Valley Regional High School

Valley Regional High School

Ms. Schmidt:

The Media and You

“Media Literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce

communication in a variety of media formats.”

– Scott Sullivan, National-Louis University

Overview: This English elective is designed to introduce and develop media literacy. Media literacy is the ability to question, understand, interpret, analyze, and evaluate the content, intent, strategies, and effects of the mass media. Being media literate means that you control the interpretation of the media instead of it controlling you. Students will become aware of principles, myths, and techniques in media, and media literacy terms and concepts.

Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings:

·  Media messages are crafted, constructed representations of reality.

·  Each mass medium has unique techniques used to influence audiences.

·  Different audiences experience and interpret the same media message differently.

·  Media messages effectively reach and influence large audiences in short periods of time.

·  Media have embedded values and points of view.

·  Media are primarily businesses driven by a profit motive.

·  Persuasive and propaganda techniques are used in media.

Essential Questions:

·  Within a given medium, how do various embedded patterns, templates, symbols, and structures define, support, and enhance media messages?

·  How do the media affect our daily lives?

·  How are we manipulated by mass media?

·  How does one judge the effectiveness of media techniques?

·  Does media violence make our society more violent?

·  Does the media reflect social values or determine them?

Course Expectations: Students will focus on different media units. Students are expected to read a variety of magazine/newspaper articles and book excerpts, think critically and take part in daily class discussions, write responses to what they have read or seen, present projects individually and in groups, and watch television newscasts, shows, films, and commercials. Learning unit specific vocabulary is also a part of becoming media literate.

Assessment: Reading, analyzing, discussion, writing, and presenting will count as part of the grade. Students are expected to be respectful and responsible.

Class participation/behavior: 40%

Writing, Presentations, Projects: 40%

Homework/In-Class work: 20%

Assessment of your participation grade is based on the following:

Attendance/coming to class on time and fully prepared

Frequent, thoughtful contributions to class discussions

Appropriate use of class time when working independently or in groups

Respect for all members of the class

Please bring any media issues to class that you would like to discuss and/or analyze. We will be looking at a variety of information every day. If something you see or hear in the media causes you to stop and think when you are not in school, write it down and bring it to class. Mass media affects all of us – we all need to become more aware and better informed so we can make good decisions.

Five basic questions:

·  Who created this message and why are they sending it?

·  What techniques are used to attract my attention?

·  What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in the message—including any stereotypes present?

·  How might different people understand this message differently from me?

·  What is omitted from this message?

Six Media Myths:

·  The world is a dangerous place and we need guns, police and military to protect us.

·  Leave it to the experts (who are usually white men).

·  The "good life" consists of buying possessions that cost lots of money.

·  Happiness, satisfaction and sex appeal, just to name a few are imminent--and available with the next consumer purchase.

·  Your body is not good enough.

·  Businesses and corporations are concerned for the public welfare.

Possible Units:

Entertainment/Informational Media:

·  Television: Students will examine how television affects their daily lives and their households through network and/or cable sitcoms, drama, reality TV, broadcast news, representations of violence, sex, and stereotypes, and product placement. Shows examined may include LOST, 30 Rock, Glee, The Daily Show, Pushing Daisies, Dexter, M*A*S*H, network news as well as The Truman Show and Ed TV.

·  Movies: We will examine how Hollywood portrays race, gender, and disabilities (characterization), how the MPAA Rating System works, the role of violence and sex in movies, product placement and synergy (cross product marketing), and the techniques and structures of movies and documentaries, especially point of view. Works studied may include The Boondock Saints, Bowling for Columbine, and Young at Heart; Crash, and The Player.

Informational Media including Broadcast News

·  Newspapers: A variety of newspapers, print and online, mainstream and alternative, will be analyzed and discussed, including USA Today, The Hartford Courant, The NY Times, and The Wall Street Journal. We will study sections of the newspaper: headlines, cartoons, advertisements, letters to the editor, classifieds, etc. Where does news blur into entertainment? Who owns ideas and information? We will look at media conglomerates. Works studied may include The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Anchorman, Broadcast News, and Outfoxed.

Persuasive Media:

·  Magazines and Advertising: We will analyze advertising in our society: in magazines, on television, in malls, on billboards, etc., focusing on identifying the target audience, language, and messages in advertising. What are persuasive and propaganda techniques and how are they used in media? What constitutes false and misleading information and how can you identify it in media? How does money and profit influence media? Viewing includes The Merchants of Cool.

The Internet: Entertaining, Informational, and Persuasive?

·  Almost everyone in our country connects to the Internet. We will look at how the Internet has evolved, how it affects our lives, and how it has transformed work, school, and leisure time—includes examination of youtube, social networking sites, blogs, wikis, twitter, and RSS feeds. How is the Internet fueled by mass media messages?

Music: Entertainment and Persuasion?

·  Students will analyze and discuss the role music plays as part of media from jingles to soundtracks to pure listening entertainment. They may examine MTV, messages in music lyrics and/or videos, and the ever increasing role of personal listening devices.

In order to take part in all units of this course, students will be reading, discussing, and viewing many aspects of the media, possibly including but not limited to sex and violence in television and film; sexual stereotypes in the media; the meaning in song lyrics, etc. There may be times when students will view clips, excerpted or full length works (including series) that are R rated, TV-MA, or from cable. Violent and/or sexual scenes may be critically analyzed to determine relevance, characterization, and relation to media messages and techniques. Titles of works viewed may change from samples listed in the syllabus or course description to accommodate the most recent media trends, releases, events, and relevance.

Your signature indicates that your student may take part in all units of “The Media and You.” If you would like to discuss any of the units designed for this course, please e-mail me at or call me at 526-5328.

Thank you.

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We are committed to preparing our students to be productive and responsible citizens who are lifelong learners. We challenge our students intellectually, socially, and creatively, and encourage them to cultivate their unique talents in an environment that is supportive, structured, and secure.