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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 12

Media Analysis

Rhetoric, framing and synthetic media

What your child practices

Students analyze the purposes and techniques of media messages (rhetorical appeals, framing, propaganda, sponsored content, deepfakes) and how beliefs and algorithms shape interpretation.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 9.1.6.3; 9.1.5.3 · delineating arguments and analyzing media

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Media shape feelings with music, framing and charts. A cut-off y-axis can make a trend look bigger.
  2. Confirmation bias is favoring information you already agree with.
  3. A filter bubble is a feed that shows mainly what you already agree with.

Example: What is confirmation bias? “Confirm” means show something is true. People tend to look for what backs up their beliefs. Answer: the tendency to favor information that matches what you already believe

Media Analysis in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 12 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Proofreading.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    A news story uses an anonymous source. How should readers treat it?

    • as an ad
    • with some caution, looking for confirmation from other sources
    • as fully proven
    • as false

  2. Question 2

    What is the effect of using a close-up of a speaker's face in a debate broadcast?

    • it emphasizes emotion and makes viewers feel closer
    • it gives statistics
    • it hides the speaker
    • it adds a citation

  3. Question 3

    What does it mean to analyze a media message's techniques?

    • check its spelling only
    • count its views
    • summarize its plot only
    • examine the choices, like images, sound and words, and their effects

  4. Question 4

    What is the purpose of a political attack ad?

    • to sell products
    • to persuade viewers against an opponent
    • to entertain only
    • to inform neutrally

  5. Question 5

    How can a viewer's political beliefs affect their interpretation of a news story?

    • everyone interprets the same
    • beliefs change the facts
    • they may read the same facts as support for their own view
    • beliefs have no effect

  6. Question 6

    Why might the same speech be described as “bold” by one outlet and “reckless” by another?

    • the speech changed
    • each outlet frames it to fit its perspective
    • words have no meaning
    • one outlet heard a different speech

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