Kamala Harris & Donald Trump Video Biographies

Students analyze Donald Trump and Kamala Harris film biographies for messages about presidential leadership, media creation, and how political bias shapes media interpretation.

Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

A study of select campaign posters, cartoons, and ads teaches students to critically analyze messages from media source and to understand the role media have played throughout the history of American elections. By Chris Sperry and Sox Sperry, Social Education, November/December 2007.

Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

The webinar offers high school educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and free curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to use a wide variety of media forms across the historical spectrum - media from 19th century portraits, songs and handbills, to 21st century websites, twitter and email - to study historical context and to question their credibility.

High School US History: 1800 Anti-Jefferson Political Cartoon

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns. Students in this video decode political cartoons against Thomas Jefferson.

College Level: 2008 Election Magazine Covers

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns. Students in this video decode various magazine covers portraying Barack Obama during the 2008 election.

(Not So) Unprecedented Media Analysis of the 2016 Presidential Race and Its Historical Precedents

This article helps teachers to understand how to use media documents from the 2016 presidential race (as well as past campaigns) to critically analyze media messages to teach objectives from the new NCSS C3 Framework for the Social Studies and the Common Core ELA standards for secondary social studies. When students examine election posters, cartoons, and ads they will comprehend that many themes--including xenophobia, income inequality, and women's political power--have been historical mainstays on the campaign trail.

To Break the Glass Ceiling: Analyzing Campaign Ads by Women Running for President

Students analyze political campaign ads for messages about female presidential candidates, historical and cultural context, and techniques of persuasion.

Good Data - Bad Feelings: Graphing Economics, Public Opinion and Media Coverage

Students analyze graphs and media analysis for messages about the relationship between media reporting on the economy and public opinion.

Storming the Capitol: Front Page Constructions

In this media literacy activity students analyze newspaper front pages for messages about media representation of the storming of the Capitol.

Congressional Blog Posting on Immigration Reform

Students analyze a 2009 Congressional blog post for messages about immigration reform and about target audience. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “The Law of Immigration." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.

1944 Dewey Response to "Fala Speech"

Media literacy and critical thinking activity analyzing the text of as speech from the 1944 Thomas Dewey campaign for messages about political attacks and speech-making techniques.

2016 Balancing Facebook Viewpoints

Media literacy and critical thinking activity decoding Blue Feed/Red Feed posts about the outcome of the 2016 election for sources, bias and interpretation.

2016 Explaining the Result

Media literacy and critical thinking activity decoding TV news clips explaining the outcome of the 2016 election for point of view, credibility and interpretation.

2016 Meaning in Memes

Media literacy and critical thinking activity decoding memes about the 2016 election for the impact of social media forms and interpretation.

Confirmation Bias, Coronavirus and the 2020 Presidential Campaign

In this media literacy activity students analyze the credibility of a controversial pro-Biden political ad attacking President Trump on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a tweet in response by Trump War Room, and an article from the fact-checking website Politifact about the controversy. Students then analyze their own confirmation bias as they reflect on how they evaluate the credibility of sources on political issues.

Election 2020 – The Facts are Clear but Who Do We Trust?

In this media literacy activity students analyze a collection of tweets from President Trump, a televised press conference statement by President-elect Joe Biden, a video opinion piece by Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, a press release from the U.S. Government office for cyber-security and infrastructure security and an online fact checking webpage by the Annenberg Public Policy Center for messages about the 2020 Presidential election results and media credibility.

How Do I Choose? Picking the Right Book for Me

Students analyze book covers and pages from various children’s books to determine personal preferences in reading for a variety of purposes.

How Women Got the Vote: Different Authors, Different Stories

In this media literacy activity students analyze excerpts from two children’s history books for messages about the fight for women’s right to vote.

Polarized America: Political Conventions 2020

In this media literacy activity students analyze montages of clips from the 2020 Democratic and Republican conventions for messages about target audience and polarization of the electorate.

Presidents and Propaganda?

This activity asks students to reflect on the definitions of propaganda and fascist propaganda as they analyze two short videos: a pro-Obama music video produced by musician will.i.am in 2008 and a pro-Trump video shown at the Ellipse in Washington DC shortly before the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.