George+Sachse

=Media and Society: Gaining Perspective on its Influence and Ability to Shape Society=

11th grade English “One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.” -Kurt Vonnegut A unit of study in which students will research the massive amount of media consumed in America and its effects on society. Students will contemplate and research the spectacular rise of media and its influence including the traditional sources such as newspapers, magazines, music, radio, movies, video games, and television as well as the explosion and of online and digital examples and sources including the Smartphone’s. This unit asks students to discover how media is possibly influencing them and how it affects our society while focusing specifically on its influences on youths. Students will be allowed to choose their focus of research on a particular issue of media influence within a genre of their choice and its results in today’s culture including but not certainly not limited to: effects of violence and possible desensitization of violence, influences on perceived body images and perceived importance of attractiveness to others, our relationships with others and possible apathy of world, national, and local social issues, and consumerism of our culture. This unit asks students to examine and think critically about the world around them and how their perceptions, interpretations, and interactions within the world are influenced by various forms of media. It is important that students discover and realize if, and how, these perceptions have been formed, influenced, and the possible effects they have on their interactions within the world. My goal in this unit is to have students question and think critically about their choices entertainment and how it is possibly shaping and influencing them personally. As a result of this unit my hope is that students become aware of these influences and become more responsible and critical of their choices of media consumption. Throughout this unit we will read and analyze the novel //Feed// by M.T. Anderson. //Feed// is a novel about a future world in which nearly everyone is connected via a computer chip system installed in their brains called the feed. Large corporations control the feed and constantly bombard and interrupt people’s thoughts with advertisements. These corporations develop consumer profiles based on interests and purchases by individuals and subsequently humans’ value or lack of based on their purchases. Corporations seemingly control future as they own the schools and virtually all information available via the feed. As the novel progresses one learns that the world is disintegrating as earth is practically unable to support natural life. Forests are non-existent, air must be manufactured, and clouds are virtually generated and trademarked by corporations. The feed effectively creates and uninformed apathetic world that cares exclusively about keeping up with trends and consumerism while numb to the fact that their lives are controlled by the interests of corporations.
 * Overview:**


 * Student Learning Objectives:**
 * Students will become aware of the power and influence of media in our daily lives and its effects on society[[image:http://reading.kingrat.biz/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Feed.jpg width="220" height="250" align="right"]]
 * Students will interpret and analyze major themes present in the novel //Feed//
 * Students will complete and demonstrate knowledge of multiple types of writing genres
 * Students will complete a multi-genre writing assignment on the topic and genre of their choice of media influence and present project to class
 * Students will utilize and incorporate multiple sources of technology and writing genres in a multi-genre cumulative project.
 * Students will work as a team and within groups to seek and create a publication of a major issue of media influence on society


 * Writing assignments:**
 * Media Journals including analytical reflections:** Students will be responsible for tracking and logging their daily intake of media. Required information students need to log daily into journal will be time spent daily with media, types of media exposed to, read, watched, or participated in. Students will be expected to track their media exposure for two weeks with the purpose of collecting data to use for their future multi-genre writing projects they will create. Students will then analyze such media they encountered in terms of its influence, i.e. violence scenes, sexual innuendos or overt scenes or examples of sexuality, advertisements and what they are promoting. Students will then choose one particular example to analyze and write in depth twice a week. Students will write critically and analytically about their chosen examples and possible influence or motivation behind the media example twice a week on a classroom blog. We will hold class discussions of students’ media journals and blog writings in class on Thursdays and Mondays.
 * Class Blog:** Students will write reactions and interpretations based on information collected from their media journals. Students will choose two topics a week of their choice to write about reflectively on the effects and purposes of media they have encountered. They will interpret and analyze these selections asking critical questions about the appropriateness and purposes of the media and for whose interests and for what purposes in which they are designed. The blog will also serve as a forum for sparking discussions of the critical points and themes present in our unit novel, //Feed//.
 * Multi-Genre Project:** This project will serve as a cumulative assessment of students research and knowledge of the information they have [[image:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_obnu1vZfq3A/THRN5ILTx1I/AAAAAAAAAxM/278iwmgpqFg/s1600/4342696757_32bb98cb20.jpg width="374" height="400" align="right"]]collected in their media journals and research on their chosen topic of media influence. As previously explained, students will have the choice of choosing a particular issue concerning media influence as well as a specific genre of media in which that issue is prevalent. Students will be expected to publish their project online at one of the many available free sites including but not limited to Weebly, Glogster, Wikispaces, or Wordpress. Students will be required to include at least three types of writing genres within this project to argue their point. Students will additionally be required to include at least three types of technology that support their argument and enhance the creativity and uniqueness of each project. As a class we will brainstorm and discuss the many available types of genres and technologies available to students. At the conclusion of the unit students will present their research projects to the class which will take notes on the information learned from the presentation.
 * Writing and Publishing for Awareness and Change:** Following the students’ multi-genre presentations we will discuss the major issues as a class and narrow down as to what we feel is the most important and pressing topic in today’s society. Each class will choose a specific topic so I will be working with a total of four to five major topics. We will compile the information learned as a class into informational posters, pamphlets, short movies, and Radio commercials. We will then compose letters as a class to the local school board, newspapers, news channels, and radio stations seeking publication of our information to the local community. This will be a class project with groups taking on specific tasks such as the composition of letters and the creation of the final informational products in multiple formats with a specific group responsible for a specific product.


 * @Lesson Plans**
 * Common Core Standards Addressed**
 * Contact Information: George Sachse email address**