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Lesson: Learning with Media

In this lesson, students learn about media as a source of information, and how this information is presented from a particular point of view.

Grade range: 4-6

Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discoveringstudent/chapter/how-do-we-learn/

Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discovering/chapter/fantasy-or-reality/

Time Frame

One class period (45-60 minutes) Two or three class periods (90-120 minutes) Extended Unit
 
Activities  

Fantasy or Reality?

Making Fire

Starting Fires: Traditional Fire Teachings with Zhaawnong

 

 

Fantasy or Reality?

Making Fire

Learning from Comics

 

Fantasy or Reality?

Making Fire

Starting Fires: Traditional Fire Teachings with Zhaawnong

Learning from Comics

 

Preparation:

Make sure that you are able to show the videos and that students are able to access the interactive activities.

A printable version of this lesson is available at https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/teaching-media-learning-media.

Learning Outcomes

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Media are constructions

  • Media makers make particular choices to achieve specific purposes

Media have social and political implications

  • How media present reality affects how we see the world

Each medium has a unique aesthetic form

  • Codes and conventions of genres influence creators audiences
  • Media makers draw and direct audiences’ attention using specific techniques

Key questions:

  • How do we learn about the world from media?
  • How do we learn differently from different mediums and genres?
  • What different purposes are media makers working to achieve?
  • How do media makers draw and direct our attention?
  • How do media makers’ purposes and choices affect what we learn from media?

Frequent student misconceptions: We only learn things from educational media

Essential knowledge: Students will know…

 

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Use: Make a media work that shows their knowledge of how we learn from media
  • Understand: Analyze different ways that media makers direct attention, speculate on the reasons for their choices and analyze their effects
  • Engage: Assess how realistic different genres are and how that affects how we see the wold

 

Curriculum Connections

 

Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications

A2 Digital Media Literacy

A2.3 Research and Information Literacy

gather, evaluate, and use information, considering validity, credibility, accuracy, and perspectives, to construct knowledge, create texts, and demonstrate learning

A2.4 Forms, Conventions, and Techniques

demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, consider the impact on the audience, and apply this understanding when analyzing and creating texts

A2.5 Media, Audience and Production

demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of texts, the intended audience, and the purpose for production

A2.6 Innovation and Design

select and use appropriate digital and media tools to support the design process and address authentic, relevant, real-world problems by developing innovative solutions

A2.7 Community and Cultural Awareness

communicate and collaborate with various communities in a safe, respectful, responsible, and inclusive manner when using online platforms and environments, including digital and media tools, and demonstrate cultural awareness with members of the community

A3 Applications, Connections, and Contributions

A3.1 Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning

explain how the knowledge and skills developed in this grade support learning in various subject areas and in everyday life, and describe how they enhance understanding and communication

A3.2 Identity and Community

demonstrate an understanding of the historical contexts, 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 a variety of culturally responsive and relevant texts

A3.3 explain themes explored in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures to demonstrate an understanding of the varied identities, perspectives, relationships, legacies, truths, and ways of knowing, being, and doing

Strand C: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts

C1 Knowledge About Texts

C1.1 Using Foundational Knowledge and Skills to Comprehend Texts

read and comprehend various texts, using knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures, and background knowledge

C1.2 Text Forms and Genres

Grades 4-5: describe some characteristics of various text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and explain how they help communicate meaning

Grade 6: analyze a variety of text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and explain how their characteristics help communicate meaning

C1.3 Text Patterns and Features

Grade 4: identify text patterns, such as spatial order in a graphic text, and text features, such as type styles and hyperlinks, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning

Grade 5: identify text patterns, such as cause and effect in a persuasive text, and text features, such as a preface and glossary, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning

Grade 6: analyze text patterns, such as problem-solution in a report, and text features, such as subheadings and pull-down menus, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning

C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts

Grades 4-5: explain how images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts

Grade 6: analyze and compare how images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts

C1.5 Elements of Style

Grade 4: identify various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre

Grade 5: describe various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre

Grade 6: identify various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre

C1.6 Point of View

Grades 4-5: identify the narrator’s point of view, including first, second, or third person, in a variety of texts, and describe the advantages and disadvantages of the approach used in each story

Grade 6: identify the narrator’s point of view, including first, second, or third person, in a variety of texts, providing evidence, and explain how using an alternative point of view would change each story

C1.7 Indigenous Context of Various Text Forms

read, listen to, and view various forms of texts by diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit creators to make meaning through Indigenous Storywork about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit histories, cultures, relationships, communities, groups, nations, and lived experiences

C2. Comprehension Strategies

C2.1 Prereading: Activating Prior Knowledge

identify and explain prior knowledge from various sources, including personal experiences, that they can use to make connections and understand new texts

C2.2 Prereading: Identifying the Purpose for Reading, Listening, and Viewing

Grades 4-5: identify a variety of purposes for engaging with texts, and select texts from diverse creators that are suitable for the purposes

Grade 6: identify a variety of purposes for engaging with texts, select texts from diverse creators that are suitable for the purposes, and explain why the selections are appropriate

C2.3 Monitoring of Understanding: Making and Confirming Predictions

Grades 4-5: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text, and pose questions to check whether their predictions were correct

Grade 6: make predictions using background knowledge and textual information, pose questions to check whether their predictions were correct, and, if not, adjust their understanding

C2.5 Monitoring of Understanding: Making Connections

Grades 4-5: describe how the ideas expressed in texts connect to their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them

Grade 6: explain how the ideas expressed in texts connect to their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them

C2.6 Summarizing: Identifying Relevant information and Drawing Conclusions

Grade 4: summarize the main idea of a text and the supporting details in sequence, and draw a simple conclusion

Grade 5: summarize the main idea of a text and the supporting details in sequence, and draw a well-supported conclusion

Grade 6: summarize and record the main idea and supporting details in various texts, and draw well-supported

 

C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy

C3.2 Making Inferences

Grades 4-5: make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to extend their understanding of various texts

Grade 6: make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to develop interpretations about various texts and to extend their understanding

C3.3 Analyzing Texts

Grade 4: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, and explaining cause and effect

Grade 5: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, recording relevant information, and explaining cause and effect

Grade 6: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, evaluating the quality of information and its relevance for a specific purpose, and formulating conclusions

C3.4 Analyzing Cultural Elements of Texts

Grades 4-5: identify cultural elements that are represented in various texts, including, norms, values, artifacts, sports, and music, investigate the meanings of these elements, and make connections to their lived experience and culture

Grade 6: analyze cultural elements that are represented in various texts, including, values, rituals and ceremonies, architecture, art, and dance, by investigating the meanings of these elements, making connections to their lived experience and culture, and sharing their interpretations with others

C3.5 Perspectives within Texts

Grades 4-5: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in various texts, explain how these perspectives are conveyed, give some evidence of any biases the texts may contain, and suggest how such biases could influence an audience

Grade 6: explain explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in various texts, including narrative texts, provide any evidence that could suggest bias in these perspectives, and suggest ways to avoid any such bias

C3.6 Analysis and Response

Grades 4-5: explain how various topics, such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, are addressed in texts, and describe what insights or messages are conveyed

Grade 6: explain how various topics, such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, are addressed in texts, analyze the insights or messages conveyed, and identify different positions presented

C3.7 Indigenous Contexts

Grades 4-5: explain how texts created by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals, communities, groups, or nations are influenced by historical periods, cultural experiences, and events, and how they relate to current lived experiences

Grade 6: assess the influence of historical periods, cultural experiences, and/or socio-political conditions and events on texts created by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals, communities, groups, or nations, and how they relate to current lived

Strand D: Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts

D1. Developing Ideas and Organizing Content

D1.1 Purpose and Audience

identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create, and explain why the chosen text form, genre, and medium suit the purpose and audience, and how they will help communicate the intended meaning

D1.2 Developing Ideas

generate and develop ideas and details about various topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences

D1.4 Organizing Content

Grades 4-5: select and classify ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and sequence content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium

Grade 6: classify and sequence ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium

D2. Creating Texts

D2.1 Producing Drafts

Grades 4-5: draft texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies

Grade 6: draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, expository, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies

 

D3 Publishing, Presenting, and Reflecting

D3.1 Producing Final Texts

Grade 4: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including simple digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect

Grade 5: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect

Grade 6: produce final texts, selecting a variety of suitable techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect

 

 

 

 

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Discovering Digital Media Literacy - Teacher Textbook Copyright © by MediaSmarts. All Rights Reserved.