Curated OER
Media Babies
What is a media baby? Discuss at what age children should be exposed to electronic media. After reading an article, they identify the types of media products for infants and toddlers. Learners will predict the effects of media on the...
Citizens Crime Commission of New York City
A Student’s Guide to Using Social Media Safely
While the kids in your class tap quickly on their electronic devices to stay in touch with their peers, they may not know the consequences of online social lives. Take them through a discussion about potential downfalls of a social media...
Rockefeller Archive Center
Understanding Mass Media News
In an age of fake news and photoshopped images, it is vital that 21st century learners development the skills they need to evaluate mass media and assess its validity. A great way to launch such a study is with a carefully crafted lesson...
PBS
The Media and the War: The Penny Press, Walt Whitman and the War
The Mexican-American war marked a significant moment in United States history, as well as in the history of American media. The mid-nineteenth century saw the introduction of the Penny Press, which provided many American citizens with...
ReadWriteThink
Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
Commercial advertising—we can't get away from it, but do we realize just how often we are being advertised to? With this lesson, scholars analyze mass media to identify how its techniques influence our daily lives. Learners browse...
Museum of Tolerance
Influence of Media
We are bombarded with media images expressly designed to influence viewers. Learning how to analyze the intended effects of these images is essential and the focus of an activity that asks viewers to use the provided questions to guide...
Curated OER
Media Timeline
Young scholars complete a media campaign worksheet about the awareness of people with disabilities. In this disabilities lesson plan, students write a campaign to reduce fear when making people aware of disabilities.
Curated OER
Media Timeline
Students study websites about the media and disabilities and identify places on a timeline where the media has influenced society with disabilities. In this disabilities lesson plan, students make a large timeline out of craft paper as a...
Curated OER
How the Media Uses Polling Data in Presidential Election Coverage
Students research and analyze polling data in journalism. They discuss reasons that polling data is included in media coverage of presidential elections.
Curated OER
Is Social Media a Trustworthy News Outlet?
Examine the role of social media in social and political uprisings. Pupils listen to NPR audio clips about social media and the Arab Spring and read an article that proposes the idea that revolution will not happen through social media....
Curated OER
How are People Portrayed by Different Media?
Your 9th - 12th graders can hone their analysis and critical thinking skills by studying the way a subject is portrayed across media types. They examine how various print, visual, and online sources have portrayed key players in the 9/11...
Curated OER
Disability in the Media
Young scholars look at websites about Down Syndrome and respond to how the media has impacted this disability on society. For this Down Syndrome lesson plan, students respond to different situations on worksheets.
Curated OER
Media Literacy
Elementary learners observe and discuss advertisements for tobacco and alcohol. They identify how advertisers place information in strategic spots and make their product look good. They choose an ad and fill out the attached form on...
The New York Times
Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning about Fake News
The framers of the United States Constitution felt a free press was so essential to a democracy that they granted the press the protection it needed to hold the powerful to account in the First Amendment. Today, digital natives need to...
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Roles
Social media has changed the news publishing process, so how does it affect school news publications? Lesson nine in a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox explores the traditional publishing roles through the lens of social...
The New York Times
Crossing the Line Online: Sexual Harassment and Violence in the Age of Social Media - NYTimes.com
Sexual harassment and sexual violence are by no means new issues. What has changed is the role of social media in these issues. This powerful and troubling instructional activity uses a specific rape case to launch research into a...
Curated OER
Using Print Media in the LCTL Classroom
Explore newspapers as a form of print media. They examine headlines from newspapers and infer meanings of the headlines. They skim articles for information and exchange articles between groups. They complete charts while skimming the...
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Usage
Is there a difference in the way organizations present news via social media and in print? The third in a series of 16 lessons from The Social Media Toolbox explores news outlets and their delivery methods. Groups follow a story for a...
Curated OER
American Media: Addicted to Scandal?
Students examine media coverage of George W. Bush's refusal to answer questions regarding past illegal drug usage in the 1999 campaign. They consider the role of rumor, scandal, audience and relevance in political media coverage.
ReadWriteThink
Defining Literacy in a Digital World
What skills are necessary to interact with different types of text? Twenty-first century learners live in a digital world and must develop a whole new set of skills to develop media literacy. Class members engage in a series of...
EngageNY
Analyzing a Speaker’s Purpose and Motives of a Media Excerpt
Middle schoolers listen to a media clip of a teacher-selected speech and analyze it for speaker's purpose using a Speaker’s Purpose graphic organizer. Pupils pair up to discuss their completed organizers and add any new information they...
PBS
Technology: Conveniences and Consequences
It's a delicate balance—using technology to improve our lives while still protecting the environment, and ourselves, from the hazards of technology use. Class members examine statistics about the increase in media use, complete a survey...
Curated OER
Columbine Tapes: The Media's Right To Know
Learners research the Columbine tragedy. They read about the media role of watchdog on the government. Students discuss and debate how the media has been involved in the latest release of Columbine videos and other material.
Nemours KidsHealth
Media Literacy and Health: Grades 9-12
An essential skill for 21st-century learners is to know how to find reliable sources of information. Two activities help high schoolers learn how to determine the reliability of health-related news from websites, TV, magazines, or...