social skills that promote positive lifestyle choices as well as resistance to drug use; and (5) reinforce positive uses of time as behavioral alternatives to drug use. The lessons use The New York Times newspaper as the vehicle for initially teaching the media literacy concept and then applying it to other forms of media, such as television, movies, the Internet, etc. Students are encouraged to feel confident about speaking up when discussing drug use and prevention. Each lesson contains activities focusing on a specific aspect of media literacy. Guided discussions illustrate the principles of effective drug prevention as it applies to media. Research has shown several key elements to be the most effective in drug prevention programs. Some of those elements are helping students recognize internal social pressures to use alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, or drugs; improving academic competence which supports self-esteem and attachment to school and community values; using interactive teaching techniques; and providing material that teachers can easily and correctly implement. Appendix