High School English and Language Arts UDL Instructional Unit - Lesson 4

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Contents

Objective:

  • Students will analyze news articles and other media for bias.
  • Students will analyze photos and use them to postulate a story that the photos accompany.



Essential Questions:

  • What influences news bias?
  • How can photos be misleading/biased?



Vocabulary:

Bias – to show prejudice against or favor for someone or something


Geography (as it pertains to bias) – influences regarding a particular area/region/country


Headline – the title of an article


Institutional affiliations (as it pertains to bias) – the political or economic ties a media source has to particular institutions


Medium (as it pertains to bias) – the source by which information is communicated (e.g., newspaper, Internet, TV)


Objectivity – judgments free from personal/emotional influences



Materials:

  • Copies of the "How to Spot Bias in News Articles" note sheet
  • Computer with projector, computers for each student, or enough computers for all students to view and read information on the screen
  • News Bias Explored Website: The Art of Reading the News (University of Michigan) http://www.umich.edu/\~newsbias/sources.html
  • Students' completed "Influences on News Bias Worksheet" from Lesson 3
  • Copies of the "Influences on News Bias Worksheet"
  • Screen Shot JPG files for the "What Influences News Bias Cartoon," for each part of the "What influences news bias?" activity, and for the "You Be the Reporter" activity (if needed)
  • Chart paper
  • Newspapers
  • Paper/Glue



Introduction

a. Activate Prior Knowledge

  1. Return to the News Bias Explored Home Page. Ask students to summarize (orally) each of the five points under the "What forms does news bias take?" tab, which they explored in groups during Lesson 3.
  2. Ask students to recall the tips listed on the "How to Spot Bias in News Articles" note sheet.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide the News Bias Explored Home Page with the same accommodations as were provided in Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 3)
    • provide bias vocabulary cards and corresponding summary cards for each of the forms of bias which the student can use to match the bias forms with their descriptions; provide additional visual, tactile, or tangible cues as necessary based on what has been effective for the student in previous activities
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to answer
    • pre-plan an answer for the student to contribute
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide note sheet with same accommodations as were provided in Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 1)
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to answer
    • pre-plan an answer for the student to contribute


b. Establish Goals/Objectives for the Lesson

  1. Click on the "What influences news bias?" tab on the News Bias Explored Home Page (http://www.umich.edu/\~newsbias/influences.html). Ask students to analyze the cartoon shown on the page and suggest what message it is trying to convey. (A printable screen shot is included in the materials for this unit if you prefer to give each student a copy of the cartoon.)
  2. Explain that in today's lesson, the students will learn more about how news bias is influenced in text and in photos.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide cartoon enlarged, enhanced with color, texture, etc.
    • provide cartoon cut apart into 3 cells for the student to arrange in order; provide numerals on each cell if the student needs practice on number recognition or sequencing
    • provide 2 copies of the cartoon (supplemented with whatever supports necessary as in first bullet, this section); cut one copy into 3 cells so the student can match cells (use hook-and-loop tape if necessary)
    • provide 2 copies of the cartoon (supplemented with whatever supports necessary as in first bullet, this section); cut individual pictures/word balloon out so the student can match pictures on each cell (use hook-and-loop tape if necessary)
    • provide messages the student can choose from
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to answer
    • pre-plan an answer for the student to contribute
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • No accommodations



Lesson Body

  1. Divide the students into four groups. Assign each group to review and analyze one of the topics from the submenu under the "What influences news bias" tab, similar to the activity they did in groups for Lesson 3:
    • Group 1 – Geography
    • Group 2 – Objectivity
    • Group 3 – Institutional Affiliations
    • Group 4 – The Medium
  2. Instruct each group to read its assigned page and complete the "Influences on News Bias" worksheet. (Each student may complete the worksheet, or one per group is also acceptable.) (Please note that some of these web pages are quite lengthy, and some of the articles contained therein are quite lengthy. Point out to the students that they do not need to read every single thing on their assigned page, rather, they should seek to understand the points made by the website creators regarding bias and look for those points in the articles and information provided. Encourage the students to pay particular attention to the key questions listed before each example and the analyses provided following the examples.)

    3. Note: If you do not have computer/Internet access, for this part of the lesson, printable screen shots and Word documents containing the full articles are included with the Materials for this unit. Each screen shot is labeled and numbered so that students can have access to hard copies of everything shown on the site.

  3. Once each group has read through the assigned information and completed the worksheet, have each group give a brief, oral summary of what was read, using the worksheet as a guide for the presentation. Chart the pertinent points of each group's presentation.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • no accommodations
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide assigned page and "Influences on News Bias" worksheet with the same accommodations to text and graphics as the student has used in previous lessons in this and other units (see especially Lesson 3, Body, 1) – 5))
    • use same accommodations for reading as used in previous lesson
    • provide choices which the student can use to contribute to the group
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication during group interactions
  3. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide personal chart (e.g., 4 column T-chart) for group presentation information; use same accommodations used in Lessons 1)-3)
    • pre-plan a contribution for the student
      • give information orally (including use of AAC/AT)
      • demonstrate
      • present PPT (including AT)
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to present

Practice

  1. Going back to the Home page of the website, click on the "Activities" tab from the menu on the left. Then click on "Image Bias Activities." Finally, click on "You Be the Reporter" at the bottom of the page (Or click on this link: http://www.umich.edu/\~newsbias/ubreporter.html)
  2. Scroll down to the four photos shown on the page and explain to the students that in this activity, they are going to look at a photo then suggest what kind of story might go with the photo.
  3. As a class, have the students vote regarding which of the four photos they want to use for the activity. After it is decided which photo will be used, click on the photo, and have the students answer the questions on the next screen. (Each student should do this on his/her own paper. If preferred, have students work with a partner.)
  4. After students have answered the questions, have them share their answers with the whole class.
  5. Click on the "What did the 'real' report have to say?" link shown after the photo and questions. Read the real report.
  6. As a class, discuss the connection between the photo and the real article. Have the students use their "How to Spot Bias in News Articles" note sheet as well as their notes and charted information from the "What forms does news bias take?" activity from Lesson 3 and the "What influences news bias?" activity from this lesson to analyze the real report and the photo. Ask the students, "Does either the real report or the photo contain bias? If so, how so?"
    7. Note: If you do not have computer/Internet access, for this part of the lesson, printable screen shots are included with the Materials for this unit. Each screen shot is labeled and numbered so that students can have access to hard copies of everything shown on the site.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide access to the computer with AT
    • provide written directions with the same accommodations to the text as the student has been using in this and other lessons
    • provide screen shots of each step for the student to model
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • No accommodations
  3. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to vote
    • provide personal copies of the photos (with tangible supports if necessary) for the student to view and choose from
    • provide several answers for each question for the student to choose from (support with text accommodations, symbolic and tangible, as necessary); all of the choices should be plausible
    • allow student to copy his or her choice, copy an important word or phrase for his or her choice; paste the choice on the paper; copy and paste the choice digitally using AT if necessary
  4. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • allow student to use preferred mode of communication to participate in discussion
    • pre-plan a response for the student to contribute
  5. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide the real report with the same the text accommodations that the student has been using
    • have the student follow along as the teacher reads; highlight important words, manipulate text with hook-and-loop tape, etc.
  6. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • review definition of "bias" using materials and strategies from Lesson 3, Introduction, b., 2)
    • provide "How to Spot Bias in News Articles" note sheet with accommodations used in Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 1) and "What influences news bias?" used in Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 3)
    • review bias with the same materials and strategies used in Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 2) & 3)
    • using the accommodations to the article provided in this lesson, 5) and the strategies from Lesson 3, Lesson Body, 5), have the student analyze the article and the photo for bias



Closure

a. Revisit/Review Lesson Objectives

  1. Have the students recall and name the four ways in which news bias is influenced, as learned in this lesson. (geography, objectivity, institutional affiliations, and the medium)
  2. Chart each of these as well as the students' descriptions/explanations of each.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • provide chart completed in this lesson, Lesson Body, 3)
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader/Emerging Communicator
    • review personal chart as teacher charts discussion information (use systematic instruction techniques for concepts the student has not yet mastered)



b. Exit Assessment

  1. Have each student search a newspaper (perhaps the same newspapers used in Lesson 1) for one example of bias (can be in a headline, a photo, or an article).
  2. Once the student has found an example of bias, have him/her cut out the example, paste it to a piece of paper, and then write a brief explanation of how/why it is biased. Be sure to instruct the students to use all they have learned about the forms and influences of bias to complete this exit assessment.
    3. Since this is for assessment, at least one plausible distractor must be given if the student is selecting from multiple choice options and the student must select his/her answer independently.
  1. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader
    • give student examples to choose from

    Additional Considerations for Emerging Communicator

    • give student examples to choose from
    • choose an example for the student
  2. Additional Considerations for Emerging Reader
    • allow student to cut and paste digitally, using AT if necessary
    • provide forms and influences in same accommodated format that the student has been using; provide reduced number of forms and influences
    • allow student to match one or more of forms and influences to example; allow student to use preferred mode of communication to select

    Additional Considerations for Emerging Communicator

    • allow student to cut and paste digitally, using AT if necessary
    • provide forms and influences in same accommodated format that the student has been using; provide reduced number of forms and influences (may use as few as 2 choices – one correct and one distractor)
    • allow student to match one or more of forms and influences to example; allow student to use preferred mode of communication to select

Resources

Return to Lesson 3 Proceed to Lesson 5

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