Teaching Media: Critically Evaluating Media Overview Learning Outcomes

Media are constructions: • Media are imperfect representations of reality • Media makers make intentional and unintentional choices when making a media work • Media have social and political implications: • Media influence how we see reality, including what we see as being good or bad Key questions: • What does media tell us about the real world? • What does media tell us about things like kindnes. [...] Sometimes that doesn’t matter too much (unless you have a pet rabbit) but media have a big impact on what we think is important what isn’t, what we think is “normal” and what isn’t, and what we think about different groups. [...] Distribute or display the handout What’s in Media? Have students put the names of the media works in the first column and then fill in the other columns for each one: Who are the main characters? Think about things like their profession, their age, race, language, disability, etc. [...] How are they different from what the main characters want?) Who or what is missing from the media work? What parts of the main characters’ lives or jobs do you see, and what parts do you not see? Are there groups of people that you never or almost never see? How similar or different are the people you see to people you know? Reflection Either in discussion or in writing, have students reflect on t. [...] Every type of media has a kind of invisible frame, too! Get in the frame with Ava! • Before the video, ask: What kinds of choices do you think people make when they make media, like filming a movie? • After the video, ask: What’s the difference between looking out a window and seeing something framed in media? How can the media frame sometimes be misleading? You Do You! Girls don’t always have to.