For grades 3-8!
New audio and video software will make media manipulations harder to detect. These essential media literacy questions can help.
Here's how you can help.
Virtual courses allowing educators to explore a relevant topic over 5–6 weeks. Participants actively engage with course materials and colleagues, expanding their own knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and developing customized educational resources.
With all the different information sources out there, media literacy is essential. Get tips for teaching your kids and students about this important topic.
Unlock media literacy in students with unique tips for teachers. Discover our Ontario curriculum-linked media literacy units for grades 1-8!
Tuesdays are the days that I plan with grade levels. We plan two weeks at a time and we have 90 minutes. Most of the time, it's actually pr...
Forms of media continue to grow each day. Equip your young learners with media literacy skills to help them be responsible and safe online!
It is really hard to find resources to teach media literacy to K-2 students! If you have a subscription to Brainpop, they do have an excellent video about media literacy. You can find it HERE. Another great resource is media smarts. They have several videos about media. You can find them HERE. After introducing media with these videos, we made flipbooks in our interactive notebooks that had all the media literacy notes we needed. We also completed a couple sorting worksheets to review the concepts. At the end of our unit we created posters and pamphlets to help to promote and sell our Market Day items. You can download all the media literacy pages HERE.
Even my students who “don’t have time” for homework spend 2-3 hours a day on Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix. Our students consume media in amazing quantities, and it’s said that traditional advertising doesn’t work on their generation. As advertisers become more and more savvy in an attempt to break through to their younger listeners, it’s important that students understand how to identify the ways in which a speaker could be manipulating their emotions and instincts. Here are some activities for helping students develop an awareness of persuasive techniques. You can use these to start a larger conversation about being an informed viewer (and citizen!) in today’s media-driven climate. 1. Introduction to Rhetoric Use this activity to introduce (or refresh) ethos, logos, and pathos. Students watch two videos and complete a Doodle Notes worksheet, eventually synthesizing the concepts. My students really enjoy watching these short, animated videos a couple of times in order to make sure they “get it”, and the Doodle Notes provide a nice visual to help them remember the important ideas! You can grab them here. 2. “Buy My Pencil” In this activity, students try to convince each other to buy a pencil. They will employ a variety of persuasive techniques, even if they do not yet have the names for all of them. This is because students absorb persuasion constantly, and demonstrate various techniques on a hunch. After a few minutes of letting them try to sell a partner their pencil, call students back together and have them describe the techniques they used. To extend this, you can have students perform these impromptu skits in front of a larger group or in front of the class. This is a great way to get some informal public speaking practice, and I’m always a proponent of making public speaking less intimidating. 3. Introduction to Persuasive Techniques I use this interactive PowerPoint will help students put names to the techniques they’ve grown up hearing and using. Students will be able to identify techniques in context and apply their knowledge of ethos, logos, and pathos. To break up the term-definition monotony, I have students “buzz in” to identify the techniques in some example ads. I also include Think-Pair-Share to get them to generate more examples of various techniques they’ve seen in recent commercials. 4. Persuasive Tweets A fun bellringer or exit slip activity for practicing persuasive techniques is Persuasive Tweets. In 140 characters or less, students can use one persuasive technique to sell something. I’ve had success giving all students one item (similar to “Buy My Pen”) and having them draw a persuasive technique from a hat. You can download my list of persuasive techniques for this activity here. 5. News Literacy Project The News Literacy Project is a new tool that I would like to integrate into my curriculum throughout the year to help students determine the credibility and levels of bias in various news reports. I’m still in the early stages of exploring this project, but they have online modules that take students through the steps of developing media literacy. According to their site, “As students progress through the checkology™ platform, journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, NBC News and other news outlets are joined by experts on the First Amendment and digital media to guide them through each lesson’s core concepts. These e-learning experiences use real-world examples of news and information that test students’ emerging skills and lead them to mastery.” This has huge potential to help our students become informed, discerning citizens! Wow! Share this post on Facebook! 6. Commercial Analysis Lastly, my students really enjoy applying their new knowledge to commercials! This is a perfect activity to use in this post-football time of the year. Students are still talking about commercials aired during the Super Bowl, and you can find a “top ten” list of commercials to bring to class (vetted first by you for content). Have students choose a commercial, and follow this step-by-step analysis of persuasive techniques. They can complete this alone or in pairs, and can present in small groups. For an added bonus, let them show the commercials in class. Persuasive Techniques are a great way to get students engaged and thinking. You can help develop their media literacy and challenge them to consider the incoming messages. Check out these great resources by other Coffee Shop authors: Logical Fallacies by The Daring English Teacher Media Literacy/Advertising Activities by Addie Williams Critical Analysis with Disney by Room 213 (blog post) Analyzing Music Videos by Stacey Lloyd What are your favorite resources and activities for teaching persuasive techniques? Pin this article for future reference. :)
Flashcards to use to get students talking about the news and the media. Easy to use and also included pair conversation questions about current events and the news. For ESL, EFL students or mainstream regular class students. See our full ebook Get Speaking flashcard prompts and discussion starters.
This blog post explores engaging resources, lessons, and activities for making media literacy relevant in the 21st-century classroom.
Media literacy is a key component to a good literacy program. Read about the top reasons about why teaching media literacy is important.
A persuasive writing and speaking activity for kids focused on identifying propaganda while watching TV.
Students answer questions in an informational poster to gauge the value of a news story and decide whether it deserves to be linked, shared or retweeted. (Poster also available for download in Spanish, Japanese and Ukrainian.)
Since switching over to working as an academic librarian at a community college, there’s a lot of focus on information literacy. It got me thinking, as a parent who has struggled to navigate parenting information, about ways that we can make that accessible to parents. For instance, while I was a children’s librarian, I felt it was important to address the vaccine issue by hosting a panel of health experts and discussing it with parents from an information/health literacy perspective. I made these two comics that cover some basic information literacy concepts. Hopefully, they are useful to your patrons, especially as people are navigating COVID-19 information. To read Michael Caufield’s ebook, click here. Lisa Nowlain is an artist and librarian. After working as a youth librarian at Darien Library and Nevada County Community Library, she now works at Sierra College as part-time faculty in the library. Tweet Share on FacebookShare...
Our students can access information in seconds, so we need to arm them with critical thinking skills and an understanding of the ethics of content creation.
Intended for the Grade 9 Media Literacy Unit. File hook, powerpoint lesson, and a cooperative learning activity. 1-2 classes to complete.
It is really hard to find resources to teach media literacy to K-2 students! If you have a subscription to Brainpop, they do have an excel...
Here's how you can help.
Students who meet the ISTE Standards for Students are able to critically select, evaluate and synthesize digital resources. Use this infographic to help them understand the difference between real & fake news.
Your students are vulnerable to the effects of advertising. Learn about how and why you should teach about advertising techniques.
Looking for a fun project where students create their own advertisements? Using the techniques used in advertising, students must create an ad and then justify their work by writing a paragraph explaining their choices. Excellent for a media awareness activity, media literacy unit, or a study on persuasive writing! Looking for a DIGITAL VERSION of this activity? CLICK HERE! Includes a two-page handout with 10 common advertising strategies listed, complete with examples and discussion prompts! Includes the following worksheets: lesson ideas detailed assignment sheet two-page handout/list of ad techniques with discussion prompts brainstorming/paragraph planner sheet writing paper comprehensive rubric My students really enjoy this assignment and love the creativity it allows them. *PLEASE NOTE - This resource is sold as a non-editable PDF. Part of my MEDIA LITERACY / ADVERTISING UNIT - Click the link below to check it out! Media Literacy and Advertising Pack (C) Addie Williams
Though many people are just paying attention to these problems now, they are not new – and they even date back to ancient Rome.
Ideas to help teach media literacy to students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade and critical thinking ideas to help students dissect the purpose of media (TV, movies, YouTube) that they view every day.
Looking for a fun project where students create their own advertisements? Using the techniques used in advertising, students must create an ad and then justify their work by writing a paragraph explaining their choices. Excellent for a media awareness activity, media literacy unit, or a study on persuasive writing! Looking for a DIGITAL VERSION of this activity? CLICK HERE! Includes a two-page handout with 10 common advertising strategies listed, complete with examples and discussion prompts! Includes the following worksheets: lesson ideas detailed assignment sheet two-page handout/list of ad techniques with discussion prompts brainstorming/paragraph planner sheet writing paper comprehensive rubric My students really enjoy this assignment and love the creativity it allows them. *PLEASE NOTE - This resource is sold as a non-editable PDF. Part of my MEDIA LITERACY / ADVERTISING UNIT - Click the link below to check it out! Media Literacy and Advertising Pack (C) Addie Williams
For grades 3-8!
Teaching students how to identify fake news is a daunting task since many adults continue to struggle with this skill. It is imperative that we teach these essential digital literacy skills to students so they automatically think critical y before clicking, sharing, and assuming what they see online is true. I've rounded up some resources and lessons for teaching students how to evaluate information online and identify fake news. 1. iCivics Fake News Literacy Unit Thank you to a member of the Teach With Tech Facebook Group for sharing this fantastic resource. iCivics, founded by Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, is
As nearly all news reading moves online and as college-age young adults begin developing their media diet, it has become more important than ever to be...
Throughout history, misinformation and propaganda have circulated to push certain viewpoints, but in the past few years the problem has amplified. “The biggest issue now is the quantity and speed by which information spreads,” says Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education.
Hello Everyone!! I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had a fantastic day!! Absolutely spoiled by my own and was able to spoil my sweet mom!!! So Blessed!! I want to share a couple of things we've been working on in class, and something that we will hit this week. In math we have finally arrived at our Telling Time unit. We talk about clocks and time all throughout the year, but formally introduce it late in the year. I wasn't sure why we waited so long to work on this important life skill, but now I realize that kids "get it" so much quicker after working on all the number sense, the fractions, the skip counting, etc. earlier in the year. The kids were so excited to really learn about telling time that they went home and asked moms and dads to get them watches!! I love their enthusiasm. Yesterday and today we worked with our "bigger than life" hula hoop clock. We were able to manipulate all the numbers, the hands, the minutes, etc. The kids were also able to show the times on the analog clock and then write them digitally. Kids will be practicing telling time in math tubs this week. For a free 70+ page telling time unit click HERE!!! It includes the numbers and hands you see above plus some math tub activities. This week we've also been working on writing friendly letters. I know I'm late bringing this into our year, but it actually turns out to be a great time of year. We have so many people we need to thank that have made our school year so awesome. We talked about the parts of a friendly letter with an anchor chart and a song. We talked about who we could write letters to. We decided to write letters to our school's PTA. They are an amazingly supportive group of parents. We couldn't do what we do without them!! For your free friendly letter writing pack including the poems, posters, templates, click here My final share for tonight is about a unit we will start this week, Media Literacy. Our objectives are to have students become aware of the different places we get messages and the purposes of those messages. That includes media we listen to, read, and view. We also want our students to be safe especially in this age of digital media. Our awesome media specialist will cover cyber safety with our kids. In the classroom we will work on organizing our thoughts about media literacy. I put together a mini pack to help keep me organized in presenting this material to the kids. Below are a few pages from my new unit. I may be adding more as the week goes on, but this is what I will start with. You can get my 20 page mini unit if you click HERE!!! :) I am excited to help my kids be aware of all the different kinds of messages around them!! Well, that's all for now!! As always, please let me know of anything I need to change or fix on any of my units. I need all the help I can get lately!!! :) I hope you are having a good week!! I know I am!! Is it count down time for you yet?? We are getting there!! Hang on, and make every minute count!! We won't have these kids for very much longer!! Till next time, thanks for stopping by for a peek!! Joyfully! Nancy :)
With media sources being so divided - many favoring either the left or the right in American politics - it's more important
Help upper elementary, middle school, & high school students with media literacy by teaching them to distinguish between real and fake news. Great tips here!
This is a media literacy unit that teaches students to analyze different forms of media. List of Topics Covered: Lesson Ideas 6 Posters Target Audience Purpose Advertising Strategies Messaging Commercial Analysis Quiz
Learn everything you need to know about how to use cereal boxes to teach media literacy skills. Use this cereal box media literacy unit to integrate your media expectations into your Health and Math Probability curriculum expectations.
Here's how to deepen your understanding of current affairs – according to research
Teaching elementary students how to analyze media messages is an important skill in any reading curriculum!
When becoming literate in film, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, social media, etc, it’s about learning new forms of media.
Learn everything you need to know about how to use cereal boxes to teach media literacy skills. Use this cereal box media literacy unit to integrate your media expectations into your Health and Math Probability curriculum expectations.
When students find out that they will be studying movies, advertising, television, and the Internet, they may believe that Media Literacy education isn't worth serious consideration. This unit proves the importance of media literacy education in two lessons: *This assignment/lesson can be used with in person or remote students.* In the first lesson, students will play a game (Faces vs. Logos) designed to prove to them that the media (especially advertising) influences and affects them. By indisputably proving that media sneaks inside their consciousnesses, even when they are unaware, students become more open minded and accepting of the importance of upcoming media literacy curriculum. In the second lesson, students will read both a scholarly article and Crash Course Youtube video, both of which will explain to them that the skills and tools associated with media literacy will prepare them for both college and career. By indisputably proving that the acquisition of media literacy skills are essential, students become more open minded and accepting of the importance of upcoming media literacy curriculum.
Digital literacy is the set of competencies required for full participation in a knowledge society. Here most essential digital literacy skills.
Looking for ways to incorporate New Media into your lessons? Here are some easy ways to explore issues surrounding social media and how teens use and interact with it online.
Teaching Digital Citizenship in the classroom is an important part of social-emotional learning and character education. This includes cyberbullying, social media, online safety, digital literacy, digital identity, digital safety, and digital responsibility.
Media literacy is a key component to a good literacy program. Read about the top reasons about why teaching media literacy is important.
This is an Anchor Chart for Media along with Media Literacy that can be printed 18x24 or 8.5x11. I get mine printed 18x24 at Staples for about $1.50 and use color to jazz them up to create cheap but professional looking anchor charts around my classroom. Can also be printed smaller and used an an...
