This resource includes multiple lesson plans developed by Washington State teacher John Zingale and can be taught as part of in-person, hybrid, or remote instructional settings. The core content areas include social studies, civics, and media literacy and are designed for use with students in grades 6-12. Additional integrations include ELA, world languages, mathematics, physical education and science. These lessons integrate both state and national civics instruction using project-based and collaborative learning strategies. Features of these lessons include:student researchcollaborative learningdigital learning strategieslateral readingdesign and creation of infographicsTo support these lessons, additional resources are provided to help educators and families with understanding and teaching information and media literacy to young people. Resources include:introductions to media literacyeducator guidesparent guidesstudent learning standards

As an introduction to Media Literacy, this lesson covers topics ranging from rhetorical theory, philosophy, and history to illuminate the interconnected complications of media in the modern world. Supplemental resources are woven into the lesson in the form of hyperlink text, images, and embedded videos. The ultimate goal of this lesson resource is to inform grade-aged learners about the subject complexity of media literacy and equip them with the most basic tools to properly understand and engage with social media and media in general. Crash Course, a free supplemental learning company is a commonly referenced external tool within the lesson as their expanding topic verity offers well-researched additive content for digital learning environments.

Welcome to Critical Media Literacy and Civic Learning - an interactive, multimodal, multicultural, open access eBook for teaching and learning key topics in United States Government and Civic Life. Open access means these materials are online, digital, and free of charge (Billings, 2019). This book is available online to anyone with an internet connection. The eBook can also be viewed and printed as a PDF file for offline viewing.

This lesson plan is geared for social studies, but can also be used in other content areas.

Media is a powerful agent in informing us and influencing social norms in our society. In this lesson plan, students learn about how to critically consume daily information and entertainment by listening to experts in media literacy. This lesson covers concepts like media ownership, framing and spin, source, agenda, bias, contextually misleading content and misinformation and disinformation.
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Students also explore how media can affect livelihoods. They’ll study how Japanese American communities all along the west coast including in Washington state were impacted by media coverage leading into Japanese American incarceration in the 1940s and through redress and reparations in the early 1980s.

In the first of a two-part lesson, students engage in some media literacy activities to learn what a stereotype is, and identify ways that companies use stereotypes and targeted marketing in advertising to sell toys and clothes.

Students increase their media literacy skills by critically examining and revising junk mail.

News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, that provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy. 

By looking at advertising and mass media critically, students begin to understand how the media oppresses certain groups, convinces people to purchase certain products, and influences culture.

When conversations of racial injustice and equity arise, many educators find themselves reacting in the moment. In this one-hour webinar, a panel of experts discuss how teachers can analyze and evaluate media to provide important context for students and support anti-racist classroom planning and practices. Teachers can also find advice for using media literacy tools to empower students and inform their personal practice.

By critically analyzing popular television programs, students develop an awareness of the messages that are portrayed through the media.

An infographic on a 'early in the school year completion' approach to Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Curriculum.

Pop culture and the classroom collide in this lesson when students go behind the scenes to analyze a television series for characterization to use in an original television show proposal.

In this lesson, students examine and create holiday/event cards, analyze holiday elements, and create their own. The activities help students focus on the reasons for composing messages as they do.

This 5-day curriculum teaches digital storytelling and media literacy skills through engaging youth to think critically on issues relevant to their life and future. This unit is guided by the question, "How does media contribute to positive social change?”

In this update to the 2008 standards, Washington is adopting the 2016 Technology Standards for Students
released by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). These standards were developed
collaboratively with teachers, administrators, subject matter experts, state and national associations, and
stakeholders in educational technology. Teams of Washington teachers, technology integration
specialists, and teacher-librarians have reviewed these standards to ensure they effectively meet the
needs of Washington students.

These standards emphasize the ways technology can be used to amplify and transform learning and
teaching, and they resonate with our state’s aspiration to empower connected learners in a connected
world. In addition, they complement statewide efforts to enhance instruction in digital citizenship and
media literacy, which are critical elements of preparing our students for careers, post-secondary
aspirations, and beyond.

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.

With so many people getting their news from their social media newsfeed, how can they evaluate what is good and what might be fake?  With the help of a Youtube video on the subject, student do some evaluating.  This lesson is part of a media unit curated at our Digital Citizenship website, "Who Am I Online?"

This lesson will challenge learners to critically read and evaluate news articles presenting different positions on a single issue that the learner takes interest in. The learner will then be challenged to formulate their own opinion by refining their own argument on the issue. The target audience of learners for this lesson constitute the Career and College Readiness Standards Grade Level E (9-12) in their reading and writing abilities. Learners will hone practical skills by engaging in this lesson, such as how to critically engage with news and media, being able to succinctly summarize larger pieces of information, and using information to write a structured argument based on their own opinions. These skills will have practical applications for everyday life, reading and writing the GED, and when applying for jobs that require information processing.

This lesson will challenge learners to critically read and evaluate news articles presenting different positions on a single issue that the learner takes interest in. The learner will then be challenged to formulate their own opinion by refining their own argument on the issue. The target audience of learners for this lesson constitute the Career and College Readiness Standards Grade Level E (9-12) in their reading and writing abilities. Learners will hone practical skills by engaging in this lesson, such as how to critically engage with news and media, being able to succinctly summarize larger pieces of information, and using information to write a structured argument based on their own opinions. These skills will have practical applications for everyday life, reading and writing the GED, and when applying for jobs that require information processing.

Designed for middle and high school teachers, we’ll consider how to tackle misinformation, how to analyze digital media, and why it’s important for your students. Robert Costa is the Moderator of Washington Week, the Peabody Award-winning weekly news analysis series on PBS. Costa is also a full-time national political reporter for The Washington Post, where he covers Congress and the White House and regularly travels the country to meet with voters and elected officials.

Led by PBS Digital Innovator All Star Leigh Herman and PBS Station Representative Mary Anne Lane this session highlights exciting resources and models that you can immediately implement in your classroom.

Prioritizing fun, engaging and accessible tools for your students, the series will highlight techniques for analyzing media, and amplifying student voice through authentic storytelling.

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.

Introduce students to the function of news reporting and editorialzing, and what changes in the information landscape has blurred the lines between the two. Students have the opportunity to identify facts and opinions in the news, with the goal of understanding how to distinguis between objective reporting and opinion pieces. Students are invited to discuss the role news plays in civic engagement, and how, as news consumers, the sources we choose matter.

From June 2018 to May 2019, we administered an assessment to 3,446 students, a national sample that matches the demographic profile of high school students in the United States. The six exercises in our assessment gauged students’ ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. The results—if they can be summarized in a word—are troubling: •Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

**The publisher of this resource is Civix.Help Students Fight Information Pollution Activities are created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education

In his book, Reclaiming the Black Past, author and professor Pero Dagbovie explains how black history is taught in schools and used in popular culture including movies like Green Book. He discussed criticism of the way history is shown and the points of views that are highlighted.

This resource was published by Civix.Help Students Fight Information Pollution Lessons are created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education.

This resource was published by Civix. Help Students Fight Information Pollution Videos are created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education

**The publisher of this resource is Civix.Help Students Fight Information Pollution Case Studies are created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education

Paper and pixels get compared in this lesson in which students compare both printed and online versions of a magazine.

**This resource is published by Common Sense Education.The Digital Citizenship Curriculum (K-12) is a free research-based curriculum. Students will learn news and media literacy skills to better assist them with reading and navigating content online.

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.

Global Citizens in Action is a civic engagement curriculum that focuses on cultural exchange, media literacy, and global citizenship. Through exploring the driving question, “How do we, as youth, engage our communities to create positive social change?”

This resource is published by Civix.Ctrl-F is a unit created by Civix, a Canadian organization developed to support civics and media literacy education. This unit teaches students how to verify facts and information when reading informational text online.

Powered by the School Library Systems Association of New York and made possible in part through the Allison-Rosen Foundation, LibraryReady.AI is an initiative that aims to integrate artificial intelligence, media literacy, and information fluency into New York State's school libraries.  The goal is to prepare students for an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students analyze videos about students challenging the government to protect natural resources, research why natural resources are a source of conflict, and create a video summarizing their findings.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson presents the public trust doctrine through two video resources and tasks students to produce their own videos that investigate how natural resources are a source of conflict. All of the materials are well-sourced, though the videos are a little out of date. The lesson also includes a list of credible sources to get students with their investigation. This lesson is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-Students use their unique voices and perspectives to communicate a complex topic.
-Students use their creativity and collaborative skills to create a video explaining their summary of the lesson.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-The resources from Project Look Sharp require a free login to download the materials.
-Laptops or other recording devices required.
-One-to-one technology is recommended.
-Students must have working knowledge of credible sources.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-The length of the student videos can be lengthened or shortened depending on student ability.
-Students can be placed in mixed ability groupings.
-The number of required citations can be increased or decreased depending on student ability.
-Optional Extension: Videos may be sent to local, state, or federal government to increase the likelihood of change being enacted.

Looking to help students practice "reading" images for a variety of contextual meanings while engaging in content area study? This lesson uses images of the Boston Massacre to deepen students' comprehension of both the event and the effects of propaganda. Students begin by completing an anticipation guide to introduce them to Boston Massacre, propaganda, and British/colonial reactions to the massacre. They then complete an image analysis to make inferences about various images of the massacre. The culminating activity-a presentation about students' observations and inferences-demonstrates students' knowledge of the Boston Massacre and propaganda in a variety of ways. This lesson benefits English-language learners (ELLs) and struggling readers because it involves viewing images, participating in discussions, working with peers, and listening to a read-aloud that reinforces the lesson content and vocabulary.

In this minilesson, students practice identifying and purposefully using vocabulary in persuasive writing that is intended to have an emotional impact on the reader.

This guide walks you through the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum from the Digital Inquiry Group (formerly Stanford History Education Group). Their extensive suite of lessons and assessments helps students acquire skills for thinking critically about the information they find online. The target audience is high school but some lessons are relevant for middle school. 

 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.

This guide walks you through the part of the Common Sense website that focuses on K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum. The lesson plans include everything educators need to begin teaching this content in their classrooms and many have accompanying high-quality videos. There are also engaging games for younger students and an interactive social media simulation for older students. Topics include: media balance & well-being, privacy & security, digital footprint & identity, relationships & comunication, cyberbullying, digital drama & hate speech, and news & media literacy. 

"Future Ready: Civics - The Good Citizen" provides an overview of civic responsibilities and the roles of a good American citizen. It emphasizes the importance of civic participation, media literacy, and logical inference. The material highlights citizen participation in maintaining order, providing services, and protecting freedoms at all levels of government. It encourages various methods of community involvement and showcases successful projects. The material addresses barriers to participation and introduces vocabulary related to civic engagement, bias, propaganda, political parties, and elections. It explains the concept of logical inferences, detecting bias, and evaluating propaganda. It also covers elections, the Electoral College, and the right to vote, promoting civic engagement and informed decision-making.

In this mini-unit, high school students examine the question, “What is the migrant experience?” with the intention of demonstrating how international policies feed migration patterns that have a global effect.

“The Migrant Experience” mini-unit contains three (3) lessons. Each lesson is designed for approximately 90-minute class periods to be taught over a period of two or three weeks using 7 Step Lesson Plans - Do Now, Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, Closure, Exit Ticket, and Homework - as well as media literacy resources and technological educational tools. The unit has been devised to be implemented in the traditional classroom setting or with the virtual classroom in mind.

 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.

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.

This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes options for collaborative group work, reading nonfiction articles, a design challenge and presentations to communicate ideas. The unit also includes a formal writing assessment option that aligns with the Common Core State Writing Standards. Activities can be adapted or combined in a variety of ways to support student reflection and analysis. These lessons were piloted in 9th grade English classes but are suitable or a range of secondary students. 

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students practice civic engagement by researching and writing a proposal for climate resiliency and scarce water allocation in the Deschutes River Watershed and presenting it in a mock Town Hall meeting.

SCIENTIST NOTES: The lesson allows students to propose ways to solve water scarcity in their local communities and engage with key stakeholders and policymakers to design policies that will enable local communities in Oregon to manage their water resources while building their resilience to climate change. The lesson and all the accompanying materials were reviewed and are suitable for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-Students engage in a mock Town Hall and learn how to build community while voicing community concerns.
-Students practice listening skills and engage in discourse over an important issue.
-Students learn to collaborate with different stakeholders and diverse voices, working together to find a solution that best fits a community.
-Students practice using local research to support their ideas.
-Students learn to write and present a proposal.
-The lesson can be spread out over two to four days, with a full day for research, a full day for the Town Hall, a day for voting or decision-making, and a day for letter writing and sharing in the class.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students should have an understanding of media literacy and best research practices.
-Students should have a basic understanding of rhetorical structure and devices for persuasion in oral delivery techniques.
-Teachers should review the general overview and agenda in the Town Hall Guide and make adjustments as needed.
-You will need to make a copy of the Student Slideshow for each group of students and grant them editing rights before the lesson. Students will be writing in the Student Slideshow.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students with little experience in persuasive speaking could use some instruction on rhetorical methods and devices using these resources:
-41 Rhetorical Devices That Will Make Your Words Memorable
-How to Use Rhetoric to Get What You Want
-PBS Literary Elements & Techniques: Imagery and Figurative Language.
-Students could develop their research into a Community Action Project proposing policy to actual stakeholders.
-Students could connect with local stream restoration projects or organizations as a hands-on learning experience.
-Students could lead a school community education campaign to spread awareness of water-saving techniques.