Ms.

Robinson Grade 10 ELA

St. John’s High School 1

Name:_______________________________ Slot:__________________________________

Grade 10 ELA
Media Literacy Unit
March/April 2018

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 2

Week 1: Ad Culture
Vocabulary
 Stereotype:

 Consumerism:

 Body image:

 Toxic masculinity:

Exit Slip 1
Q: Watch the commercial that is targeted towards a particular age group. What age group is
the one targeted by this advertisement? How do you know? List some examples. (/4)

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 3

Vocab Chart (definition + examples)

Vocabulary Term Definition Examples from Ads

Endorsements

Product Placement

Advergaming

Viral Videos

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 4

Needs/Wants/Desired Outcome Chart

List some of the things you’ve bought for yourself in the past month in the following boxes.
Where these things “needs” or “wants”? In the “desired outcome” section, describe why you
bought the items and what you hoped to gain from purchasing them.

Needs Wants Desired Outcome

Exit Slip 2
Q: Have you bought something recently because of an ad? What was the product? How did
the ad persuade you to buy it? (/2)

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 5

Assignment 1
1. Choose an ad from either a print or online source (if it is online, you will need to
print it out)
2. Using either a black sharpie or a white-out pen (depending on how dark/light your
ad is), circle some important features of the ad. This could be images, words,
symbols, etc.
3. Answer the following questions about your chosen ad:
a. What are the aesthetic qualities of the ad? (Ie: what does it look like? What
images are in it? What do the words say?)
b. Why were these specific aesthetic qualities chosen? For example, if the ad has
a photo of a very attractive man/woman, why is that photo there? How do
you think this makes people think, feel, or behave? Explain.
c. What are some potential negative impacts with this ad? Do you think this ad
could compromise someone’s feelings of self-worth, security, or something
else? Explain.
d. Are there any other societal issues worth noting? Is there evidence for topics
like racism, sexism, fat-shaming, stereotyping, etc.? If so, explain why you
think so.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 6

Week 2: Representation in the Media

Venn Diagram
What do most of these successful people have in common? What are some differences?

Differences

Similarities

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 7

Vocabulary:
Using the words below, fill in the blanks for the definitions.

Representation Normalization Deviant Minorities Misrepresentation

Status quo

 _________________________: departing from usual or accepted standards.

 _________________________: the existing state of affairs, especially regarding

social or political issues.

 _________________________: the description or portrayal of someone or

something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature.

 _________________________: a culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct group that

coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant group.

 _________________________: refers to social processes through which ideas and

actions come to be seen as 'normal' and become taken-for-granted or
'natural' in everyday life.

 _________________________: the action or offense of giving a false or misleading

account of the nature of something.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 8

Exit Slip 1

“You Can’t Be What You Can’t See” article

Q: What are some groups in society that we don’t see represented in advertisements? Think
about the types of people we see a lot of in the media (check out your Venn diagram for
hints) and then think about people different from these types. List 3 examples.

Why do you think these types of people aren’t represented as much in the media?

What kind of effects do you think could result of only seeing a certain type of person on the
news, in movies, in TV shows, etc? (/5)

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 9

WHAT
Draw and IS describe 5+ ways (using one word and one
image for each way) that you are not normal, but are
actually
NORMA very weird.

L?

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 10

Week 3: Media Bias

Entry slip 1: There is a famous quote that says: “There are 3 sides to every
story: mine, yours, and the truth”. Think about a time you got into a
disagreement with someone because you saw one situation very differently.
Fill out the chart below with some details about the situation and how you
worked it out.

What happened? Who was involved? How did this make

YOU feel? Why?

How did the other person How did the other person How did you work it
react? feel? What reasons did out?
they give?

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 11

Qualities of a (somewhat) Legitimate News Article

Quality Why is this important?

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 12

Welcome to Winnipeg: Where’s

Canada’s racism problem is at its’
worst.
How the death of Tina Fontaine has finally forced the city
to face its festering race problem.
Nancy Macdonald
January 22, 2015

Thelma Favel, Tina Fontaine’s aunt, can’t forgive herself for letting
Tina go to Winnipeg. (Photographs in this story by John Woods)
“Oh Goddd how long are aboriginal people going to use what
happened as a crutch to suck more money out of Canadians?”
Winnipeg teacher Brad Badiuk wrote on Facebook last month. “They
have contributed NOTHING to the development of Canada. Just
standing with their hand out. Get to work, tear the treaties and shut
the FK up already. Why am I on the hook for their cultural support?”
Another day in Winnipeg, another hateful screed against the city’s
growing indigenous population. This one from a teacher (now on
unpaid leave) at Kelvin High School, long considered among the
city’s progressive schools—alma mater to just about every
Winipegger of note, from Marshall McLuhan to Izzy Asper, Fred
Penner and Neil Young.
Badiuk’s comments came to light the day Rinelle Harper—the shy
16-year-old indigenous girl left for dead in the city’s Assiniboine
River after a brutal sexual assault—spoke publicly for the first
time after her recovery. She called for an inquiry to help explain
why so many indigenous girls and women are being murdered in
Winnipeg, and elsewhere in Canada.
Badiuk’s comments came while the city was still reeling from
the murder of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old child from the Sagkeeng

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 13

First Nation who was wrapped in plastic and tossed into the Red
River after being sexually exploited in the city’s core.
They came after Nunavummiuq musician Tanya Tagaq, last year’s
Polaris Music Prize winner, who complained that while out to lunch
in downtown Winnipeg where she was performing with the city’s
ballet this fall, “a man started following me calling me a ‘sexy little
Indian’ and asking to f–k.”
They came the very week an inquest issued its findings in the death
of Brian Sinclair, an indigenous 45-year-old who died from an
entirely treatable infection after being ignored for 34 hours in a city
ER.
They came in the wake of a civic election dominated by race
relations after a racist rant by a frontrunner’s wife went viral: “I’m
really tired of getting harassed by the drunken native guys”
downtown, Gord Steeves’s wife, Lori, wrote on Facebook. “We all
donate enough money to keep their sorry asses on welfare, so shut
the f–k up and don’t ask me for another handout!” The former city
councillor and long-serving, centrist politician didn’t bother
apologizing. He lost, but not because of this.
For decades, the friendly Prairie city has been known for its smiling,
lefty premiers, pacifist, Mennonite writers and a love affair with the
Jets. Licence plates here bear the tag “Friendly Manitoba.” But
events of last fall served to expose a darker reality. The Manitoba
capital is deeply divided along ethnic lines. It manifestly does not
provide equal opportunity for Aboriginals. And it is quickly becoming
known for the subhuman treatment of its First Nations citizens, who
suffer daily indignities and appalling violence. Winnipeg is arguably
becoming Canada’s most racist city.
But indigenous activists believe Tina Fontaine’s death also marked a
turning point in race relations; that, for perhaps the first time, the
brutalization and murder of a 15-year-old was not dismissed in
Winnipeg as an “Aboriginal problem.” Ironically, from the fall’s
horrific events, a sense of unity has begun to emerge. Even Thelma
Favel, who raised Tina, believes her niece did not die in vain.
Meaningful change will not come easily, but all this holds the
promise, however faint, of a more hopeful future for the city.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 14

Thelma, who never misses the suppertime news, tried to strike fear
into the hearts of her nieces, Tina and Sarah Fontaine. She’d show
them TV programs on murdered and missing indigenous women,
clip newspaper articles. “It’s not safe out there for Aboriginals girls,”
she’d caution.
In the end, even she was unable to protect Tina. On Aug. 17, the
girl’s remains were pulled from the Red River’s murky waters near
the Alexander Docks in downtown Winnipeg. The murder of the 15-
year-old was only the most recent, horrifying example of the
violence faced by Winnipeg’s indigenous community—a world apart
from white Winnipeg. Police divers discovered her by accident: they
were searching the Red for the drowned remains of Faron Hall, the
Dakota man dubbed the “Homeless Hero” for twice saving
Winnipeggers from the river that eventually took his life.
Tina’s body was found in the same spot where, in March 1961, the
remains of Jean Mocharski were found—the first cold case from
Winnipeg in a new database of murdered and missing Aboriginal
women. The 43-year-old mother of seven had been beaten and
stabbed. Like Tina’s, her murder remains unsolved. “We value dogs
more than we do these women,” says indigenous playwright Ian
Ross.
Thelma, an eloquent mother of three, and her husband, Joseph, had
been caring for Tina and Sarah since they were three and four,
when their father, Eugene, was diagnosed with lymphoma. (Their
mother had left the girls as babies.) Eugene had been raising the
girls on his own in Winnipeg, where he worked at a tire plant. He
knew the girls would be better off with Thelma, his aunt, who had
helped raise him.
In a handwritten note dated Nov. 21, 2003, which still hangs in a
simple wooden frame in Thelma’s living room in Powerview-Pine
Falls, about 100 km northeast of Winnipeg, Eugene signed over
temporary custody of Tina, his “little monkey,” and Sarah, whom
he’d lovingly nicknamed “chubby.” Tina, a beautiful wisp of a girl,
flourished at École Powerview after Thelma pulled her and Sarah
from their reserve school. Math was her favourite subject. Her
boyfriend was deaf; the pair communicated by texting.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 15

Eugene was a constant presence. He never missed Christmas or a

birthday. But he never had the chance to bring them back home to
Winnipeg. He became addicted to his pain medication and the
alcohol he was using to cope. On Oct. 31, 2011—just shy of the four
months doctors told him he had left to live—Eugene was beaten to
death in a dispute over money.
Tina was left deeply scarred. “Two people were killed that night,”
says Thelma. Last spring, Tina ran away twice to Winnipeg to visit
her mom—a relationship Thelma encouraged, feeling the girl needed
another parental bond after losing her dad. In early July, she
allowed Tina to visit her mom in Winnipeg for a week: it was her
reward for excellent grades that June. The night before she left, the
family gathered to pray and ask for protection, as they do every
night. The next morning Thelma gave Tina $60 and a calling card.
“If things don’t work out, use the calling card and I’ll come get you,”
she said.
When Tina didn’t come home, Thelma reported her missing to
police. Little is known about what happened to her in the weeks
after that. She cut off her long, black hair. Her family believes she
began using drugs. Friends say she was working in the sex trade to
earn money. She was failed repeatedly by agencies meant to
protect her.
On Aug. 8, police came across Tina in a roadside stop: she was in a
vehicle with a male driver who was allegedly intoxicated. He was
taken into police custody. Officers let Tina go, even though she was
listed as a high-risk missing person. A few hours later she was
rushed to Children’s Hospital after being found passed out in a core-
area back alley. Her family was not notified she was in hospital.
When she woke, Child and Family Services placed Tina in a
downtown hotel where she was allowed to walk away. (In March
2014, the average number of kids in city hotels was 65, up from 17
two years earlier. The bloated system simply cannot cope with the
huge number of children in care in Manitoba. Almost 90 per cent of
children in foster care in Manitoba are Aboriginal, the highest rate in
Canada.)
Tina was last seen on Aug. 9, shortly after 3 a.m., by a new friend.
“I want to go home to Sagkeeng, where I’m loved,” she told her.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 16

The friend says Tina was approached by a man who asked her to
perform a sex act. Eight days later she was pulled from the river,
identified by a tattoo on her back bearing the name of her father,
Eugene.
On a recent frigid weekday afternoon, a 14-year-old Aboriginal girl,
coming off a high after huffing gas, told Maclean’s none of her
girlfriends have changed their behaviour in the wake of Tina’s
murder, laughing at the suggestion. She’d known Tina. Her friends
know Rinelle Harper. “That’s never going to happen to us,” she said.
Within days, Winnipeg police would announce another missing
Aboriginal girl last seen in the North End. She is just 14—missing
more than a month.
Since Tina’s death, Thelma has refused to leave her tidy home on
Louis Riel Drive. “Every time I leave the house I feel like I’m having
a panic attack.” She can’t forgive herself for letting Tina go to
Winnipeg. “It’s like somebody ripped your heart out of your chest.
To this day, it’s like they’re stomping, stomping, stomping on it.
“They treated her like garbage, wrapping her up in a bag and
throwing her into the river,” she says. “She wasn’t garbage. She
was my baby.”
Tina’s story cast a spotlight onto the shameful state of life for many
Aboriginals in Winnipeg, where disdain for poor, inner-city Natives
has long bubbled just barely beneath the surface. When measuring
racism, social scientists tend to rely on opinion polling and media
analyses. Last year, for example, Winnipeg recorded the highest
proportion of racist tweets of the six Canadian cities known for high
levels of hate crime, according to data collected by University of
Alberta researcher Irfan Chaudhry. (Manitoba recorded the second-
highest rate of hate crimes last year, after Ontario, according to a
recent report.)
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/welcome-to-winnipeg-where-canadas-racism-problem-is-at-its-
worst/

Link to Ezra Levant’s Rebuttal to statements by Nancy MacDonald condensed version):

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 17

Where are some places that you’ve seen “news” that you know is
untrustworthy? List some websites or types of media that you think
are questionable.

Pick one of the “fake news” types from your list above and describe why you
thought it was fake. What seemed “too good to be true”? Or, what seemed a
little “off” with this story?

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 18

Assignment: Create some FAKE NEWS

For this assignment, you will need to write a fake news story, but you will also need to
make it sound true! Some things you’ll need to include in this story are:

 Statistics
 Quotes from reputable people (scientists, artists, CEO’s, doctor’s, etc.)
 Diagrams like graphs, pie charts, etc.
 Quotes and/or info from reputable sources
 Any other things you think are relevant!

Note: you are not only allowed to make up this stuff, you are expected to!

Length: one page

But before you begin…complete the writing variables chart below!

Writing Variables for Fake News Story

Central idea:

Form:

Purpose:

Public audience:

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 19

Context:

Week 4: Media Influence can be BAD

Vocabulary:

 Slacktivism:

 Phenomenon:

 Petition:

 Campaign:

Exit Slip: What do you notice about charity campaigns on social media? How
long are they popular for? Do you remember hearing about how social media
and “spreading awareness” helped this cause in a real way? (more money,
new programs, new discoveries, etc.) (/2)

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 20

Article Debate Worksheet

Fill in the cart below with some basic information about your article:

Who What When Where Why How

What are some basic ideas in the article that you ALL agree on?

What are some things you all disagree on? Jot down a few differing opinions
on the topic from within your group.

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 21

Main problem:

Ideas for a possible solution:

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 22

Week 5: Media Influence can be GOOD

Vocabulary

 Call-outs:

 Whistleblower:

 Policy:

 Perception:

Entry Slip: Do you ever remember a time in your life when you really had to
“say something”? For example, you could think of a time when you saw
something wrong happening and no one was doing anything about it. Or, you
could think about a time where people were saying or doing things that were
rude/insensitive/inappropriate, and they didn’t know it was bothering
anyone.

Did you say something?

Were you afraid or nervous to say anything at first? Why? How did the people
react?

Was it worth it? (/5)

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 23

How Do You Use Social Media?

Social Media Platform Benefits Drawbacks

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Snapchat

Memes

Other

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 24

Can Media Change the World?

What happened?

How was this information covered? Shared?

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 Ms. Robinson Grade 10 ELA
St. John’s High School 25

What happened? What changed? (policy, perceptions, or both?)

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