New Berlin Educator Earns Media Literacy Certification

NEW BERLIN, WI — A New Berlin teacher earned a national certification last month to teach students how to think critically about the media they consume every day.

Jaclyn Jecha, a social studies teacher at New Berlin West Middle and High School, earned the PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification in June.

The certification recognized educators who helped learners from prekindergarten to 12th grade think critically about media consumption and creation. The program involved workshops that taught educators to build strategies to teach their students to be better equipped when dealing with media.

Jecha worked as a media literacy educator for the Newseum in Washington before she became a teacher. After entering the classroom six years ago, she saw more need for it, she told Patch. She signed up for the PBS program when the opportunity came up on Twitter last summer, she said. "And I'm really glad I did it."

Jecha currently teaches American history and government to high school students at New Berlin West. In her classes, she immediately applied the PBS lessons she learned on analyzing and creating media, she said.

The program focused on critical analysis of media, Jecha said. Lessons involved spotting whether videos have been altered or not, teaching students how to verify information from sources and giving students tools on how to assess and fact-check media, she added.

How can people approach media more critically? One method is pausing. If one sees a questionable post in social media, for example, they should pause before sharing it and do some research, Jecha said.

Another example is lateral reading. Every time a student opened a news article, they were encouraged to open more tabs in their browser and search all of the elements and every person and organization in a story.

Media companies that practice fact-checking and are transparent about their political biases encourage consumers to seek good information, she added.

Teaching media literacy is important because of how all-encompassing it is for both teenagers and adults, Jecha said.

"They're on the internet. They're attached to their phones, and they're constantly consuming media," she said. "Because there is so much, everyone needs to learn how nuanced it actually is."

As an American history teacher, Jecha follows the wisdom of the Founding Fathers with a Thomas Jefferson quotation: "Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both."

"A lot of hatred and lack of communication comes from ignorance," she said. "One way we can remedy that is by learning more, talking more and getting more people in a room with differences and encouraging conversation."

Jecha was also named a fellow for the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation and will pursue a master's degree in the fall. Her ultimate goal is to make sure her students get educated and vote when elections come up, she said.

"Of course, that comes with education, discussion and just learning to understand one another," she said.