Media Smarts
Images of Learning: Secondary
Make your scholars more aware of stereotypical portrayals in film and television. Discuss the definition of "stereotypes" and how they are used to present a story. High schoolers look at specific television shows and complete a chart...
Media Smarts
Violence on Film: The Ratings Game
Learn about film and TV ratings systems in Canada (includes a comparison to the MPAA system) and how they influence appropriate viewing for youths. A detailed commentary about the film Seven pointed at revealing flaws in ratings systems...
Media Smarts
Thinking About Television and Movies
As part of their study of the influence of TV and films, class members consider how music, lighting, costumes, camera angles, etc. are used to influence the response of viewers.
Media Smarts
Cinema Cops
A study of how public perception is both reflected and influenced by film and television, this instructional activity helps students develop an awareness of audience as well as a critical view of media. Depictions of police in television...
Curated OER
Journeys: A Common Core State Standards Unit for A Wrinkle in Time and Companion Texts
You won't find any wrinkles in your instruction with this unit guide on Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. The 34-page document includes everything from instructional questions and learning tasks aligned to Common Core...
Curated OER
Young People and Television
Students 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. Students complete...
Media Smarts
Teaching TV: Television Techniques
As part of a five-instructional activity unit on how television uses technology and film techniques to communicate meaning, elementary young scholars create their own media productions that demonstrate their understanding of these concepts.
Curated OER
Queen Min
The Empress Myeongseong is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to examine a historical record and a first-hand account of one of Korea's most intrepid and controversial women.
Curated OER
Reality Film
Students propose and create documentary films depicting a slice of "ordinary" life that reveals something unique or surprising about its subject. They, in groups, make films and present them to the school.
Curated OER
Film, Book And TV Reviews
In this film, book and TV review learning exercise, students after watching a film, reading a book and viewing a TV show, fill out a form that includes the main characters, plot and story line of each.
Western Illinois University
Holocaust Unit Plan
Would it have been you? Scholars investigate the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II. They view, interpret, and analyze the video The Holocaust to gain insight into who exactly was impacted by the events Europe. They then...
Curated OER
Learning From World War II and Connecting It to the Present
Compare and contrast World War II to the modern Iraq war with this instructional activity. After watching a film, learners use supporting evidence to support their point of view of the conflicts. Using the internet, they create a...
Hot Docs
Docs for School: Viewing and Teaching Guide
Teaching documentary in your class? Inform your instruction with a guide meant to support teachers as they begin with documentary. The resource includes information on what a documentary is as well as documentary modes, elements, and...
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.
Film Education
The Jungle Book
Accompany a viewing of Disney's live-action feature film, The Jungle Book, with a packet equipped with several activities focused on story elements. Scholars discuss and complete diagrams and charts about the movie's characters, setting,...
Curated OER
General Lesson Plan for Documentary Lens
Use this general lesson guide to inform your instruction surrounding a documentary. The lesson is made up of five activities. The activities are intentionally general because they are designed to adapted for specific films. While the...
Curated OER
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: 'You Kiss by the Book'
High schoolers explore Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this analysis instructional activity, students recognize the use of poetic conventions as a principle of dramatic structure after analyzing the sonnetShakespeare created for the...
Curated OER
KS5 Film and Media Studies: Documentary
Students generate their own definition of documetary. They watch and discusss a series of extracts that demonstrate the breadth of the documentary form. Students create a defintion of the term documentary that takes into account the...
Curated OER
Understanding: Television
High schoolers discuss their experiences with television. They break into small groups and go through the steps of producing a television show themselves. Their presentations are made to the entire class.
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
Diversity in Media: Looking Critically at What We See
This learning experience fosters awareness of representations we see, and don't see, in the media. Learners list TV programs, games, and films they enjoy, identify characters' ethnic, religious, (dis)ability, and sexual orientation...
Curated OER
Western-Genre Films
Students watch westerns and analyze them. They identify the plot, characters and the sounds in the film. They research icons of the American west and prepare a presentation. They share their presentation with the class.
Film English
Serial Taxi
Explore the murder mystery genre through film, discussion, and writing. The plan features several activities centered around a two-minute video that include collaboration, writing, and prediction. After the lesson, individuals write...
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...