John Fairbanks

US History/World History/11th/9th grade

Stereotyping – Muslim/Middle Eastern people

What types of effects can stereotyping have on a particular group? Positive or negative.

SS.2.A.1.2: Utilize the media center, technology, or other informational sources to locate information that provides answers to questions about a historical topic.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Students will examine language and the power of bias and “loaded” language
  • Students will identify stereotypical thought concerning Muslims, Arabs and Middle Eastern peoples
  • Students will recognize cultural stereotypes as well as counter-stereotypical efforts seen within popular media.

LESSON CONTENT

Students will understand the extent in which stereotypes affect our society on an everyday basis within our television programs, movies and written media. Students will examine four brief clips - one from the film, True Lies, and others from the popular TV programs: 24, The West Wing and The Daily Show. For each of these clips the students will look carefully for stereotypes or counter-stereotypes and be prepared to provide evidence to support their analysis.

STUDENT GROUPING:

The students will stay within their “Home” groups, which they are normally in (groups of 4-5). This will allow the students to be able to sit with their peers, view the media, and be able to participate in a group conversation before they elect their representative to share with the class what their individual group feels about the particular media and topic that the entire class just viewed. This will also allow students to be able to come to a consensus before they share their answers. The quiet students will speak within their individual groups, voice their opinion, and then the more outgoing students will have the opportunity to stand and speak to the class as a whole on their group’s thoughts.

METHODS

Bell Ringer
The bell ringer will be waiting for the students as they enter the classroom, to help them get their minds on track with the heavier topics that we would be addressing in class that particular day. The bell ringer will address Muslims, stereotypes, Arab peoples; particularly addressing the student’s opinions when it comes to this topic. Having the students start to think about stereotypes through their own experiences will help them appreciate the topic more because it will become more personal for them.

Question & Answer
The students are going to be viewing video clips from film and TV. There are specific questions that will be asked of the students, not only to facilitate group discussion, but to also help the discussion go in a particular direction. Not all of the clips are the same and there are different points that are vital for the students to understand before the class can move on to the next topic/clip.

Graphic Organizer
The students will create a graphic organizer by organizing the various videos and clips where they will write down their opinions of the clip that they have seen, how the clip relates to stereotypes, counter-stereotypes and any other notes that they have.

Quick Scan
This is important to use while the class is going through their group discussions, watching the clips as well as presenting the information to the entire class. A simple YES/NO question to the class and being able to have the students give a thumbs up or thumbs down to see whether or not student agree/disagree, understand/misunderstand.

Exit Ticket
The students will be able to give the teacher an exit ticket that contains two things that the students learned within that day of class. It is important to note that the learned item needs to be thoughtful and relatable to what was discussed within class. This allows the teacher to be able to see what the students pulled from the class, and if the lesson goes multiple days it allows the teacher to focus more on a certain topic if the teacher feels that a particular topic was overlooked by the majority of the class.

ACTIVITIES

Opening
Bellringer: Have you ever been stereotyped? How did it make you feel? Have you
ever stereotyped someone? Why did you, if you knew how it made you feel when it
happened to you?

Main Activity
Video Clips- Give background information on the clip and what was going on in
America when the clip/film was created; Show the clip; Go over vital questions
True Lies
West Wing
24
Daily Show
Students will follow along with the video clips by creating their graphic organizer
with paper that they bring and keeping notes and answering the questions that are
required for each clip: How does the clip relate to stereotyping? Who is being
stereotyped? Is there counter-stereotyping occurring? How do you know?

News Report- Assessment that has students apply their knowledge of
bias and stereotyping in everyday media.

Important Questions to Ask

  • Can you think of stereotypes that have harmed you, your family, or your friends?
  • How can you challenge stereotyping in a way that doesn’t harm or shame others?
  • Can you think of other examples of stereotyping of Arab or Muslim people that you have seen in popular culture – music, videos, TV, films or video games?
  • Could you ever portray an Arab as part of a terror plot without it being deemed a stereotype? Why or why not?

MATERIALS

Smartboard, Youtube, Computers, projectlooksharp.com. The reason that I chose these materials are: Smartboard—Allows seamless integration between the videos, questions, bellringer and discussion questions. Youtube—where the videos are located and are easily accessible, not only for the educator, but also the students after they leave the classroom. Computers—the students will utilize in classroom computers to accomplish their assessment. Project Look Smart—a great website that goes over media and the United States and poses various questions and materials all at the students fingertips.

EVALUATION

I plan on evaluating the students through the News Report Assessment. This assessment helps evaluate the students understanding of stereotypes, media and they being able to understand how these types of bias are applied to media on an everyday basis. The students will be able to exercise their understanding by creating the various news reports, through the media, and accurately portraying bias and motives behind companies and their constituents.

Create a News Report

Our democratic President has sent in a military expedition that had great success last week and the US military have taken out Enemy X hiding in Great Britain. The original story broke and news companies everywhere reported what the White House explained had happened, “The Military went into London in the middle of the night in stealth helicopters, found the military compound that Enemy X was reported to be located in, the troops stormed the compound, were met with gunfire and they participated in a firefight for about 45 minutes. Eventually the US troops got inside the compound and found Enemy X holding a small child hostage. The troops executed a high precision headshot on Enemy X, only after Enemy X had began to fire at the soldiers. No one else was harmed. A great victory of the United States and her allies. “

However, things have changed with new reports coming in from the White House at the beginning of this week. The White House reported just today that the compound, Enemy X was found in, is located right next to Mi6 (Britain’s equivalent to the US CIA); British Parliament had no idea that the US was going into London, to execute this mission; There was only a 35% chance that Enemy X was actually in the compound within Great Britain; The only shots fired within the compound were from US Soldiers; Enemy X was living in the compound with no security and only his wife and their four children; No weapon was found on Enemy X; Two children and the wife of Enemy X were killed in cross-fire. When the White House asked where the body of Enemy X was located, they explained that they dropped it down a volcano on their way back to the US.

Part I—Three Blind Mice

It is going to be up to your group to report on this monumental occasion in US history. Your group is going to consist of three media companies: ABC, MSNBC & FOX NEWS. It will be up to your group to report on the Killing of Enemy X, one week after the initial battle that occurred on British soil.

The only information that your group has is what the White House has given you. They have released two reports, the initial report of the great US victory and the second report, that came in just today. It is going to be up to you and who your constituents are, on how you are going to report this momentous day in US history, one week removed from the initial attack. The is no other information coming in from Washington at this point in time, and the public has not heard the recent report just released from Washington. You are worried because you have heard of rumors sprouting up on Twitter and Facebook that contains some of this recent information. You have to break the news before Washington confirms any of the rumors or allegations being made via Twitter or Facebook.

Part II—The Research

Your group consists of three different media outlets—ABC, MSNBC and FOX NEWS. As a group you are going to need to research more about these three particular companies. Before you can even begin your news report, you must find out how you are going to report this news through these various outlets. Your group needs to find:

  • How do these companies report the news (Internet, Social Media, Newspaper, etc.)?
  • Who are their constituents?
  • Who owns their company?
  • Do they affiliate themselves with being left-winged, right winged, moderate?
  • What is their motto or slogan?
  • What types of shows do they run during a typical day?
  • Any other pertinent information about the particular outlets

Part III—The Report

Your group will create three separate reports based off of the information received today from the White House. You will create: a ticker update (the continuously scrolling bit of information on the bottom of the TV screens) that hits the one main point you wanted repeated throughout the day; a Tweet via Twitter; a Headline for a link to your website online; A 3 minute ‘Breaking News Update’ for your primetime station.

  • Ticker Update
  • Tweet via Twitter
  • Headline for an Internet Article from your Outlet
  • ‘Breaking News Update’ (Written script—2-3 pages or 500 words)
  • The script is the heart of your project. It allows you to tell the story of your topic and deliver key information. Your script should:Include background information about your topic.Explain the effect it had on people living during that time period. Include at least one meaningful quote by someone knowledgeable about the topic, and tell the name of the person being quoted.

Good luck news teams. Follow the rubric and everything will come out on top!

Rubric

  • Script _____/15
  • Explains the event(s) clearly
  • Explains the effect the event had on people and the country at the time
  • Includes some sort of bias, depending on company that is reporting: done by information added, information left out, etc.
  • Uses correct grammar and spelling
  • Information is paraphrased- Do not plagiarize!
  • If information used from outside sources credit must be given to sources at the end (bibliography should be part of your movie)
  • Spoken at a speed that is easy to understand (Don’t talk too fast)
  • Pictures _____/10
  • Show images that fit with the script
  • Make sure the picture is 3-5 seconds long to allow viewers to adequately visualize the topic. Be sure to add effects as appropriate

(Do not just add effects because you can!)

  • Tweet via Twitter _____/10
  • Is 160 characters of less
  • Is organized, concise
  • Different for each media outlet—depending on outlets p.o.v.
  • Headline _____/10
  • No more than one sentence long
  • Has a hook
  • Different for each media outlet—depending on outlets p.o.v.
  • Ticker Update _____/10
  • No more than one sentence long
  • Most important information from news outlet
  • Different for each media outlet—depending on outlets p.o.v.
  • Working as a Group_____/10
  • All group members stayed focused during work time (with little to no teacher intervention)
  • All group members worked hard and contributed to the final product
  • Group managed its time well
  • Technical Quality_____/10
  • Narration/Voice over can be heard clearly
  • Smooth Transitions
  • Effective use of titles
  • 3-4 minutes long

Total Score_____/75

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