Working Together

By Patrick Bohn ’05, September 2, 2021

Project Look Sharp receives $270,000 Booth-Ferris Grant to train librarians to work with teachers.

Project Look Sharp's latest grant will help train 18 librarians on working with teachers to integrate media analysis into curriculum.

Ithaca College’s media literacy program, Project Look Sharp, has received a two-year, $270,000 grant from the Booth-Ferris Foundation to develop materials and strategies to train 18 librarians across New York State on working with teachers to integrate media analysis into their curriculum.

The initiative is a partnership between Project Look Sharp and the New York State School Library Systems Association. It was crafted in collaboration with the School Library System for New York City, the National Association for Media Literacy Education and the civic advocacy group, DemocracyReady NY.

The grant will provide funding for Project Look Sharp and a new coordinator to train and support 18 school librarians from across New York State. These library leaders will pilot work with their teachers to integrate question-based media analysis throughout the curriculum.

“For us, media literacy is literacy. In today’s world, if you only know how to read and write in print, you’re not literate. You need to be able to take apart stereotypes, judge what’s credible, deconstruct what you see on social media, reflect on your own biases.”

Cyndy Scheibe, Project Look Sharp executive director

Once the librarians are selected from across the state, the next step is to utilize documents and strategies to help teachers integrate media literacy into courses, regardless of subject. By the end of the two years, the goal is to have a clear, achievable, scalable plan to train librarians across New York State work with their teachers and to have the materials they need to integrate the lessons.

“So, if they’re teaching a lesson about nutrition, they might show cereal commercials, asking students questions about the media messages they’re seeing,” said Chris Sperry, director of Curriculum and Staff Development at Project Look Sharp.

By enabling librarians to work with teachers to update their curriculum with media literacy lessons, Project Look Sharp executive director Cyndy Scheibe hopes that it will have a transformative impact on education.

“The college supports us as a program, and they provide critical infrastructure. Without the work of [director of corporate and foundation Relations] Warren Calderone and the development office we couldn’t have gotten the grant.”

Cyndy Scheibe, Project Look Sharp executive director

“We want to transform education so that media literacy is integrated from kindergarten through high school, and we see librarians as the key people on the ground in that effort,” she said. “For us, media literacy is literacy. In today’s world, if you only know how to read and write in print, you’re not literate. You need to be able to take apart stereotypes, judge what’s credible, deconstruct what you see on social media, reflect on your own biases.”

Scheibe was grateful for the support of the Ithaca College community in securing the grant.

“All of our funding comes from grants,” she said. “The college supports us as a program, and they provide critical infrastructure. Without the work of [director of corporate and foundation Relations] Warren Calderone and the development office we couldn’t have gotten the grant.”