In this lesson, students explore how the news media relays information about race in the United States by creating collages from newspapers and magazines and by sharing their reflections about the responsibilities of the news media in covering race-related topics. Review the Academic Content Standards related to this lesson. Explore the responsibilities that the news and entertainment media have in portraying race in the United States. Because the topic of race is often incendiary, teachers should be particularly mindful in guiding the lesson. Additionally, teachers should be prepared for students coming across extremely derogatory racial terms in the article that may be upsetting or confusing.
Students then share their answers.
Distribute a newspaper or newsmagazine, a pair of scissors, some glue, and a large piece of paper to each student. Explain to students that today they will be exploring how the print news media examines and portrays race in the United States by creating collages of recent race-related news coverage. Each student then clips headlines, news stories, photographs, key words and phrases, and any other items in their piece of print news related to race in the United States. Students should then create a collage using their clippings. Next, each student should reflect on what he or she included in the collage and write a one-page exploration of what the collage relays about news coverage of race in the United States.