That’s Not Me: Addressing diversity in media
Teachers who include media literacy in their classrooms often face issues that don’t arise in other subjects. Nothing illustrates this better than the issue of diversity in media. It’s not unreasonable for teachers to see the topic as a can of worms and be concerned about offending students and their parents – not to mention worrying about what the students themselves might say. At the same time, it’s a topic that is simply too important to be ignored: what we see in media hugely influences how we see others, ourselves and the world. As a result, an ability to analyze media depictions of diversity is not only a key element of being media literate, it’s essential to understanding many of the social issues and concerns that we face as citizens. That’s why Media Awareness Network has developed That’s Not Me – a new online tutorial for professional development to help educators and community leaders approach this issue through key concepts of media literacy.
Girls and Boys on Television
In this lesson, students discuss television programming aimed at children and how girls and boys are portrayed in it. Students illustrate what they dislike about portrayals of girls or boys and then create their own TV character who will counter the illustrated negative portrayals.
Media Stereotypes
This lesson familiarises students with stereotypes and helps them understand the role that stereotypes play in television’s portrayal of life. The lesson begins with a discussion about the types of stereotypes that are common in media, why stereotypes are used in media, and the possible negative influences of stereotyping. Students will analyze a media character in terms of stereotypes and then create their own character as a way of demonstrating their awareness of stereotyping. To further increase their awareness of stereotypes, students will participate in a number of writing, drawing and viewing activities that include deconstructing segments from television programs, drawing stereotypical and non-stereotypical figures, and writing a poem about stereotypes.Violence on Film: The Ratings Game - Lesson
To introduce students to the rating systems for films, videos and television and to the issues that surround these classifications.
Teaching TV: Film Production: Who Does What? - Lesson
This lesson is one of a five-part unit that provides teachers with ideas for teaching TV in the elementary classroom. In this lesson, students look at the equipment used to produce television and film, and learn about the members of the film production team and their duties.