Media Literacy Web Page on Body Image By Elise Friedenheimer, Tracy Gouge, Angela Land

  We participate in the Beech-Bethel-Mable Partnership.

 This is a picture of us in our media lab, while we were learning how to create web pages.

 

A description of the intended audience.  The intended audience for this lesson plan is second graders.  The children must be actively involved in the activity.  The children will be evaluating body image through time periods and cultures.  The students in our schools live primarily in a rural area with exposure to media via television and printed materials.  They have not learned to look at media with a critical eye.

A statement of objectives.
NC Course of Study Goals/Objectives:

Language Arts- Grade 2
3.01  Use personal experiences and knowledge to interpret written and oral messages.

3.03  Explain and describe new concepts and information in own words.

4.06  Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products (e.g., narratives of personal experiences, creative stories, skits based on familiar stories and/or experiences.)

4.09  Use media and technology to enhance the presentation of information to an audience for a specific purpose.

Information Skills- Grade 2
2.05  Recognize the power of media to influence.

3.03  Identify bias and stereotypes.

Teacher Goals for This Lesson:

-Have students recognize that the portrayal of body images is many times false or misleading.

-Students will recognize they have the power to change the stereotypes of body images.

-Students will increase self-esteem.

-Students will learn to view media with a critical eye.

A detailed description of the activity.
We will begin by having a group of pictures on the floor.  These pictures will be of people who are considered beautiful from the past and present, for example: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Lucille Ball, James Dean, Elvis, Tom Cruise, Ben Afflick, Cameron Diaz, Meg Ryan, and Calista Flockhart.  Some of these pictures will be in color and some will be in black and white, varying the color with different time periods.  We will ask the students to arrange pictures into two different groups, one of the past and one from today.  After the class groups the pictures, we will ask them why they put each of the pictures in the group that they did. We will ask the students what they think attractive or good-looking is.  We will list the different things that they say and put it on index cards next to the groups on the floor.  We will than ask why that characteristic makes that person appealing.  After we get their input we will show different ads of what the past as well as today's society considers beautiful.   We will do this by showing different clips from movies of today and of the past.  We will get clips from a variety of movies like "I Love Lucy", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "Ally McBeal".  Below are stills taken from "Gone With the Wind and "My Best Friend's Wedding" which are examples of some of the clips we will show the children.

    Julia Roberts                                           Ruppert Everett                                                                      Scarlett O'Hara
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We will also have pictures of people from magazines and newspapers.  We will talk about how the two groups are different and similar.  Next, we will expose the students to concepts of body image that other cultures value by showing them pictures and video clips with multi-cultures.  When we are done with this discussion we will have the students draw a picture and create an ad for a future society where inner worth is far more important than surface beauty.  During this lesson, the following questions will be interspersed with the discussion.

Higher Level Thinking Skills-
-What makes a person beautiful in the eyes of society?
-How can we change society's opinion on beauty?
-How did the image of beauty look in the past compared to the present?
-Why did society's value on body image change so drastically?
-How will body image be viewed in the future?
-How do the different cultures view body image?
-How does this relate to our culture's concept of beauty?
-Does the way people look affect whether they will succeed or not?
-Does the way we look determine how intelligent or smart we are?

Links to Media Literacy Materials on the Media.

Cultural Context:  This is a link to a web page about the influence of culture on body image.  The site contains statistics about the changing body image of women from the 1950's to the 1980's.  The increase of  revenue for diet industries has increased due to a emphasis on body image in the media.

Myth's about Body Image:  This is a link to a page which promotes changes in the way society views body image.

Gender Stereotypes and Body Image:  This is a link to a lesson plan on gender stereotypes and body image.

Body Image:  This page gives information regarding the view of body image through the Victorian period to the 1990's.  Children  have the preconceived idea that obese people are lazy and unworthy, which are socially influenced ideas.

Violence:  This site contains information about the media's influence on society due to commercials, sitcoms, and television shows.

Healthy Ideas:  This site contains statistics on body image, percentage of men and women who diet, individuals afflicted with anorexia, and individuals talk about their weight problems and body images.

Media Literacy Education:  This site is for media literacy education.  The site contains instructional resources, catalogs, and links to seminars on media literacy.

Media Watch:  This site wants to challenge the biased body image and stereotypes portrayed by the media.  The site contains archives, videos, lectures, and top stories.

Adbusters:  This site contains images depicting what products really do to one's body.

Just Think:  This site is specifically designed for students and educators to promote literacy awareness and contains information regarding the influence of media on youth.

Famous Pictures:  This web site has pictures of famous people from both the past and present.  One can look on this page and see how the image of people has changed.

Actresses in Petticoats:  This web site gives pictures of women that are dressed in petticoats.  They give pictures of recent actresses and actors from the past.

A reflection on how the activity went when you taught it.