Lesson 3: Media/Book Review

 

Topic: Stereotype & Bias Part of Unit: A Look At Them

 

• Focus: Our stereotypical ideas of "old" are sometimes reinforced through the media. Students are to become media critics and analyze the treatment of older people in television programming, movies, and children's books. Students will decide if the media depict characters who are examples of positive or negative older people.

Activities | Introduction | Resources & Web Sites

Activities

Activity 3A: Media Review and Extension Graphing Results

(stereotype, elderly, bias, ageism, media, aging, attitude, media review, character analysis)

Activity 3B: Book Review and Extension Illustrating Character

(stereotype, elderly, bias, ageism, literature, aging, juvenile literature, character analysis, book analysis, attitude)

Activity 3C: Reviewing Other Kinds of Writing

(character analysis, stereotype, ageism)

Entire Lesson Download (11 pages)

top

Introduction

Lesson 3 (“Media Review” and “Book Review,” respectively) extend the students’ examination of images of older persons. Students are challenged to systematically evaluate the portrayal of old age on television and in children’s books. Structured evaluation forms are available for each lesson that direct the student to evaluate the presence, personality, physical characteristics, and behavior of aged individuals in these shows and stories. Appendix 2 contains a book list with children’s books that portray older people. Students should prepare short summaries of their evaluations which may then be used for class discussions of differences between the older characters. The media and book reviews were designed not only to show stereotypes of old age portrayed on television and in literature, but to bring out the diversity among elders.

top

Resources & Web Sites

Ageism http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ageism.html

 

Myths of Aging
http://muextension.missouri.edu/silverthreads/05/
myths%20of%20aging.htm

 

Dispelling the Myths of Aging
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/4209.pdf

 

 

top