Learning card

Developing critical awareness of media content

Description

This activity allows students to explore critical-thinking media skills by examining ironic and satirical content in real-world examples.

Tag
  • News
  • Social Media
  • Video
Skills

SOCIAL MANAGEMENT

  • Collaborate

NARRATIVE AND AESTHETIC

  • Recognise and describe
  • Compare
  • Evaluate and reflect
  • Apply

IDEOLOGY AND ETHICS

  • Recognise and describe
  • Evaluate and reflect
  • Apply

 

Learning areas
  • Arts
  • Language
  • Professional Competences
  • Religion and Ethics
  • Social Sciences
Card language
  • Spanish
  • English

Structure

Sessions
2-3 (Variable)
Duration
40-60’ (Variable)
Number of participants
10-30
Age
  • 10-13
  • 14-16
  • 17-18
Materials
  • Computers with Internet access
  • Presentation software

Process

Key questions
  • How is information communicated?
  • What is the value of irony and satire as communication tools?
  • What are the characteristics and qualities of ironic and satirical content?
  • Can I find real-world examples to support claims of irony and satire?
  • How can I present these claims?
Development
  • The teacher explains the nature of the task – Exploring different ways to communicate;
  • Show the social media and lack of originality clip (link in resources below); students in small groups discuss content, what is being communicated and how. Groups give feedback to the whole class;
  • Key themes to be drawn from clip: irony / satire, true value of social network platforms, lack of originality with social media (but also in wider society); use of fake-accounts, appearance of being valuable when no value is in place; presentation style as a way of communicating meaning (as TED talk);
  • Show clip from Daily Show (link in resources below); students in small groups discuss content, what is being communicated and how. Groups give feedback to the whole class;
  • Key themes to be drawn from clip: irony / satire; presentation style as way of communicating meaning (as news); how is this communicated: desk, anchor, backdrop, in-picture clips, segment cutaways, camera address; but with differences: laugh-track and jokes; How Trump functions as POTUS;
  • Key question for the two clips: What is the value of communicating this way?

(40-60’).

  • Show clip The Power of selling out; recap main themes from previous week, how and why irony and satire communicate meaning;
  • In pairs students locate their own clip examples of ironic / satirical content. They investigate and produce a presentation on what makes this content as such, finding real-world information that supports underlying premise of ironic / satirical point. This can be in the form of newspaper articles, blogs and other relevant material. (40 – 60’).

NB: If the students do not have time to finish the videos during class they need to finish them outside of class ready for the next session.

Pairs present their clip and evidence to support suggestions made in the clip. Teacher and whole class give feedback on the strength of evidence presented. (40 – 60’).

Evaluation

Peer marking with teacher oversight

Evaluation should be premised upon:

  • Planning and organization in the pair work
  • The ability to transmit how irony and satire function
  • The wealth of sources used to explain the basis of irony and satire in the clip
  • The capacity for synthesis and verbal expression in the presentation


We suggest students are presented with a rubric to evaluate each presentation. Final scores can be made from the teacher’s collation of the scores; the teacher provides their own score or a combination of both.

References for professors
Author

luke gaspard. RMIT University (Australia), luke.gaspard@rmit.edu.au

  • News
  • Social Media
  • Video