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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 13

Framing the Message

Framing, loaded words and sponsored posts

What your child practices

Children look at how headlines, graphs, camera angles, loaded words and sponsored posts shape a message, and how a reader's community and feelings affect their reaction.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Reading 9; Speaking and Listening 2 · how headlines, images and word choice frame a message

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Framing is how a message is shaped: headlines, camera angles, graphs and loaded words.
  2. Sponsored posts are ads, and apps show more of what you like to keep you watching.
  3. Ask what is left out, and why some people react differently.

Example: Why might a documentary interview only people who agree with the filmmaker? Leaving out the other side makes one view look stronger. That shapes the viewer’s opinion. Answer: to make the argument seem stronger

Framing the Message in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 12 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Research Skills and before Spelling: Prefixes and Patterns.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the purpose of a movie trailer?

    • to persuade people to watch the movie
    • to tell the whole plot
    • to review the movie fairly
    • to list the crew

  2. Question 2

    What technique does an ad use when it shows a regular family using a product?

    • bandwagon
    • statistics
    • testimonial from an expert
    • plain folks

  3. Question 3

    Why might an ad show a product next to a smiling, healthy athlete?

    • to link the product with health and success
    • to show the price
    • to explain the rules
    • to report sports scores

  4. Question 4

    Which is a technique used in video to make a person seem powerful?

    • silent background
    • blurry focus
    • filming from a low angle
    • tiny text

  5. Question 5

    Two headlines: “Students Raise $500” and “Students Fall Short of $1,000 Goal.” What does this show?

    • headlines have no effect
    • one is lying
    • the numbers are wrong
    • the same facts can be framed differently

  6. Question 6

    A photo is cropped to remove a crowd behind a speaker. How might that change the message?

    • it makes the photo primary
    • it changes nothing
    • it might make the event look smaller or larger than it was
    • it adds facts

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