Gender in Modern Media Lesson Plan

(First Draft)
Tim Dobson
(0662778)

Level:
Grade 11 Language Arts
Overall Objectives:
Encourage students to perceive stereotypes and negative representations of women
when viewing media images. Have students understand how women in particular are
objectified in media and how this is harmful.
Encourage students to perceive stereotypes and negative representations of men when
viewing media images. Have students understand how men and violence are often
grouped together in media and how this is harmful.
Required Materials:
Killing Us Softly 4 (women in media documentary).
Tough Guise 2 (men and violence in media documentary).
Women in Media Powerpoint.
Men In Media Powerpoint.
Reflection Questions Handouts
SCOs and GCOs:
See individual components.
Timeframe for Completion:
4 or more classes.

Women in Media
Procedures:
1. Go though gender issues PowerPoint.
2. Have students view Killing Us Softly 4
3. Have students answer questions sheet.
(as an adaptation allow students to choose 4 of the 8 questions provided)
GCOs:
1. speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and
experiences
2. communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and
critically
3. interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose
SCOs:
1.1 follow-up on and extend others ideas in order to reflect upon their own interpretation of
experiences
1.3 address complex issues, present points of view backed by evidence, and modify, defend, or
argue for their positions in response to opposing points of view
4.4 demonstrate an understanding of and apply the strategies required to gain information from
complex print texts and multimedia texts
Closure:
Have the students complete four (4) of the questions from the handout and gauge their grasp or
understanding of the issues accordingly.
Learner Assessment:
Based responses to handout questions.

Killing Us Softly 4 Response Questions

1. How does Canadian culture define femininity and masculinity? Are these
definitions universal, or do masculine and feminine ideals vary from place to place and
over time?
2. Do you feel that our ideals of femininity and masculinity are learned or natural? Why?
3. What sorts of products are sold using images of women and femininity? What kinds of
products are sold using images of men and masculinity? Are these ever switched around?
If so, when?
4. What are some differences between ads that feature white people and ads that feature
people of colour?
5. What kinds of products are sold using sexuality? Why do you think advertisers would
use sex to sell their goods? How does this work, anyway? What does it mean when
people say sex sells?
6. What is responsible advertising? Do advertisers have a responsibility to society? Do
they have a responsibility to children? Why or why not?
7. What is the relationship between dehumanization, objectification, and violence?
8. What role can girls and women play in diversifying the image of what it means to be a
woman in our culture? What role can boys and men play?

Men in Media
Procedures:
1. Go though gender issues PowerPoint.
2. Have students view Tough Guise 2.
3. Have students answer questions sheet.
(as an adaptation allow students to choose 4 of the 8 questions provided)
GCOs:
1. speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and
experiences
2. communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and
critically
3. interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose
4. select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual
texts
SCOs:
1.1 follow-up on and extend others ideas in order to reflect upon their own interpretation of
experiences
1.3 address complex issues, present points of view backed by evidence, and modify, defend, or
argue for their positions in response to opposing points of view
1.4 listen critically to evaluate others ideas in terms of their own understanding and
experiences, and identify ambiguities, and unsubstantiated statements
4.2 view a wide variety of media and visual texts, comparing and analyzing the structure, genre,
style, and cultural diversity of the different texts
4.4 demonstrate an understanding of and apply the strategies required to gain information from
complex print texts and multimedia texts
6.5 justify points of view on various print and media texts
Closure:
Have the students complete four (4) of the questions from the handout and gauge their grasp or
understanding of the issues accordingly.
Learner Assessment:
Based responses to handout questions.

Tough Guise 2 Response Questions

1. Where do you think our ideas about what is masculine and what is feminine come
from?
2. What are the primary sources boys use to learn what it is to be male (or to seem male)
in the world?
3. What are some of the potential affects on boys and men as they try to live up to our
cultures ideal of physical size and strength? Could this also have health effects? If so,
what might they be?
4. What are some of the potential emotional affects on boys and men as they try to live
up to our cultures ideal of emotional strength and invulnerability? Could this also have
health effects? If so, what might they be?
5. The film spent some time examining the recent school shootings that have been in the
news. The narrator correctly points out that very few of the perpetrators of school
violence are female. Why do you think that is the case?
6. The narrator describes violence and crime data that indicate that men commit an
overwhelming majority of the violence in our society, yet violence is typically not framed
as a gender issueparticularly in the media. Why does the media tend not to focus on
the gender issue when boys, or men, are the perpetrators of violence?
7. Do you have any critiques of the arguments/views presented in the film? What did
you agree or disagree with (and why)?
8. What can men do to diversify the image of masculinity and what it means to be a man
in our culture?