Media

In a jigsaw activity, students learn about three Wikipedia controversies, then decide whether they think Wikipedia is a reliable information source.

Students write about and discuss an ad that has raised issues about beauty, race, and skin color, and consider the role of advertising in reflecting and shaping attitudes.

Students listen to a radio segment about events in Libya and the challenges of reporting from that country; consider events in Libya through a timeline and Twitter messages; and discuss their view of unfolding events in the Middle East.

Three student readings and discussion questions focus on the need to critically interpret and verify what we see, hear, and read to avoid being swamped by information overload.

The internet is loaded with information--but much of it is inaccurate. Three student readings examine three reliable factchecking sources--Snopes, FactCheck, and PolitiFact. Discussion questions, writing assignments and opportunities for group work follow.

A student reading excerpts the president's speech; the second raises a battery of questions to stimulate further inquiry and critical thinking on a vital presidential decision.

Student readings include excerpts from a memo and an ad attacking Obama's reform plan as well as a description of that plan. Discussion questions call for critical thinking about language, factual, and substantive issues.

In this classroom lesson, students consider President Obama's inaugural address as a speech and in the context of past inaugural addresses.

A student dialogue and two readings examine the declining readership of newspapers, especially among young people.

The controversy over Don Imus opened a discussion that deserves students' consideration. A student reading offers samples from TV, radio, the record industry and other media outlets that raise questions about racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and Islamophobia in the media. A Document-Based...