In my newest unit for MYP Language and Literature Year 3, I am attempting to have students be more aware of the different types of bias that is portrayed throughout media. I discussed what I will attempt for my final project in the last post for course 4.
For the first part of the unit students viewed a very sensitive and tragic event. They read several articles on the hostage situation in Sydney.
While analyzing these news sources, students had to identified bias, label it, and attempt to think why the bias is included. It was not an easy task that I was asking of students. They worked in partners and helped one another describe the bias.
Once they finished, they analyzed the bias and how it influenced readers. They wrote a TIEA paragraph using evidence from the news sources to prove their point. The biggest concern I had was that I wasn’t having the students be sensitive enough. I wanted to emphasize that we aren’t trying to down play this tragic event, but just to be more aware of how bias is used in the news. At the same time, many students discussed their own bias and how difficult it is to detect when they agree with what is being said in the article.
For the final part, they had to take facts from news sources and attempt to write an unbiased article. They rose to the challenge, but it was not easy. They read over each other’s rough draft to help ensure that bias was excluded. I was really excited, especially with one class in particular, at how their discussions went.
Student Examples Of Unbiased Articles:
8th Grade Blogs:Not all students completed this assignment as they aren’t in my class. However,most did.
Exemplars:
I have noticed that many of my posts contain exemplars of females. Being aware of this, I don’t really know how to change it. I do have more female students than male students. I also noticed with this assignment that several male students didn’t turn in the assignment.
Reading a post by Valerie Strauss called “Why So Many Teachers Feel Bad So Much of the Time“, I find myself relating to it. At the same time, I don’t feel my reasons are exactly like the ones in the article. I feel like my reasons are much more personal (to me) and difficult to assess from my students. I often ask, “Am I doing enough?” “Is what I am doing benefiting the students?” “What skills are they learning?” Maybe that’s too much pressure or maybe it’s not enough. Either way, my goal is always keep my students at the center of my priority. It certainly helps me sleep at night.
Ms. Marcum's Mission 
Hi Terea,
I think that this is some very valuable work you are doing with your students. As a middle school social studies teacher–soon to be teaching IB History–I would suggest that the most important things we do in our classrooms is to get kids to be effective critical thinkers. Your lesson, in which students need to locate and analyze bias, is right on track. Here is a link to my wife’s blog on collaborative discussions–I can see where this model, combined with what you are already doing, would work very well in getting students to internalize the role of bias in the media.
https://goo.gl/9XVUfZ
Sincerely,
Steve Coffey
Saigon South
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Steve,
Thank you so much for this! After each section the students do have a collaborative discussion that I also modeled after Paula’s EARCOS conference. While not exactly the same as my classes can be somewhat small. They have grown over the break and I will be implementing more of her model. I like that she filmed their conversations. I hadn’t thought of that. I am completely removed from the discussion. I am often surprised at how well they work and how many say that this is one of the things they really enjoy about English class. My only concern/frustration is that my school is mostly one culture. Many students struggle participating because of that. I think adding the Today’s Meet will help with some of that.
Respectively,
Terea
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