IndyKids Media Literacy and Letter to the Editor Workshop

[INDYKIDS IS CURRENTLY UNABLE TO OFFER THESE WORKSHOPS. PLEASE CHECK BACK AT A LATER DATE!]

IndyKids is excited to announce a new IndyKids classroom workshop for 5th-8th grade students in New York City public schools. Led by an IndyKids staff member, the 45-60 minute in-class workshop develops close-reading and writing skills by working with students to analyze news articles and write a letter to the editor. Selected letters to the editor developed through the workshop will be printed in future IndyKids issues and posted online.

To schedule an IndyKids workshop for your class, contact Natalie at info(at)indykids.org. Please include your contact information, a list of potential dates/times and the grade level of the students.

IndyKids Workshop about Media Bias

Sometimes IndyKids is asked: “Why don’t you try to be more balanced?” Our response is that it is not possible to be balanced.  All media relays a point of view.

All news publications and all media children are exposed to come from a certain political perspective, whether they admit to it or not. IndyKids is open in that it is a progressive publication giving space to the voices and issues of marginalized people and people in other parts of the world that we don’t often hear about. If anything, IndyKids is much more “balanced” than most news publications for children because it states the mainstream point of view kids are likely to hear, and then presents alternative perspectives.

Mainstream publications are not so upfront and pretend to have no political leanings at all. In fact, they are financed by corporate sponsors and wealthy people.  Writers and editors write from the perspective of their class and cultural background, and it is generally from the dominant class and culture.  They present a view that is overwhelmingly favorable to the U.S. government and corporations.

To help understand the biases  in  all media, IndyKids has worked  with  educators  and  organizers  to  develop a Media Bias Workshop curriculum for use in elementary and middle school classrooms. The 45-minute workshop works with kids to help them recognize the biases in all kinds of media — while  teaching the  importance of honest and truthful reporting.

Download the lesson plan, worksheet and supporting handouts by clicking here.