Curated OER
Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press
Students use library or online resources to create time lines on the life of Johannes Gutenberg and tell the impact his invention, the printing press, had on the development of newspapers.
Curated OER
Media Coverage
Students research news coverage to examine how a local issue does not receive fair attention in the news. In this new coverage instructional activity, students discuss where they get their information and why some issues are ignored....
Media Smarts
The Newspaper Front Page
Hot off the presses! A perfect instructional activity idea for a journalism class or even a language arts class looking to incorporate some informational texts. Young writers analyze the front pages of various newspapers to determine the...
Royal Conservatory of Music
The Anti-bullying Magazine
Get the word out about friendship, support, and a safe school community with a media literacy lesson about bullying. Young journalists investigate instances of bullying and take descriptive pictures as they compile a magazine to fight...
Curated OER
Presidential endorsements: Newspapers decide
Twelfth graders collect, organize, evaluate and synthesize information from multiple sources in order to draw logical conclusions. They communicate this information using appropriate social studies terminology in oral, written or...
Newseum
Today's Front Pages
Take a close look at a number of newspapers with collection of lessons and activities. Using a poster (which can be found under the materials tab), learners examine the hard copy of a local newspaper. This leads into an exploration of...
Curated OER
Keeping News Trustworthy
Students analyze media sources. In this media awareness lesson, students consider media outlets as businesses and discuss how they present information. Students keep media logs and analyze selected newspapers, magazines. or television...
Curated OER
Discussion: The Media
In this discussion about media worksheet, students participate in a discussion about different types of media.
Curated OER
Advertising
Young scholars explore the advantages/disadvantages of advertising and all it entails for the consumer. Public relations is examined in depth. In addition, media, slogans, promotion and elements of print and color are examined in detail.
Curated OER
The Electric Hearth
Students examine popular media. In this media awareness lesson plan, students keep logs of their interactions with media and then write an essay regarding the data.
Curated OER
Consider the Source
Young scholars explain how to critically compare news reporting from around the world, focusing on coverage of the Taliban regime. They compare and contrast television and print media reporting on the issue.
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
The Ad Campaign
Young scholars explore how political candidates use mass media to deliver their messages to voters. Focusing on specific issues in the upcoming election, students create television commercials representing different parties' views.
Curated OER
Current Events
Here is an ongoing activity intended to build interest in local, national, and world news. The class is divided into four groups of approximately five students each. The groups are responsible for monitoring the daily news. They compose...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Evaluating Online Sources
All sources are pretty much the same, right? If this is how your class views the sources they use for writing or research projects, present them with a media literacy lesson on smart source evaluation. Groups examine several articles,...
Curated OER
Now That's Beautiful!
Your class experiences dozens of messages about beauty every day by reading magazines, watching movies, and listening to the radio. Have them analyze society's view of beauty in groups after discussing several resources, including Dove's...
Curated OER
A Free and Open Press: Evaluating the Media
Students compare and critically evaluate the different media as sources of news, develop criteria for defining "news", experience the editorial process of selecting news stories and detect bias in news reporting.
Smarter Balanced
A New Kind of News
Newspapers and broadcast news. Social media, blogs, and blogospheres. Class members generate a list of news sources they use to get information about events. The big idea here is to introduce the necessary vocabulary and to establish a...
Curated OER
Staying Informed
Students identify the various ways the American public can stay informed on the news. In groups, they brainstorm reasons why the public should not stick to one source for their news. They use this information to examine their own current...
Newseum
Getting to the Source
Reliable news stories are based on facts from reliable sources. Young journalists learn how to evaluate the reliability of news sources by watching a short explainer video. Teams apply their new source-digging skills to a current news...
Curated OER
Citizens and the Media / Lesson : 3 Compare and Contrast Daily Newspapers for fact, opinion and bias
Young scholars compare and contrast a variety of daily newspapers in order to detect bias. They critically analyze the role the media plays in responsibly reporting government activities.
Curated OER
Electronic Media
Students compare forms of electronic media. They watch a news broadcast and take notes on the content being conveyed. After viewing the broadcast, they read newspaper articles or news magazines to locate articles with similar content to...
Curated OER
Surveying Our Media
Students participate in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of examining the use of media in society. They create surveys to measure the presence of the media in everyday life. The results are collected and represented in the...
Curated OER
Alternate Histories
Students create a mixed media collage. In this visual arts lesson plan, students look at the work of Jane Ash Poitras. They create their own collage that shows their personal and collective history and experiences.