Level: Grades 1 to 6

Overview

This lesson is one of a five-part unit that provides teachers with ideas for teaching TV in the elementary classroom. In this lesson, students will become more aware of the programs they enjoy and the elements that make them enjoyable.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• become aware that they enjoy some media products and understand what makes these products enjoyable to them
• express reasons for their enjoyment of some media products.
• recognize television viewing as one leisure activity among many others
• state a preference for a television program
• critically view an alternative TV program

Preparation and Materials

• Arts and crafts materials, and old magazines for "Artist at Work" and "All About TV" activities

Procedure

The key idea of this lesson is that students can analyze their enjoyment of TV.

Class Discussion:

People in our class enjoy different TV programs. We can relax and be entertained while watching TV. We enjoy all sorts of other activities each day.

• Have students brainstorm a class list of leisure time activities, one of which will be television viewing.
  
• Have students' rank these activities based on levels of enjoyment. Where does TV viewing rank?
  
• In small groups, have them think of positive or negative aspects of television viewing for leisure. Compare the list with the rest of the class, and discuss.

Activities

The following activities can help students explore the TV shows they enjoy in greater depth.

Artist at Work

Use a drawing, painting or collage to communicate a favourite TV program.

TV Log

• Have students keep a log for a week of what they watched, and say which shows they liked best.
• When the students report back to class, tally and discuss the results using graphs based on favourites, size of family, gender, time of program, etc.

Alternatives

• Have students watch someone else's favourite program, and write an opinion of it. (Younger grades can use descriptive words and happy or sad faces in their reviews.)

Recommendation

• Have students recommend a daily TV program for each day. Justify the choice, and also give an alternative.

All About TV

• Have students create an "All About TV" folder for storing their work.
• Decorate the cover.
• Each day, students will describe something they have seen on TV and add it to the folder. (Students may wish to add pictures or stories taken from newspapers or magazines.)

Let Me Entertain You

• Democratically select a video or film from the audio-visual catalogue for the whole class as entertainment.
• Make popcorn and enjoy.
• While the children are viewing, do not have a discussion so they can enjoy it fully. Afterwards, talk about the entertainment aspects of the program.

Evaluation

• Evaluation can be based on expression of enjoyment derived from television, written opinion, creative communication, and willingness to try alternatives.