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Lesson: Stereotyping and Genre

This lesson helps students recognize and understand stereotyping and bias in media and how these may be a consequence of genre tropes instead of conscious choices by media makers.

Grade range: 4-6

Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discoveringstudent/chapter/fairy-tales/

Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discovering/chapter/fairy-tales-versus-fables/

Time Frame

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

Fairy Tales

Learning About Genres

Genre Conventions

Stereotyping and Genre

 

 

 

Fairy Tales

Learning About Genres

Genre Conventions

Stereotyping and Genre

Questions for Media Makers

 

 

Preparation:

Make sure that students are able to access the interactive activities.

If you would like to use printed copies of the handouts, download and prepare to photocopy them:

Defining Genre

Fairy Tales vs. Fables

Genre Analysis

Learning Outcomes

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

Media are constructions

  • Media makers’ choices are influenced by the conventions of the medium and genre they are working in

Media have social and political implications:

  • Different genres such as fairy tales and fables have explicit  morals and meanings, and genre conventions can also lead to implicit meanings such as stereotypes

Each medium has a unique aesthetic form:

  • Genres give media makers a “toolbox” of characters, settings, etc. to use

Key questions:

  • What are genres?
  • How do genres make media creators more likely to use stereotypes?

Essential knowledge: Students will know…

  • Reading media: Concept of genre; typical elements of fairy tales and fables
  • Media representation: Impacts of genre elements on stereotyping, ways of responding to stereotyping in media

 

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Understand: Identify how genres influence how media works are made and experienced
  • Engage: Advocate for improved representation in media

 

Curriculum Connections

 

Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications

A1 Transferable Skills

A1.1 Receptive and Expressive Communication

explain how transferable skills can be used to support communication in various cultural, social, linguistic, and domain-specific contexts, and apply them when reading, listening to, viewing, and creating texts of various forms

A1.2 Student Agency and Engagement

evaluate and explain how transferable skills help them express their voice, be engaged in their learning, and plan the next steps to develop their capabilities and potential

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

A2.7 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

 

Strand C: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts

C1 Knowledge About Texts

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

C1.6 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

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

C2.4 Monitoring of Understanding: Ongoing Comprehension Check

Grades 4-5: use strategies such as adjusting reading rate, visualizing, reading ahead, asking questions, and consulting references and other texts or sources of information, to monitor and confirm their understanding of various texts

Grade 6: use strategies such as visualizing, reading ahead, asking questions, and consulting references and other texts or sources of information, to monitor and confirm their understanding of various texts

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

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

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

D2.3 Voice

establish a personal voice in their texts, using varied language and elements of style to express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about a topic, and using a tone appropriate to the form and genre

 

 

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