Friday, 18 June 2021

ENG2D Media Unit - Understanding Bias, Misrepresentation & Miscast

 


In this unit, students will explore important concepts and information on the common topics seen in most media texts: bias, misrepresentation, and miscast. Students will critically explore and discuss how these terms function in mainstream society, along with the importance of diversity and representation in order to create a more equitable and accurate representation of news, events, and people.  

Students will partake in a number of activities that incorporate group and individual work, supplemented with class discussions at the end of each day. Finally, in small groups, students will demonstrate their overall understanding of bias, misrepresentation, and miscast through creating an in-depth and interactive presentation analyzing a current topic reflective of the themes presented in this unit. Please see below for the daily instructional lesson plans, activities,  materials, and RPT for this unit. 

Media Unit: Overview 

Day 1 - Bias in News Sources (Adapted from Media Smarts) 

  • Introduction of what bias is, and how to identify bias in the media 
  • Explanation of RPT

Day 2 - Diversity and Media Ownership (Adapted from Media Smarts

  • Class activity exploring two different articles on diversity in the media 
  • Consolidation of discussion in Venn Diagram 

Day 3 - Miscast and Seldom Seen (Adapted from Media Smarts

  • MTV Video & discussion questions 
  • Assessment #1 - Presentation Checklist 

Day 4-5: "Spill-Over" periods for previous lessons, activities, dicsussions, AND teacher-conferences for final RPT.

  • Begin presentations if class is ready! 

1 comment:

The Eclectic & Effervescent English Society said...

What a fantastic, relevant and important media unit for students Clarisa! The concepts and topics covered here are really useful for students and you can easily see how students can actually apply what they learn to real life situations. What is more important than translating and applying learned concept to real life? Nothing in my opinion! This unit offers various media texts and formats and I really like the use of the MTV video focusing on miscasting. Sadly this is still happening today - look at Simu Liu, who played Jung from Kim's Convenience - a Chinese Canadian actor playing a Korean Canadian. There are so many opportunities for great class discussions as well as areas and topics for students to explore! Including teacher conferences is a great was to assess student understanding and puts the onus on the student to demonstrate their learning; this of course also spills over into the RPT as well! While I am sorry you felt intimidated (truly there was no need to be), I am grateful for what you too have taught me over the past six weeks. Thank you also for all your encouraging, supportive and helpful feedback. You've done wonders for my confidence in my teaching capabilities! I hope you too can walk away from this experience feeling even more confident in what you can and already do - you're head of your department! It has been a pleasure learning with and from you!

- Heidi

ENG2D Media Unit - Understanding Bias, Misrepresentation & Miscast

  In this unit, students will explore important concepts and information on the common topics seen in most media texts: bias, misrepresentat...