In 2005, the author and several colleagues were awarded a five-year grant to create the Center of Excellence for the Advancement of New Literacies in Middle Grades at the College of Charleston. From 2006-2011, they have worked collaboratively with over 200 middle school teachers in underperforming local schools to assist them in stimulating their content area instruction with media literacy, and specifically with new literacies practices that include three components: (1) a broadened definition of reading and of text, which includes both print and non-print sources, and is built upon developing literacies that address reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and designing; (2) a sociocultural perspective of literacy that builds upon connections between learners' interests, identities, and texts they choose; and (3) uses of pop culture and digital technologies salient to learners' lives. This essay discusses some changes in media literacy education over the past decade including the acknowledgment of multiple literacies and increasingly "participatory" media cultures.