A unit plan for Media Literacy

1. S. Brian Van Gorder
Media Literacy 638

2. • 11th grade
• social studies class:
U.S. History
• 20 students 4 of which
have learning
disabilities.
• Beginning of year
project.
• Estimated time:

3. • Our students lives are constantly surrounded with media and endless
amounts of information.
• We need to give them the insight that even what we consider trustworthy
sources like textbooks, the news, teachers, and parents can be biased and
faulty.
• My purpose of this unit is to help my students read between the lines, look
past the propaganda and to not always judge a book by its cover.
• Over the course of the week we will be seeing different perspectives of
people and events.
• I hope to instill in my students a sense of skepticism, but a healthy one.
• I want the students to be able look at multiple viewpoints and then
formulate opinions.
• I want them to be less trusting of information they hear and to research
things for themselves.
• Overall, I want them to be truly tolerant critical thinkers who see past the
propaganda and facades that are placed around us.

4. NAMLE
• 1.1a All media messages are “constructed.” 1.1c Media messages are produced for particular purposes.
• 1.1d All media messages contain embedded values and points of view. 1.1f Media and media messages can
influence beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and the
• democratic process. 1.3 MLE emphasizes strong sense critical thinking, i.e., asking questions about all media
messages, not just
• those with which we may disagree.
• 1.4 MLE trains students to use document-based evidence and well-reasoned arguments to support
theirconclusions.
• 4.2 MLE is designed to create citizens who are skeptical, not cynical.
• 4.3 MLE gives students the skills they need to take responsibility for their own media use.
• 4.4 MLE invites and respects diverse points of view.
• 4.5 MLE explores representations, misrepresentations and lack of representation of cultures and countries in
• the global community.
• 5.2 MLE includes opportunities to examine alternative media and international perspectives
Ithaca College
• using a short video, magazine illustration, blog entry, or brief article to stimulate discussion, encouraging
students to express what they already know or their opinion about a topic.
• Giving examples from popular media (e.g., films, advertising, music) to illustrate what students might
already know or believe about a topic, and discussing the accuracy of that knowledge.
• asking questions routinely and consistently of ALL media (including media conveying a perspective you
support).
• comparing the amount of time/space devoted to a topic in different media from the same time period and
discuss why the difference occurs.

5. • 3.Evaluate various explanations for actions or
events and determine which explanation best
accords with textual evidence, acknowledging
where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• 9. Synthesize information from a range of
sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations)
into a coherent understanding of a process,
phenomenon, or concept, resolving
conflicting information when possible.

6. Students will be able to:
• Critically look at any
piece of media and
identify its bias or
agenda.
• Compare and contrast
multiple sources of
information
• Understand that there are
multiple viewpoints all
events in history and
present.
• Identify ways they can be
critical learners.

7. • Anti-Hero Prezi
• Packet of textbook
selections
• Video
• Current event activity
sheet
• Projector-computer
station

8. Day 1
• Introduce Dialectics
• Watch video/write article
Day 2
• Discuss video and prejudices
• Start textbook assignment
Day 3
• Anti-hero Prezi
Day 4
• Multiple news agencies
comparison
Day 5
• Propaganda analysis
• Whole group discussion

9. • Day 1
• For the first lesson of the unit we will start by talking about how there are two
sides to every story.
• I will have them think of a time they got in trouble for something they didn’t
do or was justify. I’ll relate this to media today.
• We’ll talk about problems with eye-witnesses, biases and other factors that
muddy the waters of truth. I want the students to be able to look at a
primary document and put biases aside or at least recognize them.
• I’ll inform them we are going to watch a short clip and that we will write a
quick (1-2 paragraph long newspaper article about the event.)
• We will go over what they should be looking for, Setting, motive, bias,
characters, etc. Then we will watch a short video clip of the commercial
where a boy is seen running through the streets with a purse.
• I will pause the video before the end, where you see he is just returning it to
the old lady that lost it. I will give no other information, and ask the students
to write about what they saw and only what they saw.
• HW: The students will write a short newspaper article about this event.
They will have to write about what they observed and only about what they
saw (if anyone has seen the commercial before).

10. • Day 2
• The next day we will share our articles and see the differences in the
articles. There may be small differences but there will be some. Everyone
will likely have different perspectives about the event.
• I will then show the end of the video ( the boy is returning the purse) and
show that sometimes we don’t get the whole story, or our biases give us
different ideas of what is happening. What if this was a grown person who
looks like they came out of a law firm? This will simulate the reliability of
witnesses and primary documents.
• We will watch a clip from Twelve Angry Men where a person blames the
crime of the defendant because of his “kind.”
• We think that textbook and other books like this are the truth, but again
biases and viewpoints can pollute these sources of information too.
HW
• I will present them with a packet with selections about the same subject
from three mainstream textbooks over time. The subject is about native
Americans and the first contact in the present day Americas. The textbook
selections come from the 1890s, 1960s, and 2000s. The students are to
read them and make a triple venn diagram of the differences and
similarities. We will discuss this in the class the next day.

11. • Day 3
• We will start with a discussion about the three textbook sources and what
people thought of them. The conversation will be guided to what they think
really happened from their own conclusion from the three texts.
• I will go on to talk about how many things we think are one way sometimes
depend on our sources.
• I will move to our Anti-Hero Prezi presentation. This presentation talks
about the darker, and less known side or events of many of our heroes in
American culture. I will warn my students, even though the people made a
mistake doesn’t mean their accomplishments were invalid. It just means
that there is other truth that is often suppressed or omitted from us.
• The people in this presentation include: Abe Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi,
Martin Luther King Jr, Che Guevara, Helen Keller and others.
• After the presentation we will do a short activity Which is to pick out which
of the stories is actually misrepresented. (Gandhi-He didn’t wanteHitler to
start the war.”)
No HW

12. • Day 4
• Computer Lab. We’ll be discussing how the news can be different
depending on which network you are watching.
• Students will pick a current event. They will then find that same current
event from numerous news stations. I may even have them pick the article
and have two lists of news agencies that have been accused (I say accused,
because I’m trying to be objective and not take sides. Some say Fox News is
biased, and others say CNN is biased) of political leanings and have them
read both of the articles and find the differences.
• From those differences figure out why they think those differences arose
(political bias, monetary bias because of sponsors, etc.)
• The students will print out the article (or print out a sheet with the links to
video or audio).
• They will fill in the Venn diagram for this activity.
HW:
• Write down 3 discussion questions for class tomorrow and think of ways
they will be more critical of what they have learned and will learn in life.

13. • Day 5
• I will show a short slideshow of propaganda from around the
world both political and commercial.
• We will then wrap up the unit with a whole group discussion
on what we learned from the unit. Students will use the
questions they wrote down as a guide for the discussion. I will
facilitate the discussion.
• Before we start we quickly review the short rules of the
discussion: allows others to finish their comments, respect
other opinions (you can disagree, respectfully), and don’t take
or give offense.
HW:
• I will have them write a short reflective essay (1-2 pg) on what
practices they will use to be more critical in their learning
process, and the importance of critical thinking.

14. • HW: The students will write a short HW:
newspaper article about this event. • Write down 3 discussion questions
They will have to write about what for class tomorrow and think of ways
they observed and only about what they will be more critical of what
they saw (if anyone has seen the they have learned and will learn in
commercial before). life.
• HW I will present them with a HW:
packet with selections about the • I will have them write a short
same subject from three mainstream reflective essay (1-2 pg) on what
textbooks over time. The subject is practices they will use to be more
about native Americans and the first critical in their learning process, and
contact in the present day Americas. the importance of critical thinking.
The textbook selections come from
the 1890s, 1960s, and 2000s. The • News Organization Venn Diagram
students are to read them and make • Full class discussion on media
a triple venn diagram of the literacy and critical thinking, and
differences and similarities. We will how to use it in daily life.
discuss this in the class the next day.