What does it take to create news stories that are both informative and objective? Aspiring journalists walk the line between engagement and activism with lesson 15 of a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox. Grouped pupils...

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—are they good for society? Pupils prepare for a class debate in which they voice their opinions on the issue. They read the main pro and con arguments, explore others' opinions, view videos, and discover the...

Critically analyze advertising techniques, such as circular reasoning, bandwagon, testimonial, and repetition, with worksheets that effectively discuss and illustrate how the media aims to influence.

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...

Sure to activate young minds, this resource asks learners to consider how media influences their personal points of view. Pupils examine how animals are portrayed in the media to understand why they feel the way they do about those...

Although young scholars are aware of news as information that influences their perceptions of the world, they are often unaware of the various ways to present that information. Encourage them to investigate, discuss, analyze and make...

In theory, news reports should be fair and unbiased. Young journalists test this theory by selecting a current news story covered by various media outlets about the President of the United States. They then locate and analyze five...

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...

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...

Students analyze representation of teenagers in the news and other media, discuss importance of media literacy in interpreting media portrayals of reality, and discuss and write about accuracy, or lack thereof, of media images of young...

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...

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...

Students analyze mass media to analyze media bias. In this media bias lesson, students read example situations and definitions about media bias. Students read and discuss how to be aware of media bias.

High schoolers identify various forms of media used in a political campaign and compare the different formats as vehicles for distributing political messages. They analyze the effectiveness of candidate's uses of different media.

One picture but a thousand stories. As a part of a case study of how the death of Michael Brown was reported by professional news sources and on social media class members examine the reactions of various groups to a photograph taken by...

Students investigate the process of making a newspaper using children's literature to create context for the lesson. The readers are asked to predict the events of the story as it is read to them. Then the teacher uses guided questions...

Seventh graders discuss the main purposes of media. Using various advertisements, they identify the method used by the advertisers in each example. They use these methods to create and sell their own product to the class. They use the...

Election years provide the opportunity to evaluate news media as well as the next prospective president. High schoolers read about the same event in several different news sources, varying in type, origin, and political leaning,...

Ninth graders investigate the country of Canada by examining their media in this geography lesson plan. They use the Internet to research Canadian newspapers and analyze a topic covered by both US and Canadian media sources. After...

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...

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...

Students examine popular media. In this media awareness lesson, students keep logs of their interactions with media and then write an essay regarding the data.

Students 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.

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...