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Media and Minority Involvement
Overview
In this lesson students will look at different news sources and examine how minorities are portrayed. Students will consider how the media discourages minorities from becoming civically involved.
Grade Levels
5 – 8
Objectives
Students will:
- examine different news sources and identify how many times minorities are featured;
- describe how the language and tone in news stories affect their impressions and opinions about minorities; and
- explain how the media inadvertently discourages minorities from participating in civic activities.
Estimated Time
2 days
Materials Needed
- E-Learning Module: Minority Civic Involvement
- Internet connection with Macromedia FLASH ® enabled
Procedure
Day 1
- Divide the class into small groups of three or four. Give each student a copy of a newspaper (You can use the local newspaper or a paper from a major U.S. city, such as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, or Los Angeles Times.)
- Have each group examine their copy of the newspaper and answer the following questions:
- How many times were minorities featured? Why were they featured?
- Were any minorities featured because they participated in civic activities?
- Analyze the language and tone used in the features about minorities? How did the language and tone affect your impressions and opinions about minorities?
- Allow each group to share their responses to the questions.
- For homework, have students watch the nightly news and answer the same questions they answered about the newspaper.
Day 2
- Allow students to share their responses to the questions.
- Guide students in considering why newspapers and local televisions stations don't feature more minorities participating in civic activities. Lead a discussion about how the lack of minority leaders featured in the news may unintentionally discourage minorities from participating in government.
- Have students watch "Media and Minority Involvement" from the Minority Civic Participation E-Learning module. Use the following questions to facilitate discussion:
- How does the media impact citizens' views of minorities?
- According to the student in the video, the media inadvertently discourages minorities from participating in civic activities. Based on your own analysis of the news, do you agree or disagree with her?
- Why should the media feature more minority leaders?
Extension Activities
Encourage students to find minorities in their own community or surrounding community who are civically engaged. Ask students to write a feature article about one of these minorities. Have the school or local newspaper publish these articles.
Assessment
Basic Concepts and Processes
Ask your students to respond to the following requests for information and assess their knowledge of key concepts taught in this lesson.
- Based on your experience, how often are minority leaders featured in the news? How might this impact the number of minorities who participate in civic activities?
- How does the language and tone in news stories affect your impressions and opinions about minorities?
Lesson Plan Feedback
If you have suggestions for improving this lesson plan, or if you have ideas for others using the module, please let us know. We value your input. Thank you!