Media Studies Lesson Plan
Teach Students to Keep a Journal of Personal Media Consumption
May 31, 2007
This lesson is an excellent way to get students involved with media literacy skills. It can be adapted for many age levels and provides the opportunity to examine personal media consumption in a non-judgmental fashion. Always remember, media is neither "good" nor "bad"...it just "is."
Most Americans are aware of the fact that media consumption is a large part of our culture and for this reason, we need to be aware of what we are exposed to on a daily basis.
This exercise will help students to better gauge both the time spent consuming mass media and the reasons why we choose the specific media we interact with.
Students will be asked to critically think about where they are and with whom when they consume media, and what kind of media content they "allow" into their lives.
Students should keep a "Mass Media Journal" for five consecutive days. Each day they should log the amount of time spent with media as well as the types of media they interact with.
Mass Media Include:
Magazines
Television
Movies
Recordings
Books
Internet
Ask students to be aware of each time they come in contact with media. For example, if a person sitting across from you is reading a newspaper and you read some of the headlines on that paper, you have interacted with a mass medium. The journal should be logged in the following manner:
Record the item - (name of print or TV/radio program)
Name the medium - (television, book, internet etc.)
Record the amount of time spent with the medium (rounding off is fine)
Record the context of interaction - ( in my room, with my sister, while riding in the car etc.)
Explain why the interaction took place - (research for homework, entertainment, boredom etc.)
At the conclusion of the five days, use the journal to compute the amount of time spent with each mass medium and chart the circumstances and reasons why.
Essay:
Have students write a short essay about the mass medium they use most in their life. Have them include:
- On average, how much time do you spend with this medium?
- What role or purpose does this medium fulfill for you? What do you get from this medium? Do you tend to use this medium to satisfy a need such as information, entertainment or to fill the boredom?
- Do you use this medium during certain times of day or in certain situations?
- Do you use this medium alone or with others?
- How do you think your life would be different if this medium didn't exist?
- When this medium was first introduced, what impact do you think it had on our culture?
- Is there anything about your consumption of media you would like to change?
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