Southern Poverty Law Center
Analyzing How Words Communicate Bias
Words are powerful ... can your class choose them wisely? Scholars evaluate news articles to discover the concepts of tone, charge, and bias during a media literacy lesson. The resource focuses on recognizing implicit information and...
Curated OER
Media Literacy Analyzed
Fourth and fifth graders define the term media literacy, then come up with examples that they share with the class. The types of media studied are auditory, visual, and written. Learners get together in pairs and perform a media...
Curated OER
Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media
Children have rights! Exploring those rights and using media to express those rights is the focus of this Media Awareness Network lesson. Although some of the law links reflect the Canadian Articles of The Convention, the majority of the...
English Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Identifying Persuasion in Media Literacy
As part of a study of media literacy, groups examine advertisements from Money, Fortune, The New Yorker, or Good Housekeeping and identify the types of rhetorical appeals used in the ads. After groups present their findings, the whole...
Museum of Tolerance
Developing Media Literacy
To protect young people from questionable content, many schools limit access. This resource suggests that because learners can so readily avail themselves to unrestricted Internet access, it is vital for 21st century learners to develop...
Ontario
Lesson Plan for Media Literacy
Fourth graders analyze posters that communicate an "active living" message, otherwise known as a public service announcement. Children identify techniques that are used in creating media texts including topic, purpose, and...
Media Smarts
How to Analyze the News
Teach kids how to watch television, specifically the news, with this creative idea for learners of all ages from the Media Awareness Network. The elementary school plan focuses on presenting news as a story and uses Jon Scieszka's story...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 12
Marc Chagall's painting Romeo and Juliet and Baz Lurhmann's film of the same scene in Romeo + Juliet allow class members to analyze how artists consider the same subject in different media.
PBS
What Is Newsworthy?
What is news? What is newsworthy? Who decides and what criteria do they use? Introduce young journalists to the basics of reporting with this media literacy lesson.
Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
Media Smarts
Gender Messages in Alcohol Advertising
Make your students critical consumers of media, and foster an awareness of how culture is reflected and shaped by media. This resource covers how alcohol advertising presents and promotes gender stereotypes. After a discussion on...
profitt.gatech.edu
Effective Communication: Listening, Speaking, Writing, Interpreting
Help young learners become active listeners and strong public speakers with a set of activities that range from paraphrasing, to discussions, and self-reflection. Additionally, the lessons address social media skills and non-verbal...
American Press Institute
Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...
Curated OER
Miscast and Seldom Seen
Consider how well high schoolers' favorite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of society. The instructional activity introduces your class to several media literacy concepts, such as how media conveys values and...
Curated OER
Television News
Different media sources portray news in a variety of ways. In groups of three, learners look at different news sources, bringing in all the findings the next day. Three handouts help scholars compare sources, define specific terms used...
Media Smarts
Perceptions of Youth and Crime
Explore the potential for bias in the news and in scholars' own attitudes and opinions. Begin with a quiz on youth crime to see how learners perceive crime among their peers. After looking at the correct answers, put individuals in...
Curated OER
Radio News
Part of a larger unit from the Media Awareness Network on media literacy, this particular lesson plan focuses on the medium of news radio. Small groups participate in discussions on their radio listening habits as well as the...
News Literacy Project
News Judges
Order in the court! Scholars act as news judges, learning how to analyze the newsworthiness of several pieces of information. Working in small groups, they determine which events are most newsworthy and then complete graphic organizers...
Odell Education
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 8
American women have been working toward equal rights since the ink dried on the Declaration of Independence. Focused on the words and actions of Sojourner Truth, Shirley Chisholm, and Venus Williams, a language arts lesson takes eighth...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.2
What are diverse media formats? Have your class figure this out on their own through small-group brainstorming. The resource includes two related activities about different kinds of data that will help your class get a grasp of media...
SEN Teacher
Literacy Dice
Reinforce literacy skills using a six-sided die that focuses on phonics and story starters. Scholars roll, and show what they know about blends, plots, and more!
News Literacy Project
Story Explorers: Evaluate News Coverage
What makes an issue or event newsworthy? Scholars complete a K-W-H-L chart based on a recent news event. As they complete the chart, small groups collaborate to analyze coverage of the story or event.
Curated OER
Reality Media?
Yeah, but is it real? Clips from the famous documentary film series 56 UP launches an examination of the differences between reality television and documentaries. After considering the characteristics of each format, class members...
Curated OER
The Function of Music
Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks young scholars to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible...