Author: Media Awareness Network
Level: Secondary Cycle Two
Subject Area: English Language Arts

Description: To introduce students to the rating systems for films, videos and television and to the issues that surround these classifications.

Cross-curricular Competencies	Broad Areas of Learning
To use information To solve problems To exercise critical judgment To be creative To adopt effective work methods To work with others To communicate appropriately	Media Literacy

This lesson satisfies the following English Language Arts Competencies from the Quebec Education Program:

COMPETENCY 2 Reads and listens to written, spoken and media texts

Constructing a Reading of a Text

• Focuses on the relationship between self as reader and the text to construct an interpretive reading
• Activates relevant prior textual knowledge before, during and after reading text(s) to monitor the meaning(s) s/he is making, (e.g. uses what is known about a writer/producer and her/his style to make predictions, draws on knowledge of structures and features of a specific genre, applies knowledge of codes and conventions particular to specific texts)
• Activates relevant prior personal knowledge and experience to make sense of a text which is frequently expressed in text-to-self connections, text-to-world connections, text-to-text connections
• Asks questions of self, writers(s) and text(s) as s/he reads to clarify and focus reading
• Determines the most important ideas/messages/themes in a text
• Draws inferences from a text
• Retells or synthesizes what s/he has read, e.g. attends to the most important information and the quality of the synthesis itself to better understand the text

COMPETENCY 3 Produces texts for personal and social purposes

Researching as a Writer/Producer

• Develops topics that are personally and socially relevant:
• looks at multiple perspectives on the topic, e.g. pros and cons of an argument, how different people perceive the issue
• considers open-ended question(s) to facilitate topic development
• broadens and/or narrows the scope of the topic

Assuming Roles as a Writer/Producer

• Explores different dimensions of a character, issue

Planning and Drafting

• Brainstorms ideas, clarifies and extends thinking by talking with peers and teacher