The Media Literacy Ladder The media literacy ladder is a visual
organizer to help teens identify, analyze, and evaluate media
messages. The information presented in the ladder can empower
your teen by helping him or her to become a critical consumer of
information. Each step on the ladder introduces teens to one of
five basic principles of media education. Ask your teen to pick
any media message—it can come from a movie, a magazine article,
a TV or magazine advertisement, a T-shirt, or song lyrics. Next,
starting at the bottom of the ladder and working to the top, ask
your teen to answer the questions at each step on the ladder.
The first two steps (identifying form and purpose) require your
teen to identify details in the media message. For example, a TV
news broadcast presents information differently than a billboard
or a bumper sticker does. Those differences in form help shape
not only what is said but also how it is said. The top three
steps encourage your teen to analyze information in the media
message