Stereotyping and Genre Lesson Plan

Stereotyping

Level: Grades 4 to 8

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

This lesson plan is part of the Close Reading Media Across the Curriculum program. Funding provided by the Government of Ontario.

media representation

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

Overview

In this lesson, students use fairy tales as a way of learning about the idea of genre. They explore how the typical tropes of a genre can create or perpetuate stereotypes and create a “flipped” fairy tale that sends a message that is unusual for the genre.

Learning Outcomes

Essential knowledge: Students will learn the following essential domain knowledge:

  • Reading media: Concept of genre; typical elements of fairy tales and fables
  • Media representation: Impacts of genre elements on stereotyping, ways of responding to stereotyping in media

Key concepts/big ideas: Students will learn the following key concepts/big ideas:

  • Media are constructions: Media makers’ choices are influenced by the conventions of the medium and genre they are working in
  • Media have social and political implications: Different genres such as fairy tales and fables have explicit  morals and meanings, and genre conventions can also lead to implicit meanings such as stereotypes
  • Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: Genres give media makers a “toolbox” of characters, settings, etc. to use

Performance tasks: Students will understand how genres influence how works are made and experienced, use writing tools to create a new work, and engage with issues of stereotyping and representation in media

Student-facing outcomes: We will learn about different types of stories and how they are put together. We will think about how people choose what goes into stories and how stories can teach us lessons or sometimes show people unfairly. We will  make our own new stories, and work on problems about how people are shown in stories. 

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

Lesson Kit