About

Head & shoulders shot of Dr. Faith Rogow

Faith Rogow, Ph.D. is an independent scholar, curriculum developer, and facilitator of media literacy education journeys preK-16. She is also known as the Media Literacy Education Maven at InsightersEducation.com, which she founded in 1996 to help people learn from media and one another and as a creative way to share enthusiasm for teaching, critical inquiry, and public interest media. She has taught tens of thousands of teachers, students, childcare professionals, media professionals, parents and guardians to understand and harness the power of media.

A media literacy education innovator and strategist, Dr. Rogow was the founding President of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, a founding editorial board member of the Journal for Media Literacy Education, and a founding advisor and project evaluator for Ithaca College’s Project Look Sharp (the nation’s first curriculum-driven media literacy education initiative).

Rogow’s groundbreaking 2002 article, “The ABCs of Media Literacy,” was one of the first in the U.S. to explore media literacy education methods that are developmentally appropriate for early childhood. That work has now been expanded into a book: Media Literacy for Young Children: Teaching Beyond the Screen Time Debates (NAEYC, 2022). This is her third major media literacy education publication. She previously co-authored The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy: Critical Thinking in a Multimedia World (Corwin, 2012) and Media Literacy in Every Classroom: A Quick Reference Guide (2017, ASCD). She was also instrumental in developing NAMLE’s Core Principles of Media Literacy Education and Democracy Ready NY’s 2023 report, “Preparing for Civic Responsibility in Our Digital Age: A Framework for Educators to Ensure Media Literacy Education for Every Student.” which lays out media literacy anchor skills and the foundations for a K-12 scope and sequence.

As a consultant, Rogow has developed discussion guides or lesson plans for more than 250 independent documentaries, including twenty seasons of films in the acclaimed PBS-American Documentary series, POV. She specializes in films dealing with sensitive or controversial topics and using film to jump start community dialogue and social change. You can read about her approach to discussion guide design on her blog TUNE IN Next Time | Media Literacy Education Musings. Sample guides available on request.

Dr. Rogow has designed award-winning educational outreach for children’s media, earning renown for her video, Understanding Teletubbies: A Field Guide for Grown-Ups. She developed education materials, outreach workshops, and served as U.S. national lead trainer for Sid the Science Kid, Teletubbies, The Puzzle Place, Boohbah, Theodore Tugboat, Tots TV, and the Peabody Award-winning early childhood education series A Place of Our Own / Los Niños En Su Casa. In recognition of her work on outreach for Sesame Street, she was given a Ralph B. Rogers Award by Children’s Television Workshop.

She has served as a consultant to PBS’ Ready to Learn Service, Sesame Workshop, WGBH, CPB’s “Don’t Buy It” website for 9-11 year olds, the Television Race Initiative, Ragdoll, Cookie Jar Entertainment, KCET, and a variety of other instructional and children’s media projects.

Outside the education and media world, many people know Dr. Rogow for her work in the progressive Jewish community. A former camp songleader, Rogow composed the camp hit “Shiru Shir,” “Shalom Shalom Aleichem,” and the chant “As We Bless” which has been covered by several artists and used in feminist and progressive spiritual rituals all over the world. Rogow also wrote a history of the National Council of Jewish Women, Gone to Another Meeting (University of Alabama Press, 1993).

Rogow earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in History from Binghamton University and a B.A. from Indiana University.

Insight + Incite = INSIGHTERS

SELECTED WORK EXPERIENCE

Skills

In 30 years of being self-employed, I have: 

  • Managed multiple projects simultaneously
  • Built and sustained diverse client relationships
  • Provided clear and honest feedback in direct, respectful ways
  • Quickly synthesized large amounts of information into concise, jargon-free, actionable written reports
  • Balanced providing my best work while acknowledging client ownership of the final product (not taking it personally when clients chose not to take my advice)
  • Conducted needs assessments and project evaluations
  • Created and managed budgets
  • Worked independently and cooperatively
  • Developed written and multimedia materials for multiple audiences and purposes
  • Helped people understand when tech is effective and when it gets in the way
  • Created curricula, including aligning lessons with relevant national and state education standards
  • Designed and implemented national training initiatives, serving as national lead trainer to teach other trainers how to implement workshops I designed
  • Organized and run public events
  • Advocated for media and information literacy education, social justice, educational equity, and creating of cultures of inquiry in and outside of schools
  • Provided dozens of keynotes, conference presentations, and workshops
  • Used a wide range of office and education software programs, apps, and collaborative technology for Apple/Mac and Android/Windows systems
  • Written a wide range of materials, specializing in transforming academic research and evidence into jargon-free language that makes sense to general audiences

Related Community Service

Founding President, National Association for Media Literacy Education 

When I served, NAMLE had no staff, so the Presidency was equivalent to being Executive Director.  Duties included:

  • managing a fifteen-member board and dozens of committee volunteers spread across the nation
  • articulating the organization’s vision and creating action steps
  • representing the organization in person, in the press, and in print
  • budget oversight
  • running a national conference 
  • drafting policies and bylaws for a new 501c3
  • strategic planning
  • cultivating partnerships
  • fundraising & membership recruitment
  • managing a major multiyear grant from the Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement

Founding Editorial Board, Journal of Media Literacy Education  

In addition to serving as a peer reviewer, I introduced the journal to its current hybrid approach: publishing standard academic research and book reviews and also accepting less formal “Voices from the Field” articles and essays. These allow practitioners (like teachers, librarians, and childcare providers) who are vital to the field but who are not academics to share their work, experiences, and reflections.   

Founding Advisor, Project Look Sharp  

Project Look Sharp (Ithaca College) is a ground-breaking, curriculum-driven approach to integrating media literacy into existing curriculum at every grade level and in every subject area. I provide strategic guidance and review materials and have also served as a primary evaluator for several teacher training initiatives.

Previous Employment

1990-1996 Director of Education & Community Outreach – WSKG Public TV and Radio Binghamton, NY

Duties included

  • Computerizing the department
  • Creating, managing, and implementing station outreach and education projects, including the instructional television service, college telecourses, GED on TV, NY Link computer on-line service, and special teleconferences
  • Hosting the coordinating committee that developed a regional educational fiber optic network for distance learning, with WSKG as a node
  • Developing and offering media literacy and video production workshops
  • Producing monthly newsletters and educational television specials
  • Hiring and supervising department staff
  • Managing a $200,000 budget
  • Working collaboratively and coordinating with other departments
  • Convening an educational advisory board
  • Acting as on-air talent for radio and TV pledge drives
  • Representing the station at regional and national meetings, as well as to local civic groups and elected officials in Albany
  • Fundraising and grant writing

Teaching           

I have taught in a variety of formal and informal settings, to both adults and K-16 students, including as a college professor offering courses in History, Women’s Studies, and Jewish Studies at Binghamton University, Cortland State, and Tompkins Cortland Community College.

Education          

Ph.D. & M.A. – History, Binghamton University; B.A. – Religious Studies, Indiana University

Professional Memberships

  • National Association for Media Literacy Education – lifetime member
  • National Association for Multicultural Education – lifetime member
  • National Association for the Education of Young Children – lifetime member
  • In recent years I have also been a member of ASCD, NCSS, and NCTE

REFERENCES available on request.