Demonstration Video: Interpreting Charts of Media Use: Gen Z vs. Boomers

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Longeran, leads her students through a decoding of charts using the Project Look Sharp lesson “Changing Our Media Habits: The Impact of the Pandemic” – to teach students to analyze and question charts and explore differences in generational media use. (Total Time: 5:15) Published 2023

Demonstration Video: January 6, 2021: Newspaper Front Pages

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Longeran, leads her students through a decoding of domestic and international newspapers - using the Project Look Sharp lesson: “Storming the Capital” - to analyze media construction and bias in news coverage. (Total Time: 8:57) Published 2023

Demonstration Video: Wash Your Hands - Kindergarten

School librarian, Michele Coolbeth, has her students reflect on the qualities of different media forms (videos and a poster) while learning how to wash their hands. (Total Time: 2:13) Published 2023

Demonstration Video: What is Media - Kindergarten

School librarian, Michele Coolbeth, has her students identify media, including in their clothing – and then reflects on the importance of teaching young students to recognize that media is all around them.

Demonstration Video: Who is Family? - Kindergarten

School librarian, Michele Coolbeth, leads kindergarten students through analyzing book covers for messages about the diversity of families - using the Project Look Sharp lesson, “Who is Family?”

Does Fair Use of Copyright Apply in Education?

Explains Project Look Sharp's approach to creating curriculum that contains copyrighted media materials. Media materials can be reproduced and used where critiquing of the media is the central objective.

Elementary Level: Decoding Money

Related to kit: Introducing Africa: Critical Thinking and Media Literacy

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Introducing Africa. Students in this video compare two African currencies to the U.S. Dollar to gain insight about cultural differences.

Elementary Level: First Contact Between Europeans and Native Americans

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using our lesson, First Contact. Students in this video decode two opposing paintings to understand how Europeans impacted Native American life.

Elementary Level: Gender In Children's Commercials

Related to kit: Critical Thinking & Health: Nutrition and TV Commercials

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Critical Thinking and Health. Students in this video decode the commercial "Magic Kissing Dragons" to analyze media messaging about gender.

Elementary Level: Paintings of George Washington and King George

Related to kit: Causes of the American Revolution

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Causes of the American Revolution. Students in this video decode differences in paintings of George Washington and King George.

High School English: Examining Credibility and Bias in Web Sites

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Martin Luther King, Jr.

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Constructions of Martin Luther King Jr. Students analyze the white supremacist website martinlutherking.org and reflect on critical thinking and the internet.

High School Global Studies: The Politics of Maps: Israel/Palestine

Related to kit: Media Constructions of the Middle East

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of the Middle East. Students in this video learn to understand the level of bias in maps.

High School Science: The Great Global Warming Swindle

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Constructions of Global Warming. Students analyze a short video clip from the film The Great Global Warming Swindle, compare the information in the clip with a chart, and reflect on issues of credibility and bias in media representations and our own biases when evaluating information.

High School Social Studies: National Geographic's Africa

Related to kit: Introducing Africa: Critical Thinking and Media Literacy

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Seeing Africa. Students reflect on stereotyping while analyzing the representation of Africa in the lead pages from the 20 National Geographic articles on Africa in the 1990's.

High School Social Studies: Newsweek Covers on US Wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan

Related to kit: Media Constructions of War: A Critical Reading of History

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of War. Students in this video are lead to decode Newsweek covers from various US Wars.

High School Students Speak about Media Decoding in Social Studies

Ninth through eleventh graders at the Lehman Alternative Community School in Ithaca, New York, speak about the importance of integrating media analysis into social studies.

High School Students Speak about Media Literacy

Documents students' reactions to media literacy integration at their school and how it has impacted their lives and learning experiences.

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.

How Does a Teacher Lead a Media Decoding?

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

Demonstrates best practices used for leading a media decoding in the classroom. Be sure to read the subtitles while viewing the video as they refer to the pedagogical implications.

Integrating Common Core Standards across the Curriculum with Critical Thinking and 21st Century Literacies

This dynamic full-day workshop will expand participants’ understanding of literacy and deepen their ability to engage all students in active learning through the inquiry-based analysis of diverse fiction and nonfiction media documents. Participants will walk away with materials, strategies and a plan for developing Common Core literacy skills while teaching content-area knowledge. This workshop can be designed for a specific audience (e.g., secondary social studies, ELA and/or science teachers, elementary school teachers, librarians, PD specialists) or a mixed group of K-12 educators.