6th Grade Media Studies
Ms. Marshall
Class Syllabus
“Technology gives us power, but it does not and cannot tell us how to use that power. Thanks to technology, we can instantly communicate across the world, but it still doesn't help us know what to say.”
Jonathan Sacks
Course Overview
Our focus for this class will be learning and developing our skills as critical thinkers, readers, writers, speakers, and listeners through the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of media. Since this is a quarter class and only 9 weeks long we will focus our learning around six types of media: political cartoons, public service announcements, documentary films, speeches, news articles and advertisements. The development and mastery of these important literacy skills not only is important to achieving success in the Language Arts classroom, it is a critical component of achieving success in other school subjects, building strong relationships with others, and attaining a flourishing career as an adult.
What do we do in media class?
An example of a unit of study in Media Literacy class:
- Determine the meaning of editorial cartoons through the analysis of the literal, symbolic and figurative meanings of the elements the artist used and their effect.
- Describe the overall effect of the cartoon, and how the artist’s choices combine to create that effect.
- Read related news articles to better understand the meaning of the cartoon.
- Determine the purpose of the cartoon and how it relates to current issues through discussion questions.
Cartoon Messages
Analyzing the Message
#TheMessage
What Happens in Media Class Doesn't Stay in Media Class
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