Summers, Sue Lockwood 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born October 31, 1946, in Ardsley, NY; daughter of Paul T. (a drafter) and Phyllis (a bookkeeper) Engelkirk; married Robert H. Summers (an educational psychologist), May 22, 1987; children: Deborah Summers Troeger, Douglas Lockwood. Education: State University of New York College at Potsdam, B.A., 1968; University of Northern Colorado, M.A., 1979. Religion: Christian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Littleton, CO. E-mail—sue@mediaalert.org.

CAREER:

Jefferson County Schools, near Denver, CO, library media specialist, 1981-2003; Media Alert!, Littleton, CO, director.

MEMBER:

Alliance for a Media Literate America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Media Literacy Award, Cable's Leaders in Learning, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(With Elana Yonah Rosen and Arli Paulin Quesada) Changing the World through Media Education, Fulcrum Publishing (Golden, CO), 1999.

Media Alert! 200 Activities to Create Media-Savvy Kids, Media Alert! (Littleton, CO), 2000.

Get Them Thinking! Use Media Literacy to Prepare Students for State Assessments, Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sue Lockwood Summers told CA: "As a teacher and library media specialist, I have always observed the actions and attitudes of students that are directly related to media messages. Twenty years ago I developed a graduate course for teachers titled ‘The Effects of the Mass Media on Children.’ As I read and researched this topic, I discovered media literacy: the application of critical thinking to the messages of the media. I attended an international conference on media literacy in Canada in 1991. This experience was life-changing! After this event, I developed a graduate course for teachers on media literacy. As I taught this course, it became evident that there was a need for a basic book of media literacy activities for K-12 students. I wrote Media Alert! 200 Activities to Create Media-Savvy Kids in 1997.

"In 1999 I coauthored Changing the World through Media Education, aimed at teachers in grades four through eight and high school. I have spoken at schools, parent-teacher events, churches, and educational conferences on the topic of integrating media literacy into existing K-12 curricula.

"In 2005 I published Get Them Thinking! Use Media Literacy to Prepare Students for State Assessments. There is an urgent need to infuse media literacy training into all subject areas in all schools. I am thrilled to be part of this effort."