Spotlight: Media Literacy Week
Media Literacy Week in Canada was created to help students become literate in our complex world of digital media. The goal is to develop students’ critical thinking skills so they can become informed digital citizens.
Note that the Edwin materials listed below range from Grades 6 to 10 and provide opportunities to connect to a variety of subject areas, including ELA and social studies.
Getting an Edge on Media Literacy (6-8)
This Getting an Edge ELA collection is intended to be an overview of the skills and strategies students can use to improve their media literacy. Students can use this collection independently as they direct their own learning. Or, you might direct some students to specific parts of this collection (for example, they may need more support analyzing and evaluating media texts or more support creating media texts).
April Fools Day: Media Awareness (6-8)
This collection gives students the opportunity to find out about some classic April Fool’s Day pranks and to consider some of the tools they can use to verify the truth of a media text. This collection provides opportunities to link to other subject areas, including science, social studies, drama, and art.
Understanding Point of View: A Focus on Journalism (8)
Students find issues of fairness very engaging. This collection focuses on point of view, in the context of journalism, and encourages students to read and view media texts closely as they analyze how well the reporters have balanced the opinions involved. Through roleplaying a press conference students gain an appreciation for the importance of word choice and context when sharing a story. This collection builds on the lessons in the “Holding a Press Conference with Fictional Characters” collection and prepares the students for the “Writing a Press Release” collection.
Distinguishing Between Facts and Opinions
The Internet is rife with people’s opinions. More often than not, opinions are shared and re-shared without much thought given to whether or not those opinions are based in fact. Use this collection to guide students through an exploration of the difference between facts and opinions—and how to distinguish between them. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to practise identifying facts and opinions from a variety of Learning Objects, both written and oral texts. Students will then synthesize information from a variety of sources, differentiating content they find between fact and opinion, as they research a chosen topic.
Digital Citizenship
What kind of a digital citizen are you? Do you know the rights and responsibilities associated with being a lifelong digital citizen? Find out in this collection! These learning objects focus on the skills, rights, and responsibilities associated with online participation and lifelong digital citizenship.
Video Storytelling: Developing Media Literacy
This collection challenges students to recognize the role a director plays in the creation of a documentary video. Using content from the Social Studies “Canadian Communities Past and Present” curriculum, students will apply their knowledge of the vocabulary of video shot composition and learn how to create storyboards. In this collection, students have the opportunity to speak, listen, read, view, write, create, and think critically.
Critical Literacy Part 1: Building Critical Literacy Skills
Every day, we make decisions—from choosing what music to listen to, to deciding on how to get from one place to another. You can use this Collection to help you develop the skills needed to critically analyze information and the sources of that information, so that you can make the best possible decisions.
Critical Literacy Part 2: Developing Scientific Literacy
Ever wonder how to separate science from non-sense? Being a scientifically literate citizen will help you to make informed decisions about what content to trust. You can use this collection to help you expand and apply the skills needed to critically analyze scientific information and issues.