Content & Engagement:
This session draws directly from The Take Back and the Educator Jumpstart Guide for launching a Media Lab. Content will cover: The impact of Big Media and Tech on student well-being. Media Lab phases (introduction, media expertise, presentation skills, and student empowerment).
Time & Activities:
- Introduction & Framing (10 minutes): Present core ideas from The Take Back and the goals of Media Labs.
- Phase 1 Activity – Reflection (10 minutes): Participants engage in games and activities adapted from the guide to reflect on their own digital habits.
- Phase 2 Content – Media Expertise (15 minutes): Walk through strategies for helping students analyze media bias, digital identity, and tech’s impact. Participants practice customizing one slide from the Ambassador deck and making it their own.
- Phase 3 Activity – Presentation Skills (15 minutes): “Popcorning the Deck” to give attendees a feel for how students build confidence and learn the material.
- Phase 4 Reflection & Action (5 minutes): Audience shares insights, parallels to their own practice, and ways to implement a Media Lab.
- Wrap-Up (5 minutes): Provide resources from the Jumpstart Guide and encourage participants to adapt Media Lab activities in their schools and communities.
Process:
To keep the audience engaged, interaction will occur every 10–15 minutes. Tactics include peer-to-peer discussions, small-group role-play, and participation in Media Lab games. This mirrors the student-centered approach of the Media Lab: attendees will experience the same reflection, personalization, and public speaking strategies that empower students as Media Ambassadors.
After this session, participants will be able to identify strategies to empower youth as leaders in media literacy and digital well-being, model safe and ethical practices for using digital tools, and apply frameworks from The Take Back and the Media Lab curriculum to foster student voice and agency. They will also learn how to facilitate youth-led initiatives, such as Media Ambassadors, that strengthen intergenerational dialogue and community impact. In addition, participants will integrate practical tools that help students critically evaluate media, manage digital identity, and communicate effectively across diverse audiences—leaving with adaptable lesson ideas and concrete strategies to build healthier, more intentional digital cultures in schools and communities.
1. Jonathan Haidt's “Anxious Generation”
2. Pew Research: Teens and Social Media (2023)
3. IREX Media Literacy Trainer’s Manual
4. Hopkins Medicine: Screen Time Side Effects in Kids and Teens
5. The REACH Institute: Mind Over Minutes
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