Facing TV Violence: Rewriting the Script - Lesson Lesson Plan
Level: Grades 1 to 4
Author: MediaSmarts
Adapted with permission from the Ottawa Board of Education A Problem-Solving Approach To Conflict Management: Part 2, Teacher's Manual, and Gloria De Gaetano Screen Smarts: A Family Guide To Media Literacy, 1996 (Book avaliable for US $12.95 plus shipping by calling 1-206-883-1544).
Overview
This lesson teaches children that television doesn't always offer the best solutions to conflict. It begins with students discussing a scenario in which two friends experience conflict, with students brainstorming constructive ways in which the conflict could be resolved. On the second day, students look at samples of conflict depicted on television and discuss whether the way these situations are dealt with represents the best way to handle the situation.
Learning Outcomes
Students demonstrate:
- an awareness of the different types of violence that appear in children's television programs.
- an understanding that the methods used to resolve conflict on television may not be the best or only way to resolve the conflict.
- an understanding of alternate methods of conflict resolution.
This lesson offers an opportunity to reinforce conflict resolution techniques that have been implemented in your school. The conflict resolution strategies featured here are from the Ottawa Board of Education's Problem-Solving Approach To Conflict Management, but your own School Board's programs can easily be substituted.
This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.