Media is around us all the time. We are constantly consuming media even when we don’t realize it. The digital age has brought an ever-present stream of media messages that are nearly impossible to escape. What does this mean for the high school English classroom? After a year of reflecting on this very question, I’ve decided to revamp how I structure my high school ELA classes. Instead of making short stories, novels, poetry, and plays the center focus of my units, I’ve started making media analysis the primary focus with those classic literature elements as supporting readings.

Students generally have a difficult time sorting through media and determining what is real or fake, or what is a paid ad. Take a look at this article from NPR, Students Have ‘Dismaying’ Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds. Although the study mentioned is from 2016, it does a…