Media Literacy Week Teachers’ Hub
Welcome to the Media Literacy Week Teachers’ Hub!
This space is designed to provide you with plug and play lessons and resources on digital and media literacy topics that relate to this year’s event, brought to you by MediaSmarts and supported by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation.
The teachers’ hub features five days of lesson plans and activities curated around five media literacy themes - use, understand, engage (including activities for Digital Citizen Day), access and verify! We’ve also brought you special pre-recorded plug and play lessons, led by MediaSmarts experts, covering topics like body image, online hate and identifying what’s real online.
Incorporate these digital media literacy activities into your classroom activities during Media Literacy Week and beyond!
Plug and play lessons
MediaSmarts has developed video versions of selected lessons designed so that teachers can present the lessons on a screen or digital whiteboard with minimal preparation. Each video lesson is presented by one of MediaSmarts’ media education specialists and includes opportunities for discussion, classroom activities and assessment
Printable activities
These printable activity sheets introduce basic media literacy skills and concepts and are suitable for use in homes, schools and libraries. They can be completed independently, but children will learn more if you discuss the activities with them.
What is this cereal box saying? (ages 5-10)
This activity introduces the idea that media are everywhere – including our own cupboards and grocery store shelves – and are the result of choices that were made with particular purposes in mind.
Spot the house hippos (ages 8-13)
For more than 20 years, house hippos have been helping teach kids to think critically about media. In this activity, five of them are hiding in a very messy room. Kids can turn the page to make sure they spotted them all and also learn five ways to verify anything they’ve seen online.
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October 25, 2022: Understand
Grades K-3: Can you spot the ad?
Printable activity sheet: What is this cereal box saying? (ages 5-10)
Grades 4-6: Each medium is a unique aesthetic form
Grades 6-8: Know the deal: the value of privacy
Grades 7-9: Put your best face forward **Plug and play video lesson available**
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October 26, 2022: Digital Citizen Day - Engage
Grades 4-6: Behaving ethically online: Ethics and empathy
Grades 7-8: PushBack - Engaging in online activism
Grades 8-10: Hate 2.0 **Plug and play video lesson available**
Grades 9-12: Digital storytelling for civic engagement
*NEW* Grades 9-12: My Voice is Louder Than Hate: Multimedia platform
October 27, 2022: Access
Grades 4-6: The Hero Project: authenticating online information
Grades 7-8: Taming the wild Wiki
Grades 9-12: Reality Check: getting the goods on science and health
October 28, 2022: Verify
Grades K-2: What’s in the frame?
Printable activity sheet: Spot the house hippos (ages 8-13)
Grades 3-5: What’s real online? **Plug and play video lesson available**
Grades 6-9: Verifying information online
Grades 10-12: Hoax? Scholarly research? Personal opinion? You decide!
More Resources
Looking for more resources?
USE, UNDERSTAND & CREATE: A Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools
USE, UNDERSTAND & CREATE provides a road map for teaching digital literacy skills in Canadian schools. The framework draws on seven key aspects of digital literacy – ethics and empathy, privacy and security, community engagement, digital health, consumer awareness, finding and verifying and making and remixing – and provides teachers with supporting lessons and interactive resources that are linked to curriculum outcomes for every province and territory.
Digital and Media Literacy Outcomes by Province & Territory
This web section provides detailed information on media education for each province and territory, information on provincial/territorial media education organizations, and a listing of media education curricular outcomes, by grade, with links to supporting MediaSmarts resources.