Curated OER
Television Newscasts
When we watch news broadcasts on television, we receive a much more visual perspective than when we read the newspaper. How do sets, clothing, and music contribute to our understanding of the story? Compare American and Canadian news...
Media Smarts
Teaching TV: Enjoying Television
What makes a TV program enjoyable? As an introduction to media analysis, kids identify their favorite programs and the elements they find engaging.
Media Smarts
Teaching TV: Television Techniques
As part of a five-lesson unit on how television uses technology and film techniques to communicate meaning, elementary students create their own media productions that demonstrate their understanding of these concepts.
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...
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 plan, scholars analyze mass media to identify how its techniques influence our daily lives. Learners browse...
Curated OER
Who Pays for My Favorite Television Program?
Ninth graders analyze media messages. In this media messages lesson, 9th graders identify techniques in television commercials that appeal to the senses and emotions. Students analyze the elements in example ads. Students keep journals...
Curated OER
Crime Drama Teaching Units
Investigate the nature of crime dramas on television. What exactly are they trying to portray? Questions and a comparison chart support learners as they watch shows from Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. An oral presentation...
Media Awareness Network
Images of Learning: Elementary
Tired of 20-somethings portraying high school students? Tired of athletes and principals always being the villains? Class members examine the student and teacher stereotypes presented TV shows and films that are et in schools.
DocsTeach
Challenger Explosion Photograph Analysis
Young historians turn into detectives in a thought-provoking activity on the Challenger Explosion. The activity uses an image of President Reagan watching the Challenger explode on live TV to help academics practice historical analysis....
Global Oneness Project
The Value of Ancient Traditions
Imagine having to give up cell phones, computers, and TV? What would be lost? What gained? An examination of the Drokpa, a nomadic people who live in the grasslands of Tibet, provides class members an opportunity to consider how access...
Curated OER
Being an Educated Consumer of Statistics
Young scholars examine kinds of data used to report statistics, and create their own statistical report based on any of the four sources of media information (Internet, newspaper, TV, magazine).
Curated OER
Information Overload: Looking at News
How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...
Curated OER
Children's Media and Censorship
High schoolers form opinions about children and television censorship after analyzing literature. They complete a journal writing activity to identify the topic and make a list of inappropriate television shows for children. Next, they...
Nemours KidsHealth
Sportsmanship: Grades 9-12
The increasing number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, red cards, and ejections from games points out the need for activities that help young people recognize behaviors that exemplify good sportsmanship. For homework, class members...
Curated OER
Smart Snacking Ideas
Educate parents on obesity prevention using these discussion points, specifically geared toward families of preschoolers. You will need to add to this, as it is mostly an outline of topics and objectives. Concepts include healthy...
Curated OER
Miscast and Seldom Seen
Consider how well young scholars' favorite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of society. The lesson introduces your class to several media literacy concepts, such as how media conveys values and messages, as well as...
Curated OER
Respect
Investigate "respect" with your class. They will participate in a think/share activity in which they complete sentence starters about their personal experience with "respect." Then they view a video clip in which Holocaust survivors...
Curated OER
9/11 Backlash: Being Muslim In America
Discover the experience of being Muslim in America. In this diversity lesson, watch "9/11 Backlash: Being Muslim in America," and research how Muslims are portrayed in American television and movies. Debate the media portrayal of Muslims.
Curated OER
Careers in science and careers that support scientific research
Examine some of the occupations which relate to science. Work in small groups of four. Group A is given a copy of a daily television guide to highlight all the television programs that have a science or mathematics focus. Group B is...
American Physiological Society
Sit On It
How do product designers come up with the variety of things we see in stores and on TV every day? They identify a need, then create something that meets that need. Sounds simple, right? A two-week lesson puts seventh graders in...
Penguin Books
Using Thirteen Reasons Why in the Classroom
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher helps bring difficult, but important, topics such as suicide and bullying into the classroom. An educator's guide for the novel provides activities and discussion questions to help teens explore the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Clique
Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...
Curated OER
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...
Curated OER
Islamic Faith and Discrimination
After the events on 9/11 many Muslim-Americans experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity and faith. Help break the cycle of ignorance by educating your young scholars on the history, religion, and beliefs of a different...