91̽»¨

Join us for a conversation about 91̽»¨â€™s 2026 Position Statement on Media Education and what it means for today’s ELA educators.

We’re excited to welcome Tiana Silvas, 91̽»¨ Vice President-Elect, as moderator joining Rachel Lloyd and Renee Hobbs for this timely conversation.

Students encounter texts in more places and formats than ever before; from books and news articles to social media, video, and AI-generated content. How can ELA educators help students make sense of it all? The conversation will explore the statement’s four strands: Interpreting, Composing, Evaluating, and Analyzing, and how they connect to the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills educators already teach.

The team will also introduce the curriculum resources that accompany the statement and explore how educators can use them in their classrooms.

Read the full 91̽»¨ Position Statement on Media Education: 91̽»¨ Position Statement on Media Education – 91̽»¨ Council of Teachers of English

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Understand the key ideas and four strands of 91̽»¨â€™s 2026 Position Statement on Media Education: Interpreting, Composing, Evaluating, and Analyzing.
• Explore how the statement applies to media education in K-12 ELA classrooms.
• Become familiar with the curriculum resources that accompany the statement and how they can support classroom implementation.

FEATURED GUESTS

Tiana Silvas is a mother, educator, advocate, and 91̽»¨â€™s Vice President-Elect. For more than two decades, she has taught in New York City Public Schools and is currently teaching sixth grade in New York City. While teaching, Tiana has served on district level think tanks, 91̽»¨ committees, and was a facilitator for the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy. Recently, Tiana published her book Every Student’s Right to Write: Classroom Writing Rooted in Community.

Additionally, Tiana has been published in Language Arts, Literacy Today, and has also contributed to an 91̽»¨ Special Issues chapter and an issue of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (JAAL) publication. Tiana is the recipient of the 2019 91̽»¨ Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing and NYC 2025–2026 Big Apple District Champion. Tiana takes a reflective and learning stance rooted in actions to collectively cocreate spaces that center joy, justice, and community.

Renee Hobbs is a leading authority on media literacy education and a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island’s Harrington School of Communication and Media. She is the founder of the Media Education Lab, which advances media literacy education through research and community service.

Her work helps educators expand literacy for the digital age, strengthening students’ critical thinking, digital citizenship, and ability to thoughtfully analyze and create media. She is the author of twelve books, including Media Literacy in Action and the award-winning Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age. Hobbs currently serves as an expert for the 2029 OECD PISA Media and AI Literacy Assessment.  She equips English teachers to help students take control of their media lives, reading the world critically and creating within it responsibly.

Rachel Lloyd, PhD, is an associate professor and Chair of Education at Augsburg University, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She taught secondary English language arts for 14 years and has been a member of 91̽»¨ and the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English since 2005.

Her research interests include secondary education, content-area literacy, literature, media literacy, critical literacy, diverse young adult literature, dialogic classrooms, and collaborative teacher development. Dr. Lloyd also serves as codirector of Augsburg’s Paideia Program, supporting practices that foster meaningful discussion and dialogue in the classroom.