Useful Books
Some recommendations by colleagues...
'These are the ones I have bought this past year (I am a bookaholic so tend to buy more than I need):
1. "Key Concepts & Skills for Media Studies" Vivienne Clark, James Baker, Eileen Lewis isbn 978-0-340-80784-2.
This is a readable/useable book for Post-16 which I have used in preparation for teaching A Level in September.
2. "Studying The Media" Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Dutton, Philip Rayner isbn 0-340-80765-2.
Another Post-16 book which is a little dated but still useful for someone on a steep learning curve - nice glossary.
3. "AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" Rayner, Wall, Kruger isbn 0-415-32966-3.
I like the style of this book - an easy read.
4. "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" Bennett, Slater, Wall isbn 0-415-34768-8.
I bought this because I liked the AS book.
5. "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Revision Guide for AQA" Barker and Wall isbn 0-415-36566-x.
Bought for the same reason as the other 2 above.
6. "Media and Meaning an Introduction" Stewart, Lavelle, Kowaltzke isbn 0-85170-843-9.
A recent purchase that I have not read yet, but I have skimmed it and it isn't as easy to read as the others (not that that is a reason for it not being good - just dont think I can spend the time on it.)
7. "Media Studies for GCSE: Teacher Resource" Peter Wall
I have found useful in my first year of teaching Media. I hope I don't sound like a Pete Wall fan but I do like his style and for someone new to the teaching of media I have found it a safety blanket.'
by Sharon Macdonald-Armitage
Just a word of caution - whilst the 'Essential' books cited above are really very goog they are strongly geared up to the current AQA specifications and I am not sure how useful they will still be following the spec changes that are soon to be published.
"The Media Students Book" Branston and Stafford
This is also very good. I supposed it is pitched more at under graduate level and therefore does not seemed tied to a spec.
by Josie Evans
I have a few that I have found very useful.
1. The Media Teacher's Book - Julian Mcdougall
This generally tries to cover a bit of everything and it not based towards one board.
2. For OCR - A2 Media Studies for OCR (and AS version) both by Jacqueline Bennett and Tanya Jones.
These are the student books and cover all the OCR topics but contain good case studies on a variety of topics.
3. Film Art (An introduction) - David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
Everything you need to know about film with case studies. (This book is on about every uni reading list for film based courses!)
4. How to Study Television - Keith Selby and Ron Cowdery.
Goes through every genre of TV and what to look for.
by Karen Latto
A lot of the Auteur books, though not text books as such, are very useful (particularly for new teachers)
by Bazzie
A good "easy to read" starter book is "Media Studies: An Introduction by Brian Dutton" or "Studying the Media: An Introduction" by O'Sullivan, Dutton and Rayner. They keep revising this to keep it up to date and it is very visual, so easy to flip through with some great, clear explanations. I used it extensively in my first year of Media teaching as a basis for my own materials and as a basis from which to create lesson plans.
I then "graduated" to Rayner, Wall and Kruger, "AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" and then its sister book: "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" by Peter Bennett, Jerry Slater, Peter Wall. There is now a revision version of each of these for pupils.
Philip Allan publish a series of booklets for AQA AS and A2 Media Studies. Each booklet covers a unit, including example exam questions and exemplar responses.
Although not strictly a “publication”, the AQA website has all past papers and mark schemes, together with detailed comments on each and every question from the senior examiner. These include details of the types of texts which worked well, (and those that were less successful) for responses. Free to download, these are definitely invaluable teaching tools.
It’s not yet published, but Nelson Thornes Publishing and AQA are working together to produce fairly extensive looking support material for the new A level syllabus.
As we've said before, I do think that buying a set of textbooks for media lessons isn't the best use of money, as the shelf-life of media books is fairly brief. Exam boards want “contemporary”, so although the ideas in them can be useful, any examples can quickly become out of date.
by Caroline Bagshaw
The BFI produce a range of resources to support the teaching of Post-16 Film & Media Studies courses.
Teaching Film and Media Studies
I've also got "Analysing Media Texts" by Gillespie and Toynbee Open University Press 0335218865 which comes with a nice interactive DVD - mainly AS / Teachers, I would say.
by Keith Langton
'These are the ones I have bought this past year (I am a bookaholic so tend to buy more than I need):
1. "Key Concepts & Skills for Media Studies" Vivienne Clark, James Baker, Eileen Lewis isbn 978-0-340-80784-2.
This is a readable/useable book for Post-16 which I have used in preparation for teaching A Level in September.
2. "Studying The Media" Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Dutton, Philip Rayner isbn 0-340-80765-2.
Another Post-16 book which is a little dated but still useful for someone on a steep learning curve - nice glossary.
3. "AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" Rayner, Wall, Kruger isbn 0-415-32966-3.
I like the style of this book - an easy read.
4. "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" Bennett, Slater, Wall isbn 0-415-34768-8.
I bought this because I liked the AS book.
5. "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Revision Guide for AQA" Barker and Wall isbn 0-415-36566-x.
Bought for the same reason as the other 2 above.
6. "Media and Meaning an Introduction" Stewart, Lavelle, Kowaltzke isbn 0-85170-843-9.
A recent purchase that I have not read yet, but I have skimmed it and it isn't as easy to read as the others (not that that is a reason for it not being good - just dont think I can spend the time on it.)
7. "Media Studies for GCSE: Teacher Resource" Peter Wall
I have found useful in my first year of teaching Media. I hope I don't sound like a Pete Wall fan but I do like his style and for someone new to the teaching of media I have found it a safety blanket.'
by Sharon Macdonald-Armitage
Just a word of caution - whilst the 'Essential' books cited above are really very goog they are strongly geared up to the current AQA specifications and I am not sure how useful they will still be following the spec changes that are soon to be published.
"The Media Students Book" Branston and Stafford
This is also very good. I supposed it is pitched more at under graduate level and therefore does not seemed tied to a spec.
by Josie Evans
I have a few that I have found very useful.
1. The Media Teacher's Book - Julian Mcdougall
This generally tries to cover a bit of everything and it not based towards one board.
2. For OCR - A2 Media Studies for OCR (and AS version) both by Jacqueline Bennett and Tanya Jones.
These are the student books and cover all the OCR topics but contain good case studies on a variety of topics.
3. Film Art (An introduction) - David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
Everything you need to know about film with case studies. (This book is on about every uni reading list for film based courses!)
4. How to Study Television - Keith Selby and Ron Cowdery.
Goes through every genre of TV and what to look for.
by Karen Latto
A lot of the Auteur books, though not text books as such, are very useful (particularly for new teachers)
by Bazzie
A good "easy to read" starter book is "Media Studies: An Introduction by Brian Dutton" or "Studying the Media: An Introduction" by O'Sullivan, Dutton and Rayner. They keep revising this to keep it up to date and it is very visual, so easy to flip through with some great, clear explanations. I used it extensively in my first year of Media teaching as a basis for my own materials and as a basis from which to create lesson plans.
I then "graduated" to Rayner, Wall and Kruger, "AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" and then its sister book: "A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction" by Peter Bennett, Jerry Slater, Peter Wall. There is now a revision version of each of these for pupils.
Philip Allan publish a series of booklets for AQA AS and A2 Media Studies. Each booklet covers a unit, including example exam questions and exemplar responses.
Although not strictly a “publication”, the AQA website has all past papers and mark schemes, together with detailed comments on each and every question from the senior examiner. These include details of the types of texts which worked well, (and those that were less successful) for responses. Free to download, these are definitely invaluable teaching tools.
It’s not yet published, but Nelson Thornes Publishing and AQA are working together to produce fairly extensive looking support material for the new A level syllabus.
As we've said before, I do think that buying a set of textbooks for media lessons isn't the best use of money, as the shelf-life of media books is fairly brief. Exam boards want “contemporary”, so although the ideas in them can be useful, any examples can quickly become out of date.
by Caroline Bagshaw
The BFI produce a range of resources to support the teaching of Post-16 Film & Media Studies courses.
Teaching Film and Media Studies
I've also got "Analysing Media Texts" by Gillespie and Toynbee Open University Press 0335218865 which comes with a nice interactive DVD - mainly AS / Teachers, I would say.
by Keith Langton
Updated: 23rd August 2007
