100 Family Media Literacy Activities, Ages Pre-School through Teen Years

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Attending to Our Children’s Attention Span

Building the Foundation for Resiliency Skills

Live and Play in Your World: Stimulus Addiction and the Growing Brain

Looking for Meaning in All the Right Places

Parenting Today: The World Has Changed, Have We?

Parenting as a Living System

Reading the Screen

Screen Time and Obesity

Screen Violence: Impact on Self as Relational Being

Teaching Children Gratefulness

Reading the Screen

5. Point out context clues. Context clues help children understand what they read. For example, a child learning to read looks for context clues in the illustrations to help understand the text. If the boy in the picture is frowning, that shows what the word "scowl" means. As children gain reading experience, they can spot context clues from key words, tone, or sentence structure. Children can also find visual context clues in TV shows, which will lead them to higher-level thinking as they watch.
For children younger than eight, point out:

With older elementary or middle-school children discuss:

6. Focus on personal relevance. A good book holds a child's attention because it is personally meaningful. Children have favorite programs for the same reason. Does your daughter want to be smart and brave like Madeline? Does your son like the music on a favorite show because he wants to sing? Perhaps your daughter wants to be an airplane pilot like Amelia Earhart or a scientist like Marie Curie? By simply asking a child why they like a program, or what they enjoyed best about something they just watched, you can help children make a personal connection to screen content. Over time this practice amplifies child's individual skills and talents.

7. Lead from your own curiosity. It's easier to spark a child's curiosity when you're fired up, too. The joy for discovery is contagious! When you choose television programs with educational potential, it's easier for you to get excited and encourage your kids with statements like: "I didn't know that, did you?" "What do you think of that?" Programs that are book-based give parents ways to tie in reading along with viewing. Also, programs featuring biographies or historical figures lead naturally to reading about these individuals.

As you try out these TV-viewing strategies adapted from reading aloud, think of a TV program, or DVD as a "visual book." And like a good book, the home screen is filled with endless possibilities for enriching your child's language and thinking abilities. So snuggle up and…have fun!

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Copyright © Gloria DeGaetano, 2009. All rights reserved. No reprinting rights granted without the author’s permission.

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