The Media. Blake s Topic Bank. IU42 The Media Upper Primary. by Merryn Whitfield. Each integrated unit contains:

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1 IU42 The Media Upper Primary Blake s Topic Bank The Media by Merryn Whitfield Each integrated unit contains: 6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence 10 practical blackline masters National Profile outcomes A useful resource list

2 The Media by Merryn Whitfield UPPER PRIMARY Learning Area Focus Studies of Society and Environment Topic This unit encourages students to examine a variety of information sources, and to explore the development of different communication methods and why they are necessary in our global community. Students are also encouraged to consider technological changes in the media over time and to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of these changes. The culminating activity involves a group presentation of a media product, through which students can demonstrate their understanding of the media, and how it can be used to entertain, inform and influence the general population. National Profile Outcomes Students will: SOSE 4.3 Portray an event or occasion from a particular perspective. SOSE 4.12 Show how information is used as a resource to make and record decisions. SOSE 4.16 Identify the types of data and sources required by a task and decide how they will be used to gain information. English 4.1 Interact confidently with others in a variety of situations. English 4.12a When prompted, use a range of strategies for planning, reviewing and proofreading their own work. Technology 4.5a Identify the form, structure, style and presentation used in particular media products and processes. Technology 4.5b Describe how processing and transmitting information have evolved and are continuing to change. Technology 4.6 Select and use recognised procedures, conventions and language to process information and create media products. Arts 4.11 Make media productions that experiment with ideas. Arts 4.12 Select, combine and manipulate media elements using a range of skills. Arts 4.13 Draw upon a range of skills to present media productions for a variety of purposes. Arts 4.15 Identify features of media texts. Resources Fiction Books Gary Crew and Craig Smith, Troy Thompson s Radical Prose Portfolio, Lothian Books Factual books John D Fitzgerald, Shaping the News, Spectrum Elizabeth Halley, TV News: An Interview with Geraldine Doogue, Spectrum Elizabeth Halley, Radio Current Affairs: An Interview with Paul Murphy, Spectrum B Mann, Media Watch, Wayland Publications Web Sites Australian Film, Television and Radio School: The Australian: About Australia News: Radio Online (USA): ABC Radio Networks (USA): ABC News (USA): MSNBC (USA): 1

3 The Media Teaching Notes Did you know The earliest known newspaper published in Germany (Early newspapers were just one page with no headlines or advertising.) 1702 The first daily newspaper published in England 1844 The American telegraph line established, enabling the quick transmission of news across large distances, using morse code 1879 The first demonstration of the transmission of radio signals 1895 The first official radio with antenna 1899 Commercial radio communication between England and France 1905 Ship to shore radio used 1965 The first direct satellite communications between USA and Soviet Union 1927 The first public television broadcasts in England; regular service from Television broadcasting begins in USA; regular public broadcasts begin in The first Australian television broadcast What is the media? With students, discuss what they believe the media is, who creates it, why people and communities use it, what its purpose is and what different forms it can take. Record the information on a class chart for future reference. Together, use the class chart to construct a form to survey the types of media students use and the programs they choose, and why. (Students can use the form they construct, or the form on BLM 1.) Ask each student to complete the survey form over the next two to three days. Have students share their results, to compare and contrast personal tastes and influences. The influence of the mass media With students, discuss the impact that the mass media (in all its different forms) has on their lives what they watch, what they buy, where they go, what they like etc. Ask students whether the media has always been as important as it is today. Record students comments and reasons for later comparison with other group research activities in the unit. Provide students with research resources (books, Internet sites and computer software) on the history of the media. Divide the class into interest-based groups to research the development of one area of the mass media, for example, radio, television, newspapers, or the World Wide Web. Each group s research report should contain: a time line of significant events in the history of the area of the mass media they have researched; short biographies of significant people or groups; an explanation of the consequences of the development of the chosen form of media on society and individuals within society; and an explanation of the impact of technology on the chosen form of media. Have each group prepare and give a brief presentation of their findings to the rest of the class. Display the groups materials around the classroom. Once all the groups have finished their presentations, come together as a class and make some generalisations about the development of the media and how it influences our lives. Speculate on how this continued development will affect the future, focusing in particular on the increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Who listens to the radio? With students, discuss their patterns of listening to the radio. Ask questions like: What do you listen to? Where do you listen? When do you listen? Why do you choose a particular station? Have students, in small groups or as a class, develop a questionnaire to interview radio listeners (or use BLM 2). 2

4 Then ask students, in pairs, to interview people of different ages and backgrounds to find out how their listening habits differ. Divide the class into groups of about six students and ask them to combine their interview results on a chart. Then ask each group to make some generalisations about how age, culture and social factors influence people s use of the media. Have each group present their findings to the class. Collate and display everyone s interview results on a large chart. Radio slogans Have students collect a variety of verbal and written slogans from local radio stations. Ask students to write these slogans on a large classroom chart and indicate whether the slogans are from commercial or non-commercial, AM or FM stations. In small groups, have students compare some of the slogans to decide what, in their opinion, makes a good slogan. They can discuss questions such as: What sort of language is used in the slogans to make people listen? What sort of people are the slogans targeting? How does this relate to the student gathered interview data (see BLM 2)? How do features such as choice of words, length, rhythm and added music affect a slogan s effectiveness? Come together as a class to share and discuss each group s findings. Have students imagine that they are starting a school-based radio station. Divide the class into small groups (perhaps the same groups as earlier) and ask each group to develop a slogan for their new radio station. They will need first to decide on a target audience, a name for the station, and whether the station should be AM or FM. Ask each group to present their slogan to the class. Then, as a class, discuss the specific features of each slogan and how effective the slogan might be with the target audience. Calling all announcers! Record a few radio announcers. Listen to them with the class and then together construct a mind map of the way the announcers speak, for example, the use of very short pauses; use of a team of announcers to allow for social interplay; and particular pronunciation, emphasis and intonation. Divide the class into pairs of students. Give one student in each pair the role of radio announcer and the other the role of a famous person. Have students choose the famous person they want to be. Give students time to prepare some relevant questions and issues to discuss during the interview, and to practise their interview. Have students present their interview in front of the class, or, alternatively, to make it more realistic, record their interview on tape and play it back to the class. Have students swap roles and repeat the activity. After all students have had a turn, discuss and compare the interviews. What s on the box? Have students develop and complete a television viewing sheet to record their daily television habits. Share and discuss these with the whole class. Ask students to bring in a weekly television guide from a magazine or newspaper. Use this guide to categorise different types of shows using categories such as news, sport, entertainment, infotainment, cartoons, serials, drama, comedy. Discuss why there is such a wide variety of television viewing available. Discuss the role of foreign television productions and the development of the Australian television industry. Together place significant events, with a brief explanation, on a media time line that can be added to over the course of the unit. 3

5 In small groups, have students examine the use of codes to classify viewing suitability of different types of programs eg G, PG, M. Ask students to discuss questions such as: Why are codes necessary? When were they introduced? How are they determined? Who makes the decisions? Invite someone from the Advertising Standards Council or a local television station to talk to the class about the requirements when programming television shows and how a program s classification is determined. Then have each group construct a matrix chart to show the correspondence between viewing time and viewing rating. Provide students with the profile of a fictional person, including factors such as his or her interests, age, and perhaps job and other commitments. Ask them to prepare a good day s television viewing for this person using BLM 3. Share and discuss students choices with the whole class. News news news Have all students watch the news on a particular night of the week. (It is important that it is the same night for all students so that comparisons can be made later.) Ask students to use BLM 4 to record the story headlines in the order in which they appear, and to categorise each story according to whether it is international, national, human interest, sport, weather, political, environmental etc. The following day, group students according to which channel they watched. Ask students within each group to compare how they categorised the news items and to discuss any differences of opinion. Bring the class back together to compare and contrast how different channels organise their news. Together: examine and speculate on why these differences might occur and what impact, if any, they have on the viewers; make a list of the top five news headlines from each channel; discuss the content of the stories and whether or not the headlines were appropriate, accurate or even misleading; examine the language used in these headlines and discuss whether it sensationalises, distorts, informs or influences; talk about the impact of the visual images; and look at gender stereotyping and racial or other bias. Then have students, individually or in pairs, examine one of the top five news items using BLM 5. Follow-up Ask students to watch the news again on the same channel as they did the night before. Ask them to see whether there is a follow-up story to one of the stories from the night before, or one with a similar story-line. If possible, record an example of a follow-up story to use in an initial class discussion to compare techniques used by news presenters. Make a class chart of such techniques. Have students, individually or in small groups, choose an area of the news that they are interested in, for example sport, the arts, finance. Have them write a short script for a news item on a current issue or event in this area, and develop props or visual aids to accompany their story. Give students time to rehearse their presentation, and then have them present their news item. What do we get from newspapers? Ask students to bring in a newspaper from home and bring some extra newspapers in yourself, to ensure a variety. Hold a class discussion about newspapers, asking questions such as: Who reads newspapers? Which papers do students read? Why? How often? Organise an excursion to a local newspaper plant to find out how a newspaper is developed and printed. 4

6 Then focus on the types of articles found in newspapers. Ask small groups of students to cut out examples of different types of articles. Have students highlight examples of specific vocabulary that identify the type of article. Share and discuss the different types of articles and the specific vocabularies with the class. School news Divide the class into small groups. Have each group create the front page of a newspaper, using real-life examples as models. Students could use the format of a local newspaper, a daily paper, or a Sunday paper. Perhaps they could set up their own school newsletter (which could be continued after this unit has been completed). Encourage students to include visual aids, headings and borders. This is also an excellent opportunity for students to develop their computer design and word-processing skills. What s special about magazines? Bring in a selection of magazines. (If you ask students to bring some in, make sure that you view the contents beforehand.) With students, discuss which magazine they would buy for information on a specific topic, for example to find out about popular music, or how to keep a healthier lifestyle, or for information on television programs. Talk about the similarities and differences between magazines. Discuss why magazines are more visually attractive than newspapers, and how this relates to their purpose and readership, and affects their cost. As a class, make generalisations about the effectiveness of magazines as a form of media. Analysing print media So far students have examined newspapers and magazines, the two most popular forms of print media. With the assistance of the class, gather a variety of other examples of print media, such as brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, catalogues and even business cards. Have small groups of students compare and contrast these with both newspapers and magazines. Ask students to record what they observe. Using BLM 6, have groups of students examine various types of print media and discuss the features that are the most effective in grabbing the reader s attention, and why; and the features that are not effective, and why. Ask each group to share their findings with the whole class. What is advertising? With the whole class, brainstorm what advertising is, who creates it, why, what its purpose is and what types of media it involves. Record comments and issues on a large chart. Discuss popular products and services and how people find out about them and choose to buy or use them. List sources of information about these products and services and add them to the brainstorming chart. Ask students to select a product. Have them, in small groups or as a whole class, record information they can recall about that product based on advertising they have seen, heard or read. What makes the product appealing? What draws attention to it? What encourages people to choose it over its competitors? Print advertising Gather a variety of newspapers and magazines. Ask small groups of students to cut out advertisements for particular products, such as fruit juice, breakfast cereals and toothpaste. Group the ads in categories, and display them on large class charts. Examine the use of language, colour, layout and design in the advertisements and have students complete BLM 7. Hold a class vote to decide which ad in each category (for example fruit juices, breakfast cereals) they believe is the most effective in influencing people to buy it. As a class, construct a questionnaire to survey parents, friends and teachers about their knowledge of these product groups, including the particular products voted for by the class as having the most effective advertising. 5

7 Discuss the results of these surveys and determine if students generalisations about the effective features of print advertising are correct or if they need to be amended (see BLM 7). Creating an ad With students, examine the different roles and responsibilities within an advertising company drafting and developing ideas, editing, layout, graphic design and printing. Ask students to form small groups of four to six people to create their own advertising company. In these groups, have students conduct some consumer research using BLM 8 to identify the appropriate target audience for various new products. Encourage students to add their own products to the existing list, and to be inventive with the products they suggest. Talk to students about how they might make sure their advertising gets to a particular target audience. For example, if the product is a new computer game, and their research shows that the people most likely to try it are year old boys, a good strategy might be to run an ad campaign on television during programs this group is likely to watch, or to advertise on an Internet site. After each group has completed their survey, collated the results, and decided on a product, have them develop packaging and a slogan. Ask each group member to draw up a rough design for packaging on BLM 9, and pitch it to the group, saying why they think it will be effective. (As a rough, it need not be perfect artwork, but should convey the general idea.) The groups may decide to use elements of several of the proposals in their final design. Once the groups have decided on packaging and slogan, have them develop a print ad for the product, using many of the language and layout features examined in the earlier magazine and newspaper examples. If appropriate, encourage students to make use of computer technology when considering the ad s layout and graphic design. Ask students to label the special features of their ad and say why they chose them, and how they hope the ad will influence the consumer. Display the ads in the classroom. The World Wide Web Many students will be familiar with accessing the Internet and will have been using it in this unit to research other areas of the media. Ask students to monitor each other and members of their family over a week to record their Internet usage: who uses it, when, for how long, what sites or types of sites were visited. As a class, collate the results. Compare the results of this survey with the results of other media surveys, such as the television viewing survey. As a class, or in smaller groups, construct a list of positive and negative aspects of using the Internet to gather news, sporting results, financial information, weather details, and for locating and/or purchasing goods and services. If this is done in groups, have the groups compare their lists. With the class, speculate on the future impact of the Internet on our increasingly global society, and its effect on people s use of other forms of media. Evaluating the role of the media Before the final activity, review the content and learning processes students have been developing since the beginning of the unit. Revise the class charts and use these to list focus areas of media involvement: news, human interest, finance, advertising, entertainment etc. Using this list as a beginning point, brainstorm with the class a variety of media products students could develop as their final task, such as: performing a segment in a television current affairs show presenting a segment of a radio show or music countdown role playing a newsworthy event and writing the corresponding newspaper article about it developing an advertisement on a particular product for television or radio creating a pamphlet to advertise a current community or school fundraising event. Ask students to choose one of these tasks or any other task the class has listed. Also have them choose their groupings individual, pair or small group. Different activities will require different grouping strategies. Give students BLM 10 to help them plan their media product. Have students present their media product to the class. 6

8 BLM 1 Personal media profile Day:... Print media Item read Why? Television Program watched Why? Radio Program listened to Why? Share your results with the class. What can you say about the class media use? 7

9 BLM 2 Radio listener interview Listener s name:... Age:... Sex: Female Male Country of birth:... Languages spoken at home:... How many radios do you have at home?... Does your car have a radio?... Where do you listen to the radio?... When do you listen to the radio?... Why do you listen at those times?... What radio station do you usually listen to?... Why do you listen to that station?... What s your favourite radio program? Why?... Who s your favourite radio personality?... What do you like about radio?... What don t you like about radio?... 8

10 BLM 3 A good day s viewing Summarise the profile of the person your teacher has given you. Name:... Age:... Sex:... Cultural background:... Special interests:... Other important factors: Using this week s television guide, develop a viewing plan for a particular day to suit this person. Complete the plan below. Decide which programs the person should watch and which ones he or she should videotape. Channel Program Time it starts Time it finishes To watch or to videotape? 9

11 BLM 4 News news news! Watch the news on television tonight all the way through. If you are going out, videotape it and watch it when you get home. Write down all the headlines in the order in which they appear on the news. Then categorise each news item according to its topic. Some items will cover more than one category, for example, the story may be an international and a political one. Possible categories are: international, national, local, human interest, sport, weather, political, environmental, finance, social. Then give a short description of what the news item was about. Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... Item headline:... Category:... Summary of content:... 10

12 BLM 5 News: fact or fiction? With your class, you have been looking at five of the top news stories from yesterday. Choose one of those stories to analyse in more detail, and complete the form. News item headline:... Position in news (1st, 2nd etc):... Approximate length:... Summary of content:... Was the headline appropriate for the item? Why do you think this?... Was the language used to: inform, sensationalise, or influence? Give some examples:... Comment on the visual images used in the item:... Was there any evidence of gender stereotyping? If so, what?... Was there any evidence of racial bias? If so, what?

13 BLM 6 Analysing print media In each box in the chart below, list one significant feature of the relevant print medium. Make sure you examine several examples of each kind first. (For example, look at several different brochures before you record the significant features of brochures.) Are there any significant features you found to be common to all or most types of print media? Media Features newspapers magazines brochures pamphlets catalogues business cards other Features found in all or most print media:

14 BLM 7 Advertising review Choose an advertisement that you find interesting and complete the review below. Then compare your review with a friend s review of a different advertisement. What were the similarities and differences? Product advertised:... Advertising media (eg print, TV, radio):... Size of print ad/length of TV or radio ad:... Target audience:... Effective layout and design features:... Informative language used:... Persuasive language used:... Use of modality: Low Medium High Most effective features:... Least effective features:... Comparison with a friend s review similarities and differences:... 13

15 BLM 8 Who ll buy what you sell? Carry out some consumer research using the tally chart below. Ask a variety of people whether they would buy a new product of each kind. Put a tick for yes or a cross for no in the relevant box. You can add some products of your own to those already listed. Each group member could survey people of one particular age group, or group members could survey randomly and combine their results at the end. Interview tally Age Sex F M F M F M F M F M F M a new chocolate bar? Would you buy...? a new kind of toothpaste? a new computer game? a book that reads to you? a robot that does homework? On the basis of your results, decide as a group which kind of product you are going to develop, who you are going to pitch it to, and how. Record on the back of this sheet your new product, and some ideas you have for advertising it. 14

16 BLM 9 Buy me! In the box below, sketch in your rough design for the packaging of your group s product. Below it, write the reasons you think this design will be effective with your target audience. Target audience:... Why this design will be effective:... 15

17 BLM 10 Planning your media product Use the headings below to help you plan your media product. Remember to make use of the class charts and work you have already completed. Names of students in group:... Type of product (eg brochure, radio advertisement, TV news segment):... Target audience:... Topic:... Key information to be included:... Features to be included (eg for a radio ad, you could include spoken information, background music, and a slogan or jingle):... Tasks involved in preparing presentation:... Group/individual responsibilities:... 16