Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

Students analyze Paul Revere’s account of his midnight ride, Longfellow’s poem and a YouTube video to consider context and sourcing in recounting an historic event.

The Boston Massacre: A Bloody Slaughter or Self Defense?

Students analyze Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, a newspaper account by the imprisoned British commander, a sworn deposition by an eyewitness, and the court testimony of another eyewitness to learn about sourcing, bias, and credibility in historical sources.

Lewis Hine and Child Labor: Photography of Persuasion

Students will analyze and ask questions about photographs to learn about persuasive techniques, intent, impact, and to reflect on historical context and perspective.

What is Democracy?

Students analyze short videos for messages about different forms of democratic process in the U.S., personal bias and video techniques.

Demonstration Video: January 6, 2021: Newspaper Front Pages

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Longeran, leads her students through a decoding of domestic and international newspapers - using the Project Look Sharp lesson: “Storming the Capital” - to analyze media construction and bias in news coverage. (Total Time: 8:57) Published 2023

Graphing the Vote: Age, Gender, and Time

Students will tell the stories behind political graphs by: analyzing graphs about generational voting, asking questions about the sourcing and target audience, and reflecting on patterns in youth voting. This lesson has the potential to promote polarization. See the advice in the lesson plan.

Declaration of Independence: Sourcing, Credibility, & Bias

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Lonergan, leads her students through a decoding of domestic and international newspapers - using the Project Look Sharp lesson: “Storming the Capital” - to analyze media construction and bias in news coverage. (Total Time: 8:57) Published 2023

The Immigration Debate: Trump vs Harris

Students analyze political ads from the 2024 presidential campaign for messages about immigration, media construction, and our own interpretations.

What is a Campaign?

Students analyze historic and contemporary campaign media for messages about purpose, media types and democratic process.

Satirizing Trump and Harris - Comedy, Bias, and Impact

Students explore political satire through the analysis of comedy sketches related to the 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Messaging Masculinity in the 2024 Presidential Campaign

Students analyze speeches and analysis from the 2024 Republican and Democratic conventions for messages about defining masculinity, political campaign messaging and identity as a factor in media interpretation.

Harris vs Trump: Whose Language, Whose Issues?

Students analyze webpage issue lists to identify which are from the Harris and which are from the Trump campaigns, reflecting on language choices, target audience, and their own biases.

Kamala Harris & Donald Trump Video Biographies

Students analyze Donald Trump and Kamala Harris film biographies for messages about presidential leadership, media creation, and how political bias shapes media interpretation.

High School US History: 1800 Anti-Jefferson Political Cartoon

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns. Students in this video decode political cartoons against Thomas Jefferson.

How Big is the Crowd? Proportional Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Students use mathematical reasoning to evaluate claims about crowd size for President Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and reflect on confirmation bias when assessing truth claims in the media.

To Break the Glass Ceiling: Analyzing Campaign Ads by Women Running for President

Students analyze political campaign ads for messages about female presidential candidates, historical and cultural context, and techniques of persuasion.

Media Constructions of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence

Students analyze diverse media forms related to John Trumbull’s famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence for messages about the event, the credibility and qualities of different media forms, and about American history.

The History of Cigarette Commercials: Issues of Persuasion and Regulation

Students analyze 3 TV commercials and a PSA for cigarettes from the 1950s-1960s to assess marketing techniques, health messages and gender stereotypes, and then read about and discuss the 1970 congressional ban on cigarette advertising on television.

Picturing the Underground Railroad: Historical Context Through Book Covers

Students analyze three book covers to understand historical context, to reflect on how identity impacts interpretation, and to discuss the role of media makers in crafting historical representations.

Comic Superheroes and Historical Context

Students analyze comic book covers for messages about historical context and book cover design techniques.