Olga Polites
New Jersey Chapter Leader for Media Literacy Now
My academic interests have centered around teaching rhetoric and argument, so even though these topics were not required for my high school students, I always took the time to teach these skills. Critical thinking is at the heart of decision-making, and I have found it incredibly beneficial to provide students these lessons to best prepare them for complex problem-solving in any context.
From 1982 through 2022, Olga taught English at the high school level. Since 1999, she has been an adjunct instructor teaching college composition at Rowan University. Her interest in media literacy education began as a search for better ways to prepare students to navigate the complex media world and become more civically-minded citizens. This led to her involvement with Media Literacy Now, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring all K-12 students are taught media literacy skills, enabling them to become confident and competent media consumers and creators. Olga believes that learning these skills is an essential part of the solution for supporting young digital citizens to engage in a global media environment and for protecting students against manipulative information.
