Fact Vs Opinion - Teaching Children To Be Critical Readers

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Thanks to Scott @ www.mytopten.com.au

Advertising is often something that we forget to teach children about and it is this that can make the most influence on their lives as they get older. With literally thousands of advertisements shown to them through various media such as television, newpapers and magazines, our children need to learn to be critical readers and to learn to decipher the truth.

An activity that I have developed looks at understanding the differences between fact and opinion and how companies use persuasive advertising to get us to buy their products.

Pleaseclick hereto download the slideshow that will assist in teaching the lesson to your children.

Further information on teaching children about fact and opinion can also be found here:

http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/LP/LA/fact_vs_opinion_part_I.htm

http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/LP/LA/fact_vs_opinion_part_II.htm

http://www.quia.com/pop/12709.html?AP_rand=1966991320

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=81963

Two weeks worth of Poetry Lessons - 18 different styles to explore

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I have put together a PowerPoint of what our students will be doing in writing for the next fortnight to explore poetry.  This presentation contains explanations and examples of each of the 18 major styles of poetry and also Poetry assessment rubric for your students to use to assist them in writing their own poetry.  You can either download the entire presentation or just use the slideshare presentation below.  Enjoy

Digital literacy activity – a weeks worth of poetry


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Teach your students about stereotypes

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Here is this weeks digital literacy activity.  This 2 hour lesson focuses on stereotypes.  What are they?  How do we use them to engage our audience?  And what happens when we challenge the stereotypes of characters? there is an interactive activity for students to create an advertising campaign and a task to identify famous characters that challenge and support our stereotypes.  The original presentation is available hereor you can simply view it as a slideshare below.  Hope you enjoy and look forward to your feedback.

Digital literacies activity 4 stereotypes

View more presentations from Kevin Cummins.

Digital Literacy lesson: Explanation Texts

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here is another digital literacies task for you based around Explanation Texts, reading and creating them.  There is a slidehare below or you can download the original file here.  Enjoy

Digital Literacies Lesson - Cause & Effect

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Here is my digital literacies lesson for the week.  It is based around Greek Mythology and explores the relationship between Cause and Effect.  Students need to watch the short animated Greek Mythology stories, read about Greek gods, Mortals and Monsters and then identify the cause and effect sequences that are occurring within each story to further identify a message.  View the slideshare below or just download it here.

Summary of Lesson

žYou are going to identify the cause and effect of each of the four stories and see if you can identify a message or a moral to the story.

Curriculum Links

English, History

Digital literacies cause and effect

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Kevin Cummins

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Digital Literacies Lesson on Stereotypes

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Here is this weeks digital literacy activity.  This 2 hour lesson focuses on stereotypes.  What are they?  How do we use them to engage our audience?  And what happens when we challenge the stereotypes of characters? there is an interactive activity for students to create an advertising campaign and a task to identify famous characters that challenge and support our stereotypes.  The original presentation is available here or you can simply view it as a slideshare below.  Hope you enjoy and look forward to your feedback.

Digital literacies activity 4 stereotypes

Dust Echoes: Amazing Interactive Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories with Teacher Guides

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Dust Echoes is one of the most polished digital literacy sites I have seen for a while.  It contains a large selection of Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories as animated cartoons with a range of interactive activities and lesson ideas to ensure these beautiful stories continue to be told to the world for the next fifty thousand years.

DustEchoes is a series of twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land, telling stories of love, loyalty, duty to country and aboriginal custom and law.

It looks amazing containing loads of stylized Aboriginal Artwork.  The animation and dreamtime stories are beautifully narrated in simple language that caters for learners of all ages.  The stories are almost biblical in nature as the simple yet highly relevant messages being told through characters still relate to us all.

How can I integrate this into the classroom:  The Australian Aboriginals are recognized as one of the oldest civilizations on the planet who lived an uninterrupted existence with nature until 1770 when Captain Cook stepped onto the Australian shore line and changed their people forever.  Aboriginal culture is extremely rich and diverse within their own groups of people who lived in perfect harmony with mother earth.

Their stories of sustainability, peace, harmony and respecting the earth as a living being with a soul to be respected may be more relevant to our society than ever before.

Download the Study guide for the story you wish to share.  Watch the stories, identify the characters and answer the quiz relating to each story as a whole class.  Once Students have an understanding of the make up of a an aboriginal dreamtime story get your children to create their own dreamtime stories that have a message for us in 2010.  If you want to use authentic aboriginal art styles and colours you need to check out this site. 


I would love to see some of these posted up on the web that could be shared with our readers.