Media Literacy Activities

Questions to think about and discuss in your teacher groups

We are inundated with media messages daily. How well are we preparing our students to understand and react to these messages?

How do we help our students know that what they see and hear in the media usually isn’t real?

What about when it is real – like war coverage?

How do we combat the persistent use of violence, weapons, and aggressive behavior as depicted in the media as the way to solve problems?

What stereotypes, prejudices, and beliefs about other people and places do our students acquire from the media? How do we find out what they are and how do we counteract them?

Here are some activities to try.

What Do You See?

Point of View

Here are organizations that provide information on media literacy:

Alliance for a Media Literate America

Center for Media Literacy

FAIR Fairness and Accuracy in the News

Media Awareness Network

Media Education Foundation

Media Literacy Clearinghouse

MediaLiteracy.com

Project LookSharp Resources

Understand Media: Media Literacy on the Web

Here are some lessons to try with students. You can find other lessons on the sites above.:

5 Key Questions that Can Change the World (all levels)

Analyzing Popular TV Shows (upper levels)

Arthur's Guide to Media Literacy (elementary)

Point of View (upper levels)

Magazine Redux (upper levels)

Commercial Advertising (upper levels)

Fallacies in Advertising (upper levels)

Writing a Persuasive Essay (upper levels)

Analyzing Political Cartoons (upper levels)

Reality TV Make Over (high school)

KQED Lesson Resources (all levels)

Evaluating News Shows (upper levels)

Community Learning Network Lesson Resources (all levels)

Frank Baker's Media Triangle Use this graphic for analyzing any form of media

Advertising Analysis Lessons

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