The mass media has a tremendous impact on young people. The media--including television, movies, music, video games, the Internet, and magazines--has a tremendous power to shape the views and values of children. Consequently, it is essential that young people learn how to analyze and evaluate the messages they regularly receive from the media. The WiseSkills character education program includes classroom and family activities to help students discern the positive and negative character messages communicated through the popular media. For schools using Character Counts!, WiseSkills helps middle and high school students evaluate media messages in light of the Six Pillars of Character.
WiseSkills provides a variety of materials within each monthly, schoolwide Character Theme to help educators and families teach young people critical media literacy skills to evaluate the character messages underlying much of what they see and listen to in the popular media. The WiseSkillsK-12 curricula includes discussion questions and reproducible pages for students to reflect on their media diet. The Family Wisdom materials (Grades K-8) contain activity pages for parents to discuss with children the ongoing character messages communicated in the media they enjoy.
The media literacy materials in WiseSkills address six media areas:
• Television • Movies • Music • Video Games • Internet • Magazines
