My Voice is Louder Than Hate: Pushing Back Against Hate Lesson Plan

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Level: Grades 9 to 10

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 1 to 1 ½ hours

This lesson is part of the My Voice is Louder Than Hate program. This program was possible with financial contributions from Public Safety Canada’s Community Resilience Fund.

Reading Media

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

Overview

In this lesson, students explore the benefits and drawbacks of being “full citizens” online. They learn reasons why Canadian youth sometimes do not push back when they witness casual prejudice online and then use the My Voice is Louder Than Hate tool to practice different ways of responding. Finally, students analyze memes as a medium and a way of responding to hate or other hurtful behaviour online and then use the My Voice is Louder Than Hate tool to create a meme that they can use to push back against causal prejudice.

Although it can be delivered on its own, this lesson is designed as the second of a two-part lesson series which began with My Voice is Louder Than Hate: Impact of Hate. If you have already delivered that lesson, there are several sections below that you will only need to recap with your students.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • explore the issue of online hate
  • understand that interactions through digital media can both do real harm and genuinely help others
  • understand that digital tools allow them to be full citizens online
  • analyze the media form of memes and what makes a good example of the form
  • create a media product

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