View Content #24761

This activity is designed to illustrate how media portrayals impact our perceptions. It employs the "Think, Puzzle, Explore" thinking routine, a thinking routine that can empower learners to dissect media both in and outside of school.  

 

Modes: Interpretive, Interpersonal

 

Materials: 

Article 1 (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/travel/in-haiti-tourism-economy-caribbean.html), Article 2 (https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21710313-ravaged-land-prepares-long-delayed-election-weaker-storm?zid=305&ah=417bd5664dc76da5d98af4f7a640fd8a),two pieces of large white poster paper

 

Procedure: 

1. Divide students into at least two groups. Each group will receive one of the articles linked above. It is important for this activity to make sure that each group is heterogeneous; that learners have diverse outlooks and perspectives to share is critical. 

2. Instruct student groups to read through their assigned article. 

3. Inform learners that they are going to complete the "Think, Puzzle, Explore" thinking routine. Be explicit that this activity is designed to activate prior learning and facilitate inquiry.

4. Ask learners what they think they know about the text they were given. Provide one minute for thinking and one minute for writing.

5. Ask learners what questions they have or what puzzles them. Provide one minute for thinking and one minute for writing.

6. Have each group discuss their responses to the think and puzzle prompts. The success of this discussion rests upon a variety of factors. The most critical consideration is that what learners puzzle about can and should prime further discussion and lead into the next section: explore.

7. Ask learners to consider how they want to explore the topic - what do they wonder? What is interesting to them? Provide one minute for thinking and one minute for writing. Each group should make a group list of what they want to explore.

8. Next, group members will take what they wrote for all of the previous questions and use these perceptions to create a mind map related to the articles about Haiti on poster paper. This mind map should capture words used to describe Haiti in the article and how those words impact the reader, as well as the list of what students want to explore further. 

9. After each group is finished, they will share their posters. Have students take notes regarding perceptions of Haiti during the presentations. While students present, have them compare and contrast what they think they know about Haiti with the information in the articles on a Venn diagram on the board. 

10. Next, facilitate a class discussion about how the various representations of Haiti explored in class differ and what the potential implications are of those representations both within Haiti and abroad. Discuss how learner ideas may have changed from the "Think" prompt to the end. Now is a great time to explore misconceptions students had and also discuss what students are interested and the strategies they might use to further explore these topics.

 

Notes: This activity is adapted from a handout created for the Vanderbilt Center of Latin American Studies by CASLS.