Member Spotlight: Jessica Dennison

What do you do? 
I am the Library Media Teacher for Kettering Fairmont High School. I also am the district department head for our libraries. I have completed my Bachelor’s in Early childhood Education, Master’s in Library Media, and my PhD. in Education. 

Tell me about your latest work or project in media literacy.
Recently I did a lesson with a class studying the book Animal Farm in regards to fake news. We looked at different news headlines and used Kahoot as a platform to make determinations as to what was real news and what was not. 

Why is media literacy important to you?
Media literacy is important to me because there is so much information given to us in many different ways. It is important to determine what is real vs. fake through each of the different ways. If we have the skills to be able to determine what is credible and accurate news then we can process and understand the information better. 

What are you most excited about in the media literacy field?
I am most excited about the conversations that stem from media literacy in general. Working with teens, they have many viewpoints and are argumentative enough to stand by their viewpoints. Healthy debates on what constitutes real vs. fake news provides multiple learning opportunities in the classroom. 

Why did you become a NAMLE member, what benefits do you see to membership, and how will it support your work?  
I became a NAMLE member in order to stay informed on new trends within media literacy. Having a research background, I look for what current research is telling us about best practices in media literacy. 

The views and opinions expressed in the M-Passioned Member blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAMLE or its members. The purpose of the M-Passioned Member blog is to highlight our members and give them a place to share their reflections, opinions, and ideas.