| Body | Stephanie Knight, Language Technology Specialist at CASLS, and Holly Zaher, Theory of Knowledge and mathematics educator, worked collaboratively to create this week’s activity.
The purpose of this activity is to help intermediate and advanced students to develop their media literacy skills. This activity provides an example of how to use the thinking questions provided by the Center for Media Literacy referenced as this week’s Topic of the Week.
Modes: Presentational writing, interpersonal speaking, presentational speaking
Objectives:
- Students will be able to identify messages imbedded in images produced by the mass media.
- Students will be able to describe images that they see in great detail.
Resources: Butcher paper for gallery walk, markers for students (a different color for each group), rubric
Procedure:
- Expose students to stereotyped interpretations of genders and ethnic groups by having them consider Disney characters. For good images and commentary on racial stereotypes as portrayed by Disney, please see http://animalcollectivism.com/?portfolio=racial-stereotypes-in-animal-imagery-of-disney-films. Some thought-provoking commentary on gender roles as revealed by Disney can be found at https://popularcultureblog.wordpress.com/disney-and-gender-roles/.
- Ask the students to write silently for a few minutes about what they see in two of the images that you choose (choose one that demonstrates a stereotyped portrayal of an ethnic group and one that demonstrates a stereotyped portrayal of gender roles). At this stage, students should not try to interpret anything from the images and should not place value on any image. After they are done, allow the students to share what they see in a Think, Pair, Share format.
- Next, ask the students to write (in groups of four or less) about what the image causes them to think about. The students should complete this task by engaging in a gallery walk and walking around the room to contribute answers to each question. Use the questions from the Center for Media Literacy mentioned in this week’s Topic of the Week as a guide. Here are the questions:
- Who created this message?
- What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
- How might different people understand this message differently?
- What values, lifestyles, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?
- Why is this message being sent?
- Engage in a class discussion about the answers to the gallery walk.
- Using a print medium (the internet, old magazines), have the student groups search for images that represent gender or race. They should use these images to construct a collage that they present to the class. This presentation should answer the questions listed above posed by the Center for Media Literacy.
- As the students present, use a rubric to evaluate performance level. Though this presentation will be formative in nature, it is a wonderful opportunity to give students speaking feedback in a low-stakes situation.
As a possible extension activity, students may create a multimedia presentation in which they discuss the underlying message regarding the representation of a specific character or a group of characters in a given Disney production. If the production cannot be found in the target language, students may wish to look at a series of images instead.
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