All resources in Media Literacy & Digital Citizenship

Search

Familial Artifacts

(View Complete Item Description)

Inquiry StructureThis synopsis is laid out in more detail in the outline and lesson suggestions in the following pages. Students are first introduced to the idea of personal primary sources through the linked article and whatever artifacts can be used in staging the question. After students have been introduced to this concept they will then, as homework, they interview relatives to learn what they can about their family history and whatever artifacts in the family connect to those stories. During class, students will be instructed in and practice the media literacy skills that will allow them to research in detail the historical context for their family history. This research into the historical context of their family history will be the summative performance task for the inquiry and is the second week of the unit.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Ethan Whitney

Lenses of Vietnam: Protest in a Democracy [Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Unit Plan]

(View Complete Item Description)

This inquiry takes students through an analysis and evaluation of the Compelling Question “Is protest important in a democracy?” using the Vietnam War as a lens to approach the topic. To accomplish this, students will become more media literate through evaluating sources, biases, perspectives, and the goals of creating media. Throughout the inquiry, students will engage in activities designed to promote and develop media literacy while analzying the Compelling Question and learning about the historical protests of the Vietnam Era.This inquiry is expected to take two weeks (10 periods) to complete: one 45-minute class period to stage the question, introduce the inquiry, and to review media literacy; two 45-minute class periods for each of the three supporting questions; and then three 45-minute class periods for students to write and research their argumentative thesis. If students are as of yet less familiar with media literacy, the instructor should add at least another class period, or more, introducing them more fully to this.The full unit, along with all materials and resources, is available as a PDF attachment.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Primary Source, Reading, Unit of Study

Author: Adam MacDonald

How is being a citizen online like being one in real life?

(View Complete Item Description)

The inquiry helps students examine the responsibility of  being a citizen both in the real world and the online world. In answering the compelling question “How is being a citizen online the same as being one in real life?” students will identify the attitudes and actions necessary to be a good citizen. The unit offers 12 lessons with formative performance tasks for educators to choose from depending on the age and needs of their students. Each provides students with opportunities to collect evidence and an understanding of how online behavior and boundaries are comparable to those necessary in the real world. At the end of the inquiry, students create an explanation and identify examples of the correlation between online and real life communities.  Unit created by NCESD teachers: Sara Bedient, Sasha Dart, Brittany Jones, Krystina Nelson, Julia Spanjer, Keirstin Stansbury, Brittney Therriault   

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Anne Stewart, Sasha Dart, Sara Bedient, Krystina Nelson, Julie Spanjer, Brittney Therriault, Keirstin Stansbury

How does the media impact our view of the role of government during times of national crisis

(View Complete Item Description)

How does the media influence peoples’ opinion of the government during a national crisis? Students will read several articles on a current (or historical) national crisis and write an argumentative essay analyzing how the media influences the opinion of the people toward the government during a national crisis using relevant evidence from both current and historical resources.

Material Type: Assessment, Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment

Author: Dawn Wood

Verifying Social Media Posts

(View Complete Item Description)

 Verifying social media posts is quickly becoming a necessary endeavor in everyday life, let alone in the world of education. Social media has moved beyond a digital world which connects with friends and family and has become a quick and easy way to access news, information, and human interest stories from around the world. As this state of media has become the "new normal," especially for our younger generations, we, educators, find ourselves charged with a new task of teaching our students how to interact with and safely consume digital information.The following three modules are designed to be used as stand-alone activities or combined as one unit, in which the lessons can be taught in any order. "Who Said What?!" is a module focusing on author verification. "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words'' is a module devoted to image verification. "Getting the Facts Straight" is a module designed to dive into information verification. Lastly, there are assessment suggestions to be utilized after completing all three modules.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Module, Unit of Study

Authors: Sandra Stroup, Amanda Schneider, Megan Shinn

Reading Media: Analyzing Logos, Ads, & Film in the ELA classroom

(View Complete Item Description)

This media literacy unit was designed and piloted with junior English classes at the start of the school year. Activities can easily be adapted to suit secondary students at various levels. Within the unit, students analyze corporate logos, corporate advertising, movie trailers and stereotypes found in media related to Native American culture. Within the unit, students also learn how to consider the ways in which media appeals to ethos, pathose and logos and how to identify the tone of a piece of media. 

Material Type: Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Reading, Unit of Study

Author: Shana Ferguson

Deepfakes: Exploring Media Manipulation

(View Complete Item Description)

Students examine what deepfakes are and consider the deeper civic and ethical implications of deepfake technology. In an age of easy image manipulation, this lesson fosters critical thinking skills that empower students to question how we can mitigate the impact of doctored media content. This lesson plan includes a slide deck and brainstorm sheet for classroom use.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Shana Ferguson

Understanding algorithms and big data in the job market

(View Complete Item Description)

This interactive lesson helps students understand how companies use algorithms to sort job applicants. It also encourages students to reflect on how digital data mining also can contribute to the hiring process. Students examine resumes and digital data to consider the ways in which our data may open or close opportunities in an increasingly digitized hiring market.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: Shana Ferguson

Introduction to Civic Online Reasoning for Distance Learning

(View Complete Item Description)

This collection of lessons represent adapted and remixed instructional content for teaching media literacy and specifically civic online reasoning through distance learning. These lessons take students through the steps necessary to source online content, verify evidence presented, and corroborate claims with other sources. The original lesson plans are the work of Stanford History Education Group, licensed under CC 4.0. Please refer to the full text lesson plans at Stanford History Education Group’s, Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum for specifics regarding background, research findings, and additional curriculum for teaching media literacy in the twenty-first century.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Homework/Assignment, Interactive, Lecture Notes, Lesson Plan

Authors: Adrienne Williams, Heather Galloway, Morgen Larsen, Rachel Obenchain, Stanford History Education Group-Civic Online Reasoning Project

Introduction to Visual Media Literacy

(View Complete Item Description)

This social media literacy unit introduces students to foundational skills in analyzing images and social media posts. It also reenforces critical thinking questions that can be applied to various forms of media. This unit was taught to 9th grade students but is easily adaptible to a range of secondary classrooms. It was also taught in conjunction with another unit focused on social media platforms and content.

Material Type: Assessment, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan, Reading, Unit of Study

Author: Shana Ferguson

Artists, Information Literacy & Climate Change

(View Complete Item Description)

This unit explores the various ways information and ideas about climate change are presented through a variety of media. This includes the evaluation of social media posts, research into climate change issues, and an exploration of contemporary art and artists. This was designed and taught in an honors 9th grade English Language Arts Classroom by Dr. Tavia Quaid in response to student interest in climate change and to reinforce key information literacy skills.

Material Type: Assessment, Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment, Lesson Plan, Reading

Author: Shana Ferguson

Load more