Recognizing Emotional Appeals Lesson Plan

Authenticating Information

Level: Grade 4 to 8

Duration: 90 minutes, plus time for the media making task

About the author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

This lesson plan is part of the Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum program. Funding provided by the Government of Ontario.

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

This is the third lesson in the Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum series, though it can also be delivered independently. In it, students learn how we can be persuaded by emotional appeals as well as by arguments. After identifying emotionally charged words, they find them in an article and analyze their persuasive effect. Students study a public service announcement to examine how images and story can be emotionally persuasive, then watch a pair of videos to compare how they use emotional persuasion. They then conduct a red teaming exercise to identify the possible risks or drawbacks of using emotional appeals and ways of mitigating those. Finally, they create their own persuasive work using emotionally charged languages, images and music.

Learning goals

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Media are constructions: Media makers choose elements to produce particular effects

Media have social and political implications: People can be persuaded by emotional appeals as well as logical arguments 

Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: Words, images, stories and music can all be used to create emotional reactions

Essential knowledge: Students will learn that…

Reading Media: Words, images, story and music can be used to produce an emotional effect 

Key vocabulary: Connotation, public service announcement (PSA), red team

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Access public domain or Creative Commons media
  • Use media tools and techniques to produce emotionally persuasive appeals
  • Understand how media makers use emotionally persuasive appeals
  • Engage with the risks, drawbacks and implications of using emotionally persuasive appeals

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit