TV
and Media ViolenceTV
and Media Violence| Introduction | Activity | Media Analysis | Links |
Introduction-
This website discusses the effects of T.V. violence and ways of resolving
conflicts in everyday life.
Audience-
5th and 6th graders, from small, rural school, blue-collar families, access
to television, video games, probably spend lots of time at home
Objectives-5th
grade objective 4.2( Listing rules for productive arguing )(4.3 identifying
alternatives to fight or flight as means of resolving interpersonal conflicts.)
6th grade objective 4.3 (enacting
non-violent conflict resoultion strategies)
Activity-Title:
Television Violence and Stereotypes
Grade: 5th
Materials: Dominoes
Types of Violence Handout
Video
"Happily Ever After" Handout
Teaching / Learning Outline:
Day One
Preparation: Teacher needs enough dominoes for four
groups. Which will be about six dominoes per group.
Procedure: (A) Ask questions
(1) What is violence? (make sure students consider
emotional and physical acts of violence. Emotional- yelling, put
downs, name calling. Physical- threatening, pushing , hitting, shooting.
(2) How many types of violence can you think of?
(3) How does violence make you feel?
(4) How do you think T.V. violence affects children?
(makes kids think that the world is a dangerous place, makes them think
violence is normal, makes them think violence is a good solution to problems)
(5) Why is emotional violence just as bad as physical
violence? (we can be hurt emotionally just as we can be hurt physically.
Yelling put downs threats and name calling is most likely what kids are
to experince at school. Emotional violence can lead to physical violence)
(B) Divide the class into groups. They are to
create a cycle that leads to physical violence. They write the acts
of violence on dominoes. These dominoes help demonstrate how one act of
violence can create a chain reaction.
Example- Name calling=>threatening=>shoving=>hitting=>attacking
put downs=>pushing=>hitting=>attack with a weapon
Day Two
Perparation: Have the handout with different typesof
violence ready, also have video ready.
Precedure: Handout the worksheet. Watch video and have
students talley the acts of violence they see on the video. After
the video ask questions:
(1) Is violence necessary to make a show entertaining?
(2) What type of violence occurred most often, and
why?
(3) What are alternative solutions to violence?
(4) On T.V. and movies who is portrayed as being the
most violent? (gender, race, etc.)
(5) What does this make us think or feel about these
people?
Introduce the definition of stereotype to the students
(1) What are some typical stereotypes?
Conclusion:
Have students partner up and create a dialogue where
a potentially violent situation occurs between two people. Each student
plays the role of one of the characters in the dialogue and each try to
end the conflict in a non-violent way. These will be read aloud to
the class and handed in for assessment purposes.
Reflection on Lesson:
The lesson went pretty well when it was taught in
a 6th grade class. The students were very involved with the activities
and seemed to get a lot out of them. The students presented a lot
of interest in the affects of media violence. They said that they
had been hearing that term a lot lately due to the violence that took place
in Colorado a few weeks ago. They agreed that media violence could
have negative affects on children and that something should be done to
improve this problem. The students seemed to really relate to the
negative affects that violence in video games could bring about.
Many of them said that they always got angry or frustrated with the person
they were playing these games against and this often brought about ill
feelings between them and the other player. These students seemed
to grasp the importance of this lesson and did a great job of talking about
this problem and coming up with solutions to disagreements that didn't
involve violence.
Media Literacy Key Concepts
1. All media are constructions.
Media products are carefully crafted constructions, the results of many
decisions,
conscious and unconscious.
2. The media are commercial
entities. All media products are shaped, in terms of both their form
and their content, by
commercial considerations.
3. Media communicate values
and ideology. All media products contain implicit and explicit value
messages and
assumed truths about the nature of
human beings and the world in which we live.
4. The media have social and
political implications. The mass media have the potential to affect
out behavior as
individuals and citizens in a variety
of ways.
5. Media forms are related to
content. Different media represent reality in different ways:
the form of a given piece of
media shapes the message it sends.
6. The media have aesthetic
qualities. Familiarity with the aesthetic dimensions of media can
lead to deeper
understanding and greater enjoyments.
7. Audiences are involved in
the process of creating meaning. What a viewer makes of a piece of
media depends
on his or her past experiences, viewing
skill, and current state of mind.