Define what a community is: Community means (according to The Encarta World English Dictionary): “A group of people who live in the same area, or the area in which they live” and “a group of people with a common background or with shared interests within society.”

Each student is to tell the teacher one community that he/she belongs to. The teacher is free to write the answers on the board. The list can include: family, class, religious groups, sports teams, class (8th grade, 9th grade, etc), school they attend, etc.

The next part of the hook is to take one community and look at diverse voices, perspectives and/or communities found within that one community. For example, take the class that the students belong to. If it is an 8th grade class, they can discuss the various voices which could include: boys, girls, teachers of the students, different classes (Math, History, English), theatre students, sports students, those in the school band, etc.

After the students have seen the various communities within their community, lead a simple discussion concerning the differences and similarities that each of these voices have. For example, how do they perceive things differently than another group? This could include the sports students focusing on sports, that sports is the most important thing while the theatre students feel plays and acting is the most important thing. This way, the students can see that each community has a prerogative and yet, all of them are valid. One group is not better than another but is simply different.

Core principle #5 states that “Media Literacy Education recognizes that media are a part of a culture and function as agents of socialization”

Define “socialization.” The Encarta World English Dictionary defines socialization as: The process involved when young children are becoming aware of society and learning how they are expected to behave Media is a part of everyday culture and is part of our society.

Our society is made up of various communities that contain different voices, perspectives and communities. It is important that young children, when going through this process of socialization, understand the society in which they live because this will help them learn how they are expected to behave. For example, there is a certain way to act when at church that differs from how you act at a basketball game. As they learn about these various communities, they will learn how to behave accordingly.

Instruct students that they will be looking at various voices, perspectives and communities within the media: Take a topic that the students are somewhat familiar with, but not enough so that they can actually learn and take something from this topic. For example, Elementary students could take soccer (they can look at how the sport began, techniques and skills in the sport, various soccer players, and the rules of the game).

Junior High School students could look at a political figure such as Arnold Schwarzenegger (he belongs to various communities which have their own perspectives and voices) while High School students could take a more in-depth idea such as William Shakespeare. For the purpose of this lesson, we will use William Shakespeare for High School students.

Group activity instructions:

1) Look for various voices, perspectives, and communities within the community of “Shakespeare”

2) Look at various media and how they represent “Shakespeare” in the same way or differently and how this in and of itself is a different voice.

Divide the students into seven groups:

• Group 1: Looking at Shakespeare in personal Blogs
  
• Group 2: Looking at Shakespeare in communal websites
  
• Group 3: Looking at Shakespeare in Fictional Films
  
• Group 4: Looking at Shakespeare in Documentaries
  
• Group 5: Looking at Shakespeare in Books
  
• Group 6: Looking at Shakespeare in Art
  
• Group 7: Looking at Shakespeare in Music Each group will look at different types of media.

As a group they will complete the two objectives for the group activity. The following is an example for the “book” group:

1) Look at various voices, perspectives, and communities within the community of books which belongs to the community of “Shakespeare.”

• Questions to consider:
  •  What types of people are associated with books? (Author, reader, publisher)
    
  • What type of perspective does each book provide? For example, there is one book which tells who the audience is right away. (A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare).
    
  •  What is this book saying about this perspective? (That woman are interested in Shakespeare and that feminism can be identified within his plays)

2) What is being said about Shakespeare through this type of media?

• For example, books may show that an educated audience is attracted to Shakespeare. Educated audiences in hopes of analyzing or understanding something about this man and his works look at much of his material.
  
• Any of his writings can show the time period in which he lived and wrote. See attached handout for suggested texts.
  

After reviewing the various texts in the group, all students should discuss the various voices, perspectives, and communities that they found in relation to their media and then in relation to Shakespeare. The following questions can be used to guide the conversation: 

• What similarities were there in the text? For example, do the texts mention his date of birth? Do they agree?
  
• What differences did the text have? Did one represent Shakespeare in one way and another text in another way?
  
• How did this vary according to the specific media? For example, is the way in which Shakespeare was presented saying anything about the specific media? (Film tends to show characters with flaws and weaknesses while documentaries tend to focus on facts, leaving out personality traits).
  
• How many communities are represented in each type of media?
  

After each group has presented, hold a class discussion on the similarities of each media. Do the different media agree on the facts (such as Shakespeare’s date of birth or where he lived?). If they differ, where do they differ and why? Does this have to do with the type of media?

The last step includes applying this idea back to socialization. Again, socialization means: The process involved when young children are becoming aware of society and learning how they are expected to behave This relates directly to the community in which they associate with. This activity portrayed certain communities and voices. Through this activity, what are the students now aware of in relation to Shakespeare? For example, the plays of Shakespeare use a language that is not necessarily familiar to students. This means that they will have to treat the material with respect and patience because it will take time to come to understand the meanings of Shakespeare. What is the responsibility of the student in relation to Shakespeare? This answer could include the patience and respect discussed in the previous question. This could also include a responsibility to study and use the works of Shakespeare in order to become more familiar with his work. What is the responsibility of the teacher? This answer could include presenting enough texts and opportunities to the students to allow them to become familiar with the Shakespeare.

Thus, socialization is important in relation to Shakespeare because it portrays a community but also portrays part of our contemporary community, as high school students become familiar with his works.

Independent Practice: Keep students in their same groups. Have the students make a list of various media that they have come in contact with within the last week. This can include iPods, TV, Film, Internet, Blogs, Podcasts, etc.

Then, the students are to individually create a list of different voices, perspectives, and communities associated with each media. (For example, Podcasts include the podcaster, the listener, the producers, and any other communities associated with the podcast). After this list is written, have the students interact once again with their group and discuss the different voices, perspectives, and communities that were being discussed or focused on within each different media that they associate with. This independent practice hopes to help students identify

1) different media that they use and

2) different voices, perspectives, and communities within the different media.

Closure/Assessment: This lesson has looked at various media and various voices, perspectives, and communities represented within these various media. This lesson shows that Media Literacy Education recognizes that media are a part of our society and function as agents of socialization.

Their final assignment will work right along with the independent practice. The assignment is to keep a type of media log recording their various media intake for a week with a follow-up assignment of the various voices, perspectives, and communities (much like the independent practice) and how they are represented within these different media.

This lesson plan was contributed by Ashley Pacini, a Media Arts major at BYU. The ideas presented in this lesson plan could be expanded to unit form.