ABSTRACT
The use of media production offers an opportunity for experiential, collaborative problem solving that enhances media analysis skills. When aligned with critical literacy principles, media education presents unique opportunities for teachers to meet the challenges of cultural and linguistic diversity in United States classrooms. The incorporation of student-centered teaching methodologies into media teaching also offers fertile ground for successful learning interventions for diverse classrooms. Teachers and media producers see ample evidence that student use of texts goes far beyond the commercial intentions of the media industries. Branda Miller provided a great deal of scaffolding to her students along the lines of both traditional and cognitive apprenticeship approaches. Gee noted that classrooms that do not properly balance acquisition and learning, and realize which is which, simply privilege those students who have already begun the acquisition process outside the school. Cognitive apprenticeships, student-centered learning, inquiry-based and project-based instruction and the re-introduction of arts education are compatible with media analysis and practice.
