English Language Arts 10-12 Overview
In Saskatchewan secondary English Language Arts, media-related objectives are provided under foundational objectives for speaking, listening, writing, reading, and representing and viewing.
English as a Second Language Overview
In Ontario, media components are included in the English as a Second Language curriculum in the Social-Cultural Competence and Media Literacy strand. The document English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development (2007) identifies four overall expectations in this strand:
Career Education
The Newfoundland career education curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document Career Development Intermediate (2012) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between media literacy and career education:
Your Online Resume
In this lesson, students learn that their online presence is like a resume that can help them – or hurt them – in their future personal and professional lives. The lesson begins by having students do a self-appraisal of their online resume. Students will review steps for limiting the negative impact of things they’ve posted online. Students then think about people whom they consider to be heroes or role models, identify the characteristics that make them admire these people, and discuss what those people did in order to be seen so positively. Finally, students learn tools and strategies for consciously building a positive online brand and develop a communications plan for doing so.
Video Game Verbs
In this lesson, students learn that video games are unlike other media because they are interactive, allowing players to do things and make choices. They then explore the idea of affordances and defaults by considering the “video game verbs” that different games allow you to do. They consider the commercial, technical, and genre reasons why some verbs are more often possible than others and then create a simple design for a video game in which players are able to do a wider variety of things.
Cyber Choices (Grades 3-5)
Cyber Choices is an interactive game designed to help students in grades 3 to 5 develop the skills and habits they need to make safe and responsible choices online. Cyber Choices lets students explore four different stories that cover key issues such as making good choices about their own and others’ personal information, dealing with cyberbullying (as both a target and a witness) and managing online conflict.
What do We Know About Media Violence?
It’s hard to clearly define the effect media violence has on consumers and young people. This is mainly because terms like “violence” and “aggression” are not easily defined or categorized. To a child, almost any kind of conflict, like the heated arguments of some talk-radio shows or primetime news pundits, can sound as aggressive as two cartoon characters dropping anvils on each other.
Spoiled Bratz
It's been a rough couple of months for a brat. Or rather for Bratz – the giant-headed, almond-eyed, scantily dressed dolls that have been giving Barbie a scare for the last few years. One of the toy success stories of the last decade, the Bratz juggernaut now shows signs of slowing down: first, a $100 million judgment against the dolls' manufacturer, MGA Entertainment, which ruled that the original designer first drew them while still under contract at Mattel; then a successful campaign by parents to keep Bratz books out of the Scholastic catalogue, which places books in thousands of schools across North America; and, most painfully, reports that stores have cut shelf space for Bratz by as much as 50 per cent.
Managing movies and videos in the home
If you’re worried that a film might not be suitable for your kids, preview it yourself. Talk to other parents who’ve seen it or check out the reviews by parents and kids at Common Sense Media. You can also use our tip sheet Understanding the Rating Systems to help understand what the ratings on a movie really say about it.
Canadian youth sharing others’ sexts at alarming rate: study
Parents and teachers need evidence-based strategies to confront culture of non-consensual sharing