Making Media for Democratic Citizenship - Lesson
In this five- or six-day unit, students create a video podcast to present balanced, unbiased perspectives on global development issues.
Video Production of a Newscast - Lesson
In this lesson, students will produce a 20 minute news broadcast.
Celebrities and World Issues - Lesson
In this four-day unit, students will examine the role of popular culture celebrities in creating awareness of world issues.
Sports Personalities in Advertising
In this lesson students explore the relationship between athletes and advertising through a number of different activities.
Camera Shots - Lesson
In this lesson, students examine the visual codes used on television and in movies through an exploration of various camera techniques. Students begin with a discussion about camera-subject distance, and review various film techniques that are used to create visual meaning.
Violence in Sports
In this lesson, students explore the gratuitous use of violence in sports.
Favourite Sports and Athletes: Introduction to Sports Media - Lesson
This lesson develops a beginning awareness by students of how they feel towards, and respond to, different sports, and how the media represents athletics.
Writing the News
In this lesson, students will write a news article by developing ‘lede paragraphs’ and by using the ‘inverted pyramid’ model. Once this is done, they will be given time during class to select topics, conduct research, write their articles and proof read and peer edit their own and other’s works.
Connected to Learn: Teachers' Experiences with Networked Technologies in the Classroom
For more than twenty-five years, Canadian teachers have been at the forefront of getting students online and preparing them to use the Internet in safe, wise and responsible ways. Thanks to the SchoolNet program in the 1990s, many young Canadians had their first experiences with networked technologies in their classrooms and school libraries. However, MediaSmarts' recent Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase III study shows that even now, our so-called "digital natives" still need guidance from their teachers.
Digital Outreach for Community Engagement
This lesson asks students, in groups, to take their issue and solution to the streets. In order to enact real change through action for the benefit of the larger community, each chosen topic will need to be exposed to and understood by other members of the community. In this lesson, students will design a community outreach promotional campaign in order to effect real change that matters to them. If the students have completed the Digital Storytelling for Community Engagement lesson and have created their own Digital Story, this digital project can be used as the starting point/product with which to share with others. If not, groups of students can create a hypothetical solution to an existing problem, which then could be disseminated to the larger community using their designed outreach strategy.