LESSON ONE: Techniques Used to Convey Media Messages
LESSON DESCRIPTION
Students analyze and synthesize two or more messages conveyed in various media to explain techniques used.
GRADE-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS
I2A The student will identify and explain techniques used to convey messages in various media.
LESSON MATERIALS
§ Sources of literature
§ Supplies
o Media examples (magazines, comic books, newspapers, clip art)
o Magazine for each student to cut apart
§ Handouts provided
§ Words to know
o analyze
o media
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Assessment Scoring Guide
Given a prompt, students create media advertising using all three media techniques. Scoring Guide provided.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Teacher defines media as multiple means of communication. Students review three media techniques that may be used to convey messages:
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Idea
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Example: A journalist targeting readers’ sympathy for an imprisoned political activist may choose to publish a photograph of the activist, crouched behind bars, next to a picture of a caged animal (making use of body language, setting, and juxtaposition) and anchor the picture to a caption that reads “CAGED!”
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Questions for Students
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What comes to mind when someone says the word media? What types of media do you encounter in a typical day? Is written text considered a media type? Why or why not? |
2. Students use magazines to find an example of a media that uses all three techniques. Students label each technique and explain how the technique helps convey the intended message. Students explain how the techniques used in media may impact people’s perceptions related to the accuracy of the message being conveyed.
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Strategy
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Brainstorm the variety of media students come into contact with daily—from media as basic as pictures on a billboard and magazines to media as complex as movies and computer animation. Use overhead transparencies of magazine covers, comic strips, political cartoons, etc. Use paintings by artists such as Andy Warhol, DaVinci, Charles Shultz, etc.
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3. Divide students into groups of four to five to create a group media collage using their examples.
4. Students participate in a discussion to identify specific media techniques displayed within media works and their role in conveying the intended media message.
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Questions for Students
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What message is this work trying to convey? How do technical techniques help convey this message? How do written techniques help convey this message? How do symbolic techniques help convey this message?
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