by Diana Luciani, former AML Board Member

This 5-day lesson plan incorporates media into the Learning Strategies/Skills for Success Ontario course, and in doing, helps students examine and make positive life choices.

Students will examine various media texts – including film, TV shows, music videos, ads and PSAs – and analyze how these media representations influence and support good life choices, as well as those that make good choices difficult.

How do students know which choices are good, bad?

How can they discover the difference?

How do they choose?

Which media representations provide healthy modeling?

Which provide unhealthy modeling?

Integrated into the course’s introductory unit – Who Am I? – this inquiry will fulfill the Personal Management and Learning expectation of the course curriculum, which focuses on students’ ability to: identify and describe personal lifestyle strategies that enhance health and wellness and improve one’s readiness to learn. These include exercise, rest, diet, balanced priorities, holistic well-being, etc.

 

Materials:

• Super Size Me (film clip)
• TV show clips featuring youth and crime
• Music video, including “Live Your Life”
• Ads: Special K, Dove Real Beauty
• PSAs: anti-smoking, anti-drugs, pro exercise, childhood obesity, drinking and driving, etc.
• AML Media Studies Triangle (use as a handout)
• AML Eight Key Concepts of Media Literacy (use as a handout)
• AML Media frameworks – Codes and Conventions (use as a handout)
• Media questionnaire
• Video camera

 

Key Concepts of Media Literacy addressed in this activity:

Media construct reproductions of reality.

Media texts communicate values messages.

Audiences use past experiences and skills to negotiate meanings in media texts.

Media texts communicate political and social messages.

Media texts’ form and content combine to communicate meaning.

Each medium has a unique aesthetic that helps determine what is effective and pleasing.

 

Curriculum Expectations:

Students will:

• develop literacy skills; identify and use a variety of reading skills and strategies to improve their understanding of texts (identify purpose, etc.)
• Identify and use oral communication skills to support reading, writing, and positive interaction with others (asking questions to clarify meaning, etc.)
• Identify and describe personal-management skills required for success, and explain their use to help maximize learning.
• Identify personal qualities by analyzing past experiences, both successful and unsuccessful.
• Produce an action plan for improving personal management skills that identify personal strengths, challenges and steps for improvement.
• Identify internal and external factors that affect behaviour and school performance, including motivation, and identify strategies for improving behaviour to enhance learning.
• Explore the impact and influence of mass media, and the messages they convey, and its significant influence of students’ lives; while applying critical thinking to media products and messages.
• Build on their communication skills with the ability to critically interpret messages they receive through the various media, and to use media to communicate their own ideas effectively.
• Develop media skills by viewing, analyzing and discussing a variety of media texts and relate them to their own experience.

 

Timeline: 5 days

 

Before: (Day 1)

To build on student awareness, and to activate prior form and content knowledge, students will identify and describe personal lifestyle strategies related to health and fitness.

What are good choices vs. bad choices?

How do they know?

How do they choose?

This will be done as a class, through oral brainstorming. Data will be collected through observation, participation and personal reflection (written). Students will be asked to reflect on their own qualities (successful or not) as it relates to personal lifestyle, and on factors affecting behaviour.

 

During: (Days 2-3)

To build on student analysis, link the previous day’s discussion on life choices and introduce students to media influences on behaviour.

Using the media triangle and key media concepts handouts, the class will gain an understanding of the various media forms and their purpose, including messages and interests.

Students will view media examples representing healthy and unhealthy modeling, and answer a questionnaire on what they experience. This questionnaire will be collected and analyzed.

To continue on reflection and develop student action, have students apply their learning and use their brainstorming, written reflection and questionnaire to write a self-action plan, including lifestyle strategies related to improving their own personal management of their health and fitness.

 

After: (Days 4-5)

From the previous day’s self-action plan, students will zero-in on one health and wellness component to focus on and plan their culminating assignment: an SSA – Student Service Announcement for their school (or a general PSA—public service announcement—aimed at students).

Prior knowledge requires that the essential ingredients of a PSA are reviewed, as well as the use of available audio and video hardware and software.

Give students at least one work period to create their individual SSAs/PSAs.

Data will be collected through observation, plan of action and execution of the culminating assignment.

Have each student share and present his or her SSA/PSA to the class.

Students will offer feedback on each assignment (in writing to each student, e.g., What I liked about your SSA/PSA…).

A class discussion will follow and responses documented.

 

(This lesson plan applies to the Secondary classroom – ed.)