Lesson: Thinking About Media
In this lesson, children learn how media techniques influence how we think and feel about things..
Grade range: 1-3
Teacher Material: https://pressbooks.pub/buildingblocks/chapter/exploring-media-techniques/
Student Material: https://pressbooks.pub/buildingblocks/chapter/likeable-and-unlikeable-characters-film-techniques/
Time Frame
| One class period (45-60 minutes) | Two to three class periods (90-120 minutes) |
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| Activities |
Exploring Media Techniques Character on Camera
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Exploring Media Techniques Character on Camera Building Character
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Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the interactive activities that students are able to access the links.
- Have modeling clay or other art supplies on hand for the Building Character activity.
- A printable version of this lesson is available at https://mediasmarts.ca/lessonplan/thinking-about-television-and-movies-lesson.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
- Media are constructions:
- Media works were made many people who made choices that affect the final work
- Each medium has a unique aesthetic form:
- Different media communicate in different ways
- Media have social and political implications:
- Media influence how we see people and groups
Key questions:
- How do media techniques influence how we see things and people?
- How can media makers “stack the deck” to make us side with or against certain characters?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Reading media: How elements such as camera shots are chosen for specific effects
- Making and remixing: How film-makers and other media creators use camera angle, distance, composition and colour to communicate character
- Media representation: The ways that how we feel about characters represented in media is influenced by the techniques that are used to portray them
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Make aa media work that makes audiences more sympathetic towards one character
- Understand: Analyze how media makers’ choices influence how we experience a work
- Engage: Identify how our feelings about characters may be influenced by media techqniues
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.4 Forms, Conventions and Techniques
demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, and apply this understanding when analyzing texts
A2.5 Media, Audience, and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of a text, the audience, and the creator
A3. Applications, Connections and Contributions
A3.2 Identity and Community
demonstrate an understanding of the contributions, lived experiences, and perspectives of a diversity of individuals and communities, including those in Canada, by exploring the concepts of identity, self, and sense of belonging in culturally responsive and relevant texts
Strand C: Composition (Understanding and Responding to Texts)
C1 Knowledge About Texts
C1.1 Using Foundational Knowledge and Skills to Comprehend Texts
Grade 1: read and comprehend short, simple texts, using knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures, and background knowledge
Grade 2: read and comprehend short texts, using knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures, and background knowledge
Grade 3: read and comprehend various texts, using knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures, and background
C1.2 Text Forms and Genres
Grade 1: identify simple literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
Grade 2: identify and describe some characteristics of literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
Grade 3: identify and describe some characteristics of literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts
Grade 1: demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between simple illustrations, images, and graphics and the text
Grade 2: identify ways in which images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
Grade 3: describe ways in which images, graphics, and visual design are used in a given text, and demonstrate an understanding of their purpose and connection to the content of the text
C2 Comprehension Strategies
C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.2 Making Inferences
Grade 1: make simple inferences, using stated and implied information and ideas, to understand simple texts
Grade 2: make simple inferences using stated and implied information and ideas to understand simple texts
Grade 3: make inferences using stated and implied information and ideas to understand texts
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
Grade 1: analyze simple texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying and sequencing important information and events
Grade 2: analyze simple texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying and sequencing important information, and comparing and contrasting simple elements
Grade 3: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing information, and comparing and contrasting elements
C3.5 Perspectives within Texts
Grade 1: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in a text, and describe how these perspectives could influence an audience
Grade 2: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in a text, providing evidence, and describe how these perspectives could influence an audience
Grade 3: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in texts, providing evidence, and explain how these perspectives could influence an audience
C3.6 Analysis and Response
Grades 1-2: express personal thoughts and feelings about ideas presented in texts, such as ideas about diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
Grade 3: describe personal thoughts and feelings about ideas presented in texts, such as ideas about diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
C3.8 Reflecting on Learning
Grade 1: identify thinking skills that helped them understand simple texts
Grade 2: identify thinking skills that have helped them analyze and better understand simple texts
Grade 3: identify thinking skills that have helped them analyze and better understand various texts
Strand D: Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D1.1 Purpose and Audience
Grade 1: identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various simple texts they plan to create
Grade 2: identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create
Grade 3: identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create, and describe how the chosen text form and genre will help communicate their intended meaning
D1.2 Developing Ideas
Grade 1: generate ideas about given and chosen topics, using simple strategies and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences, and learning from other subject areas
Grade 2: generate and develop ideas about given and chosen topics, using simple strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences, and learning from other subject areas
Grade 3: generate and develop ideas about given and chosen topics, using various strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences, and learning from other subject areas
D1.4 Organizing Content
Grades 1-2: sort and sequence ideas and information, taking into account the text form and genre to be used
Grade 3: sort and sequence ideas and information, using appropriate strategies and tools, taking into account the text form and genre
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
Grade 1: draft short, simple texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 2: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 3: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
D2.4 Point of View and Perspective
Grades 1-2: identify the point of view, including first person, used in their texts
Grade 3: identify the point of view, including first person or third person, used in their texts
D3 Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
produce final texts, using simple techniques, to achieve the intended effect
D3.2 Publishing and Presenting Texts
present the texts they have created using appropriate strategies, including by reading aloud with expression
D3.3 Reflecting on Learning
Grade 1: identify a strategy they found helpful when presenting texts
Grade 2: identify a few strategies they found helpful when presenting texts
Grade 3: identify the strategies that helped them present and communicate their message, and explain how they helped them improve as a text creator
