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6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 14 of 17

Media, Bias & Diversity

Notice how texts show people, and how words, pictures and sound work together.

What your child practices

Practices how multimodal texts combine modes, how audience and purpose shape a text, and how to notice bias, stereotypes, inclusion and equity in texts.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 6SL5 · how words, pictures and sound work together in media and presentations

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Multimodal texts combine words, images, sound and video.
  2. Every text has a purpose: to inform, entertain or persuade.
  3. Bias means a text shows only one side or unfairly favors a view. Ask who is included and who is left out.

Example: What does bias in a text mean? A fair text shows more than one side. A biased text leans one way. Answer: it shows only one side or unfairly favors a view

Media, Bias & Diversity in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 14 of 17 in 6th grade English Language Arts, after Plan & Organize Writing and before Judge and Compare Texts.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Which choice makes a slideshow easier to understand?

    • A whole page of tiny text
    • A different font on every line
    • Short text and a clear picture on each slide

  2. Question 2

    Bias in a text means…

    • it has too many pictures
    • it is long
    • it shows only one side or unfairly favors a view

  3. Question 3

    Which medium is best for sharing a quick weather warning to many people at once?

    • A printed novel
    • A text alert
    • A museum display

  4. Question 4

    What is the benefit of adding a photo to a report on a community garden?

    • It replaces the facts
    • It makes the report shorter
    • It shows readers what the garden looks like

  5. Question 5

    Which digital tool could you use to make a short narrated story?

    • A video or slideshow app with a microphone
    • A ruler
    • A calculator

  6. Question 6

    A story shows only boys as scientists. What might a thoughtful reader notice?

    • It has a long title
    • It leaves out girls and others who are scientists
    • It uses too many verbs

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