What techniques are used to ?normalize? and glamorize a look to sell products to young people? How can media messages be analyzed and interpreted? How can media (including advertising) help shape perceptions of what girls and boys should look like, beginning at very young ages? How can these perceptions affect mental and physical health? The following activity will help students answer each of the questions as they learn how media advertisements affect the way teens see themselves and others.

What drives changes to classic myths and fables? In this lesson students evaluate the changes Disney made to the myth of "Hercules" in order to achieve their audience and purpose.

This article introduces a free online collection of images, video clips, and animations that teachers can use in creating resources for use with students. The four steps in creating a video clip, an animation, or other resource are presented.

Students quantify the percent of light reflected from solutions containing varying concentrations of red dye using LEGO© MINDSTORMS© NXT bricks and light sensors. They begin by analyzing a set of standard solutions with known concentrations of food coloring, and plot data to graphically determine the relationship between percent reflected light and dye concentration. Then they identify dye concentrations for two unknown solution samples based on how much light they reflect. Students gain an understanding of light scattering applications and how to determine properties of unknown samples based on a set of standard samples.

The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

This project unit—a multimedia self-portrait published in digital form—is the capstone of your students' high school careers. It is a chance for them to pause and reflect on where they've been, where they're going, and who they are as a person. Students will reflect on what they want others to know about them: what they want their message to be and what types of media they might use to convey that message. Students will have the opportunity to express themselves in many different formats—through writing, of course, but also through other media of their choosing. Students will be able to convey your message through visual art, photography, a graphic novel, audio, poetry, or video—practically any type of media they want!

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students will complete a multimedia self-portrait, capturing important aspects of the essence of themselves.
Students will contribute one chapter from their multimedia self-portrait to a class anthology.
Students will present one chapter from their multimedia self-portrait to the class.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

How is late adolescence a moment of internal and external change?
What are the most important qualities of your character—past, present, and future?
How can you portray these key aspects of yourself using multimedia?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

What are your students’ strongest personal character strengths at this point in their lives? As students mine the interviews they conducted, they’ll look for character strengths others see in them. Do they see these strengths in themselves? Are they qualities that your students want to portray in their self-portrait?

In our lives, we are constantly telling stories to ourselves and to others in an attempt to both understand our experiences and present our best selves to others.  But how do we tell a story about ourselves that is both true and positive? How do we hold ourselves up in the best possible light, while still being honest about our struggles and our flaws? Students will explore ways of interpreting and portraying personal experiences.  They'll read Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart , analyzing the text through the eyes of one character. They'll get to know that character's flaws and strengths, and they'll tell part of the story from that character's perspective, doing their best to tell an honest tale that presents their character's best side. Then they'll explore their own stories, crafting a personal narrative about an important moment of learning in his or her life.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , viewing the events and conflicts of the novel through the eyes of one of the central characters.
Students write a two-part narrative project: one narrative told through their character’s perspective and one personal narrative about an incident in their own life.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

How do our conflicts shape and show our character?
How can we tell a story about ourselves that’s both honest and positive?
How do definitions of justice change depending on the culture you live in?
What are ways individuals can react to a changing world? To a community that doesn’t accept us?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

In this lesson, students will work to finish the revision of their personal narrative.

 Students will use technology tools and other resources to access information• Students will learn how to employ effective research strategies to locate  information and other resources for their intellectual pursuits• Students will look at online information sources and analyze resources to determine their reliability, point of view, bias, and relevance for particular topics and purposes• Students will evaluate resources for relevance to the assigned task• Students will apply their knowledge of reputable online sources to determine which sites are credible and which are not.

This article presents an overview of news and information presentations around the issue of polar bears drowning at sea due to melting polar ice, and how students might hone their news and information analysis skills taking into account media bias.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the impact of television on news media. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

In this short lesson, students consider the role of the media and their own relationship with journalism by exploring a story on press freedom in Morocco.

Groups of students will compose a collage of alcohol ads and caption them according to what they believe the "real message" is. They will explain their collage and caption rationale to the class. Discussion will follow the presentations as to the targeted age group and messages the media attempts to portray. Students will then redo their captions with alcohol facts mentioned in the video, but not intimated in the advertising.

This article describes many strategies for meeting the needs of visual and kinesthetic students, including deaf students.

This resource contains a lesson plan for assisting students with a culminating activity during a reading of Romeo and Juliet. Students are tasked with reading a critical essay independently. Afterwards, students are required to draw evidence from the essay, other readings, discussions and any other applicable materials used for a study of the play. The lesson may be used as a guide and may be manipulated to include resources that were aligned by the instructor. The resource contains applicable handouts to include: worksheets and graphic organizers.