Anti-Defamation League
Stereotypes of Girls and Women in the Media
A two-part instructional activity has scholars researching the stereotypes in portraying women and girls in the media and the impact of these representations. To conclude the instructional activity, participants write a letter of praise...
Media Smarts
Bias in News Sources
As young consumers of media, it is important for high schoolers to explore concepts of bias and prejudice, and how they may be present in media. After discussing ideological messages that media can contain, individuals complete a warm-up...
Institute for Humane Education
Not So Fair and Balanced: Analyzing Bias in the Media
Life is not always fair. Who's heard that before? This same concept moves to a larger scale using prejudice and bias. Pupils discuss where prejudice attitudes derive and how they develop throughout life. Reading comprehension...
Social Media Toolbox
Reporting with Social Media
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...
Facing History and Ourselves
Citizen Watchdogs and the News
To conclude their case study of media coverage of the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, class members consider the role of citizen watchdogs in a democratic society, develop strategies for combating...
Curated OER
Bias and Crime in Media
Critical thinking and social justice are central themes for this resource on bias and crime in media. The class views and discusses an incisive PSA that highlights assumptions based on race. Small groups read newspaper opinion pieces...
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...
Ontario
Critical Literacy—Media Texts
Media texts convey both overt and implied messages. As part of their study of media, class members analyze the language, form, techniques, and aesthetics in a variety of media texts.
Curated OER
Understanding the Influence of the Media
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.
Curated OER
Fighting Fake News
Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...
Nemours KidsHealth
Media Literacy and Health: What’s the Truth?
In this personal health media literacy worksheet, students use the eight questions on this sheet to evaluate a health news report on television. Students write paragraphs the determine whether the reports are valid sources of information.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Analyzing How Words Communicate Bias
Words are powerful ... can your class choose them wisely? Scholars evaluate news articles to discover the concepts of tone, charge, and bias during a media literacy lesson. The resource focuses on recognizing implicit information and...
Curated OER
Beyond Media Messages: Media Portrayal of Global Issues
Take a close look at news reporting techniques and global issues. Begin by creating a graphic representation of developing nations and defining the term. After class discussion, the second day's activities pick up by deconstructing news...
Crabtree Publishing
Why Does Media Literacy Matter?
Criticism of news and entertainment journalism is at an all-time high. Help 21st-century learners develop the media literacy skills they need to become critical consumers with a three-lesson guide the looks at persuasive techniques used...
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...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Analyzing Gender Stereotypes in Media
Why might toy advertisers use gender stereotypes to sell their products? Young people think critically about media messages and its role in gender stereotyping with a thought-provoking activity.
Facing History and Ourselves
How Journalists Minimize Bias
Class members are challenged to write a neutral news story about the events they observe in a short video. After sharing their stories in groups and discussing the different perceptions, the class concludes with a video of...
Curated OER
News Journalism Across the Media: Introduction
Although students 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 valuable...
Media Smarts
How to Analyze the News
Teach kids how to watch television, specifically the news, with this creative idea for learners of all ages from the Media Awareness Network. The elementary school plan focuses on presenting news as a story and uses Jon Scieszka's story...
Newseum
The Press and the Presidency: Friend or Foe? How the President Is Portrayed
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...
Newseum
Bias Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...
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...
iCivics
Propaganda: What’s the Message?
As class members progress through eight fully prepared learning stations, they will identify how bias is present in persuasive media, as well as differentiate among types of propaganda techniques like bandwagon propaganda and the...
Learning for Justice
Beauty is Skin Deep
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...