Skip to main content

Suggested Web Sites for Using Media Literacy and Primary Sources for Teaching Health in the Classroom

 

Exisiting Lesson Plans:

This section provides a variety of media literacy lesson materials for teaching Health. These resources are categorized by topic.

ADVERTISING

Media Smarts: Advertising All Around Us - Talking to Kids About Advertising

  • A discussion of advertising for children.

NUTRITION AND GENERAL HEALTH

Glencoe Teacher Resources http://www.glencoe.com/sec/health/teachres/lessonplans/mlexercise.shtml

  • Provides media literacy lesson plans about fitness and health for teens.

Youth Empowerment in Action! http://www.healthymissouri.net/curriculum.html

  • Provides a resource list of curriculum involving media literacy education for health and nutrition.

Kids Health in the Classroom http://classroom.kidshealth.org/index.jsp?Grade=68&Section=personal

  • Their Personal Health Series for grades 6 to 8 provide teacher guides to help students improve their own health.
BODY IMAGE AND GENDER

Body Image Health http://bodyimagehealth.org/healthy-bodies-curriculum/

  • Healthy Bodies: Teaching Kids What They Need to Know is a program for grades 4-6 that focuses on promoting healthy body images and reducing stigma about weight.

Safe Healthy Schools http://www.safehealthyschools.org/sexualityeducation/43.htm

  • Provides lesson plans about body image, stereotypes and sexuality for K-12 students.

About-Face https://www.about-face.org/educate-yourself/for-adult-advocates/our-workshops-2/

  • About-Face Education Into Action uses media-literacy workshops to provide young girls and boys (7th grade and up) with the tools to analyze and resist negative media messages about body image, identity and self-esteem.

Queen Victoria Women's Centre http://www.qvwc.org.au/programs/seeme-media-literacy/

  • The SeeMe Media Literacy and Positive Body Image Program is an interactive website that helps young people build critical media literacy skills and positive body image, gender awareness, confidence and self esteem. (Aimed at year 8)

Girls Inc. http://www.girlsinc.org/resources/programs/girls-inc-media-literacy.html

  • The Girls Inc. Media Literacy program covers a range of lessons for girls from age 6 to 18 that teach them to become aware of the power of media and the effects of media messages. Topics include violence, stereotypes in media, beauty, diversity, etc., and the later lessons encourage girls to take civil action and work to make a change in their world.

Girls Empowerment Network: Austin http://genaustin.org/what-we-do/

  • This page discusses the health, body image, and media literacy programs and conferences that GEN provides to girls in middle and high school.

Girlology http://www.girlology.com/programs/what-we-offer-for-girls

  • These programs range from 4th grade to 10th grade girls, and often involve working with their mothers to discuss girls' health and development during adolescence.

University of Washington: Let's Talk Teens, Sexuality, & Media http://depts.washington.edu/sexmedia/educators/stdhiv/resources.php

  • Provides a list of resources about media and sexually transmitted diseases.

University of Washington: Teen Aware: Sex, Media and You http://depts.washington.edu/taware/view.cgi?section=s1

  • Provides a lesson on media literacy and discussing sexual health.

Innovation Research & Training http://irtinc.us/Products/MediaReady/Training.aspx

  • Media Ready is a teacher training workshop that discusses substance abuse prevention through media literacy.

Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions http://www.thirteen.org/peaceful/wkspd.html

  • Provides teacher guides and workshops for discussing violence in media.

Websites:

This section provides websites on different aspects of health to supplement lessons.

BODY IMAGE AND GENDER

Media Power Youth http://mediapoweryouth.org/resources/resources/

  • Provides resource list for campaigns, foundations and other websites about children and media.
Massachusetts Media Literacy Consortium http://www.massmedialiteracy.org/
  • A Massachusetts organization that works to provide all children with media literacy education for grades K-12.

University of Michigan Health System http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/media.htm

  • Provides a list of media literacy resources and guides for parents.

Center on Media and Child Health http://www.cmch.tv/

  • Discusses how media affects children's health and provides parents with resources to use media in a healthy way.

Parent Further https://www.parentfurther.com/content/expanding-possibilities-online

  • Helps parents create a healthy environment for their children in terms of the technology and media they use.

NUTRITION

Food Marketing Workgroup http://www.foodmarketing.org/resources/food-marketing-in-restaurants/

  • This website looks at the failure of most restaurants to provide and advertise healthier dishes for children's meals, provides additional resources about children's nutrition, and suggests ways that you can take action.

Action for Media Education http://nutritionandmedia.org/index.html

  • Nutrition, Media & Your Family provides resources about how to use media literacy with your family when looking at messages about food and health.

Teen Futures Media Network http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=resources

  • Provides a resource list for websites about nutrition, body image, and eating disorders.

BODY IMAGE AND GENDER

Sports Medicine Australia: Cleanedge http://www.cleanedge.com.au/Content/Pub/ContentDetail.asp?lngContentID=406

  • This website provides resources and activities to promote positive body image in athletes.
  • The Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls combines with Geena Davis' efforts to get media to promote more positive images about girls and women.

    • Kesa Kivel http://www.kesakivel.com/pages/links.html

    • Provides a source list for organizations that serve girls, media literacy resources, health/education resources, and other resources for adolescent girls' development.

    Media Smarts http://mediasmarts.ca/body-image/body-image-boys

    • Looks at boys' body images and the influence of media.

    Boys and Masculinity https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/1036707-boys-and-masculinity-are-superheroes-a-good-or-bad-influence

    • Boys and Masculinity- Are Superheroes A Good or Bad Influence looks at the role models being provided to boys and what messages about masculinity are portrayed by media.

    SMOKING AND SUBSTANCE USE

    Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration https://www.samhsa.gov/too-smart-start

    • Too Smart to Start encourages families to use media literacy with their children to discuss underage drinking.

    North Carolina Preventing Underage Drinking Initiative http://www.ncpudi.org/mediaready/

    • Discusses using media literacy as a substance use intervention.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/

    • Has a chapter about media literacy in their tobacco counter-marketing campaign.

     

    Articles and Blogs:

    Below are supplemental documents on a variety of different health topics.

    NUTRITION

    Center for Media Literacy http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/cml-pilots-media-literacy-unit-obesity-nutrition-education

    • Discusses a pilot study for a middle school media literacy lesson/ nutrition program about "healthy food" in media and pop culture images.

    University of Minnesota Extension http://blog-youth-development-insight.extension.umn.edu/2011/03/fight-childhood-obesity-with-media_2.html

    • This article from the Youth Development Insight discusses how media literacy can be used to fight childhood obesity.
    BODY IMAGE AND GENDER

    The Body Pacifist http://thebodypacifist.wordpress.com/

    • This blog looks at body image and gender in media, and often discusses media literacy approaches to these topics.

    Adios Barbie http://www.adiosbarbie.com/2010/08/dove-video-shown-to-impact-girls-self-esteem/

    • This article discusses a study that used Dove's "Evolution" commercial to determine of commercials illustrating the deceptiveness of "beautiful" that the media promotes.

    Beauty Redefined http://www.beautyredefined.net/tv-boosts-self-esteem-if-youre-white-and-male/

    • TV Boosts Self-Esteem!...If You're White and Male looks at how the messages about self-esteem in television and other forms of media are disadvantageous for young girls.

    Ebony http://www.ebony.com/news-views/beyond-stereotypes-media-literacy-program-helps-black-males-challenge-the-media#axzz2UgecULba

    • BEYOND STEREOTYPES is an article about a media literacy program that helps black males challenge the media. (teens)
    SMOKING AND SUBSTANCE USE

    Living http://fyiliving.com/mental-health/relationships/parenting/media-education-helps-kids-just-say-no/

    • Media Education Helps Kids “Just Say No” looks at the programs that help kids delay or prevent alcohol and tobacco use.

    Media Literacy Project http://medialiteracyproject.org/blog/same-old-smoke-and-mirrors

    • The Same Old Smoke and Mirrors discusses tricks that tobacco campaigns use to influence consumers.

    AlterNet http://www.alternet.org/story/12805/unlikely_bedfellows%3A_media_literacy_and_anti-drug_education

    • Unlikely Bedfellows: Media Literacy and Anti-Drug Education looks at media literacy programs that aim to deter teenagers away from using drugs.
    VIOLENCE AND BULLYING

    SWOVA http://www.swova.org/2011/07/got-media-literacy-who-gets-to-decide-when-humour-crosses-the-line/

    • Got Media Literacy- Who Gets to Decide when Humor Crosses the Line? looks at the humor used in commercials and other forms of media and how this enforces stereotypes and other forms of prejudice.

    Videos and Flims:

    Buy Me That: Kid's Survival Guide to TV Advertising

    Buy Me That Too

    Buy Me That 3

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7VNFO4ksCE

    • Wonderful series of lessons that help children think critically about advertising

    Youth Speak Out International

    • Using media literacy and other production tools, students create PSAs about various health issues.

    Girls: Moving Beyond Myth http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=231

    Beauty Mark: Body Image & the Race for Perfection http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=236

    Slim Hopes https://shop.mediaed.org/slim-hopes-p141.aspx

    BodyTalk https://www.youtube.com/user/cesobczak

    Body Image For Boys http://ffh.films.com/id/4589/FFHCollections.aspx

    Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=211

    Books:

    Opitz, Michael F., Literacy Lessons To Help Kids Get Fit & Healthy, Scholastic Inc., 2010. http://www.amazon.com/Literacy-Lessons-Help-Kids-Healthy/dp/0545163242

    The Metropolitan Toronto School Board, Responding to Media Violence: Starting Points for Classroom Practice, Pembroke Publishers Limited, 1998. http://www.amazon.com/Responding-Media-Violence-Starting-Classroom/dp/1551380919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398364046&sr=1-1&keywords=responding+to+media+violence+starting+point

    Schaefer, Valorie. The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls, Revised Edition, American Girl, 2012. http://www.amazon.com/The-Care-Keeping-You-Younger/dp/1609580834/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y