Despite the prevalence and ubiquity of media in North American culture, educators still show reluctance to embrace media literacy as a necessary literacy. This study examines two media literacy activities using descriptive teacher research, and defining usefulness based on student response and applicability to composition objectives in the English 1101 classroom. Both lessons produce useful findings, with students rating the second activity as more useful than the first activity. This research lends sample assignments and confidence to instructors seeking to employ simple media literacy tactics in the introductory composition classroom.