Media Smarts
The Impact of Gender Role Stereotypes
One of three lessons on gender stereotype, this resource from the Media Awareness Network discusses the violence that is inflicted on men and women as they try to live up to the stereotypes of their gender. The section on women focuses...
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Favorite Sports and Athletes: an Introduction to Sports Media
Even young children watch sports and like team logos and products. It's never too early to think critically about what's onscreen. This exercise develops awareness that media communicate values (i.e. who participates in sports and who...
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Understanding Stereotypes
Pupils confront age-related stereotypes, explore how stereotyping impacts their lives, and discuss how they can make changes to reduce over-generalizations, unfair assumptions, and critical judgments about people groups. They use a...
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Stargirl Lesson
Students read a short novel while filling in a graphic organizer for problem and solution. In this sociology lesson, students use a prior knowledge and relate the text to theirselves and to think about their own need to fit in versus...
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Arbitrary Arrangements: Daniel Sprick's Release Your Plans
Students investigate abstract artists as storytellers. In this art analysis instructional activity, students observe the small details in the painting called "Release Your Plans" by Daniel Sprick. Students collaborate in groups to...
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Make a Time Capsule
In this making a time capsule worksheet, students collect a variety of family items to place in a container to be buried and then reopened in a year. Students write why what they chose to bury was important to them on the lines provided.
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Physical Challenge Activity Cards and Parent Letter
For this study of physical challenges and inventions worksheet, students take a letter home to their families explaining that they will be studying the affects of physical challenges and inventions that aid people who live with them....
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A Poem About Sadness
In this emotional health activity, students explore the feelings of sadness, grief and loss by first reading and decorating a poem which states that it is all right to feel sad. Students color emotion pictures and discuss as a group why...
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How Are My Social Skills?
An outstanding activity on social skills is here for you. This four-page activity poses 25 skills for learners to consider, and rate themselves on using a 1 - 5 scale. At the bottom of the sheet, they must choose five skills they feel...
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Proving (a Theorem) and Disproving (a Theory)
As a cross-curricular instructional activity, your class examines the issues of gender discrimination, careers, and gender roles. They read and discuss an article, prepare a proof of the Pythagorean theorem as a class, and develop a...
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Student Opinion: Are You Popular, Quirky or Conformist?
Approach the topic of popularity with this resource from the New York Times and their Learning Network series. The article is about Alexandra Robbins' "Quirk Theory." Learners respond to the article excerpt either on paper or online....
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Student Opinion: How Far Would You Go for Fashion?
Is being uncomfortable worth it if you look good? Inspire discussion about fashion and culture with a brief New York Times article about painful fashion. Whether used as a persuasive essay prompt or as a discussion starter, class members...
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Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics
Is trickery ever justified? Is it okay to steal from someone who has stolen from you? Puss, from Puss in Boots, and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, might have some ideas about these ethical questions. After listening to a series of...
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Fears and Phobias
Take the fear out of reading with this series of three lessons from HotWire Magazine about fears and phobias. Each lesson plan contains pre-reading and post-reading activities aimed at improving learners' reading comprehension skills...
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Analyzing the Language of Presidential Debates
Scholars assess how word choice and linguistic patterns affect a presidential debate. They examine candidates' words for repetition and analyze what this repetition means. Then they locate countries that fit the expression free world. In...
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Young People and Television
Middle schoolers explore communication by participating in a role playing lesson. In this media analysis lesson, students answer surveys about their own television watching habits and compare them to the rest of the class. Middle...
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Understanding Other People's Decisions
Students analyze people's choices from different points of view. They read different scenarios and explain how they would react personally in that situation. Then they analyze what they would do in another character's position and...
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Looking Into the Mirror
Learners survey the impact of racial, cultural, and/or socio-economic intolerance in their own lives in relation to other individuals. They develop written and oral proposals to solve inequality and intolerance on a local, state,...
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Teaching Peace through Literature and Song
Negative effects of bullying come to light through listening to the book Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. Class members identify philanthropic acts portrayed in the story and make illustrations to connect them to their own...
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Gender Roles: Exposing Stereotypes
A series of activities help middle- and high-schoolers identify and explore gender stereotypes and how they can lead to violence and abuse. Use think-pair-share to activate whole class brainstorming about what it means to "be a man" and...
Media Smarts
Marketing to Teens: Gender Roles in Advertising
Young learners explore gender roles in advertising by taking an ad campaign they have seen which is specifically directed to one gender, and redesigning the campaign to target the opposite gender. After leading a guided discussion about...
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Let's Make Bullying Stop
In this bullying prevention worksheet, students read detailed informative hints on what to do if faced with this problem. Ideas about how to handle various situations are included in this handout designed for older elementary students.
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October: Respect for Self and Others
Students realize their worth and dignity as human beings and account for their strengths as well as display their weaknesses. They display good manners and politeness, showing the respect for others as they would wish for themselves....
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Gender, Sex, and Slavery
While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...