Language Arts

Grade 2: Media Literacy	Planning: Term # Tracking: Ach. Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
1.demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
2. identify some media forms and explain how the conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
3. create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques;
4. reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.
Specific Expectations
1. Understanding Media Texts
Purpose and Audience: 1.1 identify the purpose and intended audience of some simple media texts (e.g., this television commercial is designed to sell breakfast cereal to parents or soft drinks to children or teens; this picture book of nature stories is aimed at children who are interested in animals).Teacher prompts: "Who would enjoy this?" "Who would learn from this?"
Making Inferences/Interpreting Messages: 1.2 identify overt and implied messages in simple media texts (e.g., • overt message of an advertisement for shoes: Great athletes wear these shoes; implied message: If you want to be like these athletes, buy these shoes; • overt message on a billboard advertising brand-name clothing: These attractive people wear this brand of clothing; implied messages: Wearing this brand of clothing will make you attractive too; clothing makes the person; • overt message in a superhero cartoon: The hero is a tall, strong man; implied message: Tall, strong men are like heroes) Teacher prompt: "What is this advertisement telling us? Do you believe its messages?" "What do the heroes and villains look like in the cartoons you watch? What does this suggest?"
Responding to and Evaluating Texts: 1.3 express personal thoughts and feelings about simple media works and explain their responses (e.g., explain why a particular DVD/video or licensed character toy or game is more or less appealing to them than another, similar product). Teacher prompt: "Tell me three things that make this game more fun to play than that one. Do you think both girls and boys would like both of these games?"
Audience Responses: 1.4 describe how different audiences might respond to specific media texts. Teacher prompt: "Who do you think is the main audience for Saturday morning cartoons? Do your parents watch them? Who watches sporting events on television in your or your friends' families? Who seems most interested in car advertisements? Do you think some of these things are interesting to various groups of people?"
Point of View: 1.5 identify, initially with support and direction, whose point of view (e.g., that of the hero, the villain, the narrator) is presented in a simple media text and suggest how the text might change if a different point of view were used. Teacher prompt: "Who is telling this story? How would the story be different if another character were telling the story?"
Production Perspectives: 1.6 identify, initially with support and direction, who makes some of the simple media texts with which they are familiar, and why those texts are produced (e.g., film production companies produce movies to entertain audiences and to make money; companies produce advertisements to persuade consumers to buy their products). Teacher prompt: "How do we know who produces the T-shirts with logos or slogans that we wear, or the dolls we like to play with?"
2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques
Form: 2.1 identify some of the elements and characteristics of selected media forms (e.g., a television commercial uses speech, sound effects, and moving images to sell a product or service; a print advertisement uses words and pictures to sell a product or service; in a television news broadcast, an anchor and reporters report information about events that have actually happened, and use film or video clips from real locations around the world to illustrate those events)
Conventions and Techniques: 2.2 identify the conventions and techniques used in some familiar media forms (e.g., cartoons use animation and sound to make fantasy characters seem real; cereal boxes use bright, strong colours, bold type, and inviting pictures of servings of the cereal to attract customers' attention). Teacher prompt: "What do you notice about the colours, images, and print on the cereal boxes? How might the message be different if the colours or images were changed?"
3. Creating Media Texts
Purpose and Audience: 3.1 identify the topic, purpose, and audience for media texts they plan to create (e.g., an advertisement to interest both boys and girls in buying an action toy)
Form: 3.2 identify an appropriate form to suit the purpose and audience for a media text they plan to create (e.g., a photo essay or collage to commemorate a class event or celebration). Teacher prompt: "Would a photo essay or a collage tell the story best? How else could we keep a record of the event?"
Conventions and Techniques: 3.3 identify conventions and techniques appropriate to the form chosen for a media text they plan to create (e.g., a book cover with appropriate lettering for the title and author's name and a cover illustration depicting a scene or artefact from the story; sound effects or a sound-track for a dramatization of a poem)
Producing Media Texts: 3.4 produce media texts for specific purposes and audiences, using a few simple media forms and appropriate conventions and techniques (e.g., • an advertisement for a healthy snack food • a board game based on the plot and characters of a favourite book or television show • a sequence of pictures and/or photographs telling the story of a class event or celebration • a story illustrated with diagrams and digital images • a weather report with illustrations and captions • a selection of background music and sound effects to accompany a picture book that will be read aloud to the class • a role play of an interview between a reporter and a fictional character in a movie)
4. Reflecting on Media Literacy
Metacognition: 4.1 identify, initially with support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful in making sense of and creating media texts. Teacher prompt: "How did choosing music to go with the story help you understand the story or poem better? Would you choose to do this again? Why? Why not?"
Interconnected Skills: 4.2 explain, initially with support and direction, how their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing help them to make sense of and produce media texts. Teacher prompt: "Think about your project. How many different language skills did you use?"

Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.