Content Area: Language Arts Literacy

 

Index: 3.1G Grade 8 CPI 1

 

Standard: 3.1 Reading

 

Strand: G - Comprehension Skills & Response to Text

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 -  The student will differentiate between fact/opinion and bias and propaganda in newspapers, periodicals, and electronic texts.

 

Grade: 8

 

Sample Activities:

 

·       The children make their own loose-leaf Propaganda Reference Book. They look through magazines for examples of propaganda devices: glittering generalities, band-wagon, testimonial, card stacking, and positive associations. As students find more examples, they may add these to their books.

 

·       During a study of propaganda and bias in written text, middle school students read sensational news stories and then sort the stories by the predominant propaganda method the author has used.

 

·       Students select and read a sports or political editorial. In cooperative learning groups, they then identify persuasive techniques used and discuss the effects of these techniques.

 

·       Students analyze ads in popular magazines in which a person is selling a product. The students ask themselves such questions as: Who is advertising the product? To what extent does this person have expert knowledge about this product? What catchy phrases are used? What claims are made? Wherever possible, students test the claims of the ad for truthful-ness. For instance, they can test diff e rent brands of peanut butter against the claims made.