Just a joke? Helping youth respond to casual prejudice
One of the barriers to youth pushing back against prejudice is not wanting to over-react, particularly if they feel their peers were just ‘joking around.’ Humour, however, can often be a cover for intentional bullying and prejudice. In this lesson, students analyze media representations of relational aggression, such as sarcasm and put-down humour, then consider the ways in which digital communication may make it harder to recognize irony or satire and easier to hurt someone’s feelings without knowing it. Students then consider how humour may be used to excuse prejudice and discuss ways of responding to it.
Introducing TV Families - Lesson
This lesson encourages children to explore the differences between their real families and TV families by imagining how their own families might be portrayed on a television show.
Miscast and Seldom Seen - Lesson
In this lesson students consider how well their favourite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of Canadian society.