Welcome to Unit 2!

In this unit, the focus is on challenges and the actions that individuals, groups,
societies, and cultures take to bring about change. Although personal resilience and
grit can help us overcome some barriers, systemic challenges like racism, sexism,

 Learning Goals
homophobia, poverty or colonization require social action that brings together
communities to face social and systemic problems through social action.

Press the following tabs to learn more about some of the challenges specific
communities have encountered.

Greensboro sit-ins
1960
In 1960, four students, Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin
Black Lives Matter McCain, David Richmond, and Joseph McNeil,
2013-present known as the “Greensboro Four,” refused to
leave the lunch counter of a Woolworth store.
University They inspired sit-ins and protests in over 50
protests cities.
1968

Anti-Apartheid
protests
1970s–80s
 Oka Crisis
1990

Gun control
protests
2018

Velvet Revolution
1989

(From left) Joseph McNeil and Franklin McCain, two of

the Greensboro Four who the day before had sat at the
“whites only” counter of a Woolworth store, came back on
Feb. 2, 1960, with two others — Billy Smith and Clarence
Henderson.
(Jack Moebes/Greensboro News & Record)

In 2013, three Black organizers—Alicia Garza,

Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi—created a
Black-centered political will and movement
building project called #BlackLivesMatter. It
was in response to the acquittal of Trayvon
Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman. The
project is now a member-led global network of
more than 40 chapters.

Source:
Black Lives Matter. (2019). Herstory. Retrieved May 3,

2022, from https://blacklivesmatter.com/hersto

ry/
A Black Lives Matter protester stands in front of St. Louis
Police Department officers equipped with riot gear on
Sept. 15, 2017.
(Lawrence Bryant/Reuters)

The Columbia protests erupted over the spring

of 1968 after students discovered links
between the university and the Institute for
Defense Analyses (IDA), a weapons research
thinktank affiliated with the U.S. Department
of Defense. Students were also concerned
about what they saw as a segregated
gymnasium the university wanted to build.

Source:
People’s World. (2018, April 23). This week in history:

Protesting students occupy Columbia

University. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://

www.peoplesworld.org/article/this-week-in-hist

ory-protesting-students-occupy-columbia-univer

sity/
Students in Hamilton Hall, seized on April 23, 1968. That
night, African-American students asked white students to
leave and seize other buildings, so they could keep a
separate protest.
(Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times)

In 1976, when thousands of black children in

Soweto, a black township outside
Johannesburg, demonstrated against the
Afrikaans language requirement for black
African students, the police opened fire with
tear gas and bullets. The protests and
government crackdowns that followed,
combined with a national economic recession,
drew more international attention to South
Africa and shattered all illusions that
apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to
the nation.

Source:
History. (2020, March 3). Apartheid. Retrieved May 3,

2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/afri

ca/apartheid
A banner is held aloft above black students in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in the township of Soweto,
where they rallied after the funeral of a 16-year-old black
student who died in jail on Oct. 18, 1976. The student,
Dumisani Mbatha, was arrested following a protest march
the previous month by young black people in
Johannesburg and died two days after his arrest.
(AP)

Beginning July 11, 1990, the Mohawk people of

Kanesatake in Quebec began to protest the
expansion of a local golf course onto their
traditional territory, which included a burial
ground. This land ownership was already
disputed, as Kanesatake had filed a land claim
related to this area 13 years prior, in 1977. This
struggle between the Mohawks of Kanesatake,
the Quebec police, and later the Canadian Army,
would draw national attention to land claims
issues in the country. Following numerous
clashes and the death of Corporal Marcel Lemay,
the golf course expansion was cancelled and the
land was purchased by the federal government.
Pte. Patrick Cloutier of the Royal 22e Régiment faces
Ojibwa warrior Brad Larocque in this now famous photo
taken during the Oka Crisis on Sept. 1, 1990.
(Shaney Komulainen / The Canadian Press File Photo)

After a shooting at their school killed 17

classmates, students at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
organized and inspired local and international
protests. They rallied, marched, and lobbied for a
change in American gun control laws.

In 2018, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

School rallied for gun control on the steps of the State
Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla.
(Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)
 Only eleven days after 17 November 1989,
when riot police had beaten peaceful student
demonstrators in Prague, the Communist
Party of Czechoslovakia relinquished its power
and allowed the single-party state to collapse.
By 29 December 1989, the so-called Velvet
Revolution, led by the nonviolent coalition
Civic Forum, transformed Václav Havel from a
dissident playwright into the President of a
democratic Czechoslovakia.

Source:
Kurtz, L. (2008, March). Czechoslovakia’s Velvet

Revolution (1989). International Center on

Nonviolent Conflict. Retrieved May 3, 2022,

from https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/czech

oslovakias-velvet-revolution-1989/

To the castle: Vaclav Havel in Prague on Dec. 19, 1989,

days before he was elected president.
(Petar Kujundzic/Reuters)
Discover more

The examples that have been provided represent only a tiny selection of
a very long human history of protest and social change. Do a little
independent online research. What are some of the current issues
where you live? How have people expressed their dissatisfaction or
their support? Check out the websites of trusted newspaper publications
you are familiar with and/or social media platforms you are comfortable
using to help you learn about these current issues.

Reflecting back through time at an event is a different experience than thinking about
an event that has happened locally and recently. All events are connected to larger
political, economic, social, and cultural realities.

In this learning activity, you will be exploring how texts, like images and headlines, can
become a powerful medium for influencing how a certain event may be perceived or
remembered.

Transferable skills

As you work through the activities in this unit, you will also be
developing and demonstrating a variety of transferable skills:

Critical thinking and problem solving

Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship
Self-directed learning
Collaboration
Communication
Global citizenship and sustainability
Digital literacy

At the end of Unit 1, you set some goals for yourself. Review your goals and think
intentionally about which areas you will work to improve. You will reflect on your
progress at the end of this unit, as well.
Select the forward and back arrows to cycle through the images from the Minds On
section again. What similarities and differences do you notice?
(From left) Joseph McNeil and Franklin McCain, two of the Greensboro Four who the
day before had sat at the whites only counter of a Woolworth store, came back on
Feb. 2, 1960, with two others — Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson.

 

Notebook

Jot down the similarities and differences you notice between the images
in your notebook. Press the Sample Response button to compare your
thinking.

Sample response
Can you tell what happened just before the photos were taken? Just after? Are the
images a true representation of what happened? Why does it matter to know what
happened before and after?

These are all important questions. Your job as a critical thinker is to consider what
decisions may have been made in the taking of a photo and how this affects the
message created by the photo.

Images communicate messages. Explore the following image taken during the Black
Lives Matter protests in 2014.

Think

What messages do you think are being communicated by this photo?

What evidence do you have?

Now, select the following Consider This button to learn more about the
context of the photo. How does this new information affect your original
thinking?

Consider This
It's not what it seems
When a protest is covered by the news media, what images are chosen to depict the
event? Why might a particular image of the event have been chosen for publication
while others were not?

Next, you will consider the type of questions asked when a news editor selects images
to portray a specific event: the March for Our Lives gun control protest. You can take
what you learn and apply it to what may currently be happening where you live.

Born out of a tragic school shooting, March For Our Lives is a courageous youth-led
movement dedicated to promoting civic engagement, education, and direct action by
youth to eliminate the epidemic of gun violence.

Source:
March for Our Lives. (2022, March 17). Mission & Story. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://marchforourlive

s.com/mission-story/

Consider the following array of images related to the March for Our Lives gun control
protest in 2018.

 
Think

Think about the different messages and perspectives conveyed by the

images. Which images demonstrate powerful voices? Which images
show calm and reason? Which image might provoke the most emotional
response?

Notebook

Instead of images, you can do the same kind of analysis with headlines.
Compare the following headlines:

"The truth behind the student led "March for our lives" (Fox News, Dec.
6, 2018)

"Student marchers call Washington's inaction on gun violence

unacceptable" (CNN, Dec. 6, 2018)

"Counter-protesters at Boston Common 'defend' second amendment'

(Boston Globe, 2018)

How does each headline tell a different version of the story? Which
headlines seem balanced? Which are slanted or biased?

Choose either Activity #1 or Activity #2 and complete the activity in your

notebook.


Activity #1

Search online for other images, headlines, articles or videos

related to the March for Our Lives protest.

Choose a different protest (or media event) and conduct an

image search. Alternatively, you can search for headlines, audio
or video clips as well.

In your notebook, write a short 150-200 word reflection on what

you found during your research by addressing the following
questions:
 What kinds of texts come up?
Whose perspective do you think is being represented?


Activity #2

Choose a different protest (or media event) and conduct an

image search. Alternatively, you can search for headlines, audio
or video clips as well.

In your notebook, write a short 150-200 word reflection on what

you found during your research by addressing the following
questions:

What are the similarities and differences among the

message of the texts?
What perspective is being represented?
Are the texts largely in support of or in opposition to the
protest?
How can you tell?

If you were doing your searches based on images, did you notice the titles or brief
descriptions (captions) that accompanied the images?

Try it!

Explore the following cover image of Time magazine relating to the

March for Our Lives protest. This was the March 22, 2018 cover.

What are some possible captions you would give this image?

Try captioning some of the images you’ve encountered so far in this

learning activity.

Press the Sample Captions button to explore two possible captions.

 Sample Captions

Focus on images
Learning the language of images will help you better understand how images
communicate messages. This is an important media literacy skill.

Now you'll have a chance to review the effects of camera shots and angles.

Press the Start button to access the following interactive. This interactive will open in a
new window.

Press here for the accessible version of Shots and Angles

(../assets/locker_docs/eng4c_02_shots_and_angles.html?ou=22862567)
 Start (../ilo/shots_and_angles/shots_and_angles.html?ou=22862567)

Think

Photos tell interesting stories of our lives. Do you have access to older
photos of yourself? Do you have more recent photos of yourself?

Review your photos and select one that best represents the "past" you
from 5 or 10 years ago and one that represents the "present" you today.

News editors need to consider different perspectives and emotions

when selecting images. Channel your inner news editor and think about
the following questions as you consider which photos you should
choose:

Which images should you choose to represent the "past" you and the
"present" you?
How are you making your choices?
What are you considering?
How are you rejecting photos?
Try it!

Photo array and presentation

Take on the role of a news editor and complete the following two tasks.

Task 1: Create a photo array (or an array of headlines)

Task 2: Prepare an audio presentation.

Press the following tabs to explore each task.


Task 1

Create a photo array of 6–9 images or a headline array of 6-9

headlines

Choose one of the protests covered in this learning activity (other than March
for Our Lives) or an alternate event of your choosing.

Complete the following steps to create your array:

1. Conduct an image or headline search for your chosen event using a

search engine of your choice.

2. Choose images or headlines that are diverse and communicate different

messages. Keep track of your sources.

3. Organize your images or headlines to highlight the different messages.

You can do this in a document or by using presentation software/digital
tools.

4. For each image, identify the camera shot or angle used and explain the
effect that it has on what is being communicated. If you are using
headlines, identify the mood, tone, and diction and how the headline is
biased/slanted.

5. For each image, write your own caption, even if one is provided. If you
are working with headlines, choose an image that best represents your
headline.
 
Task 2

Prepare a 1–3 minute audio presentation

Plan an audio presentation to explain your photo array (or headline array). Use
the following suggested structure to guide your planning.

Suggested structure:

Provide brief background information about the protest.

Explain how your images or headlines show different perspectives and
viewpoints. Use the language of camera shots and angles where
appropriate. Or use the terms mood, tone, and diction where
appropriate.
Discuss whether you think there is a predictable format for photos or
headlines associated with protest movements.

Once you have planned what you are going to say, record your presentation
using Audacity or any audio recording program or device you are comfortable
using.

Use the following rubric to self-assess your photo array (or headline array) and audio
presentation. If you would like, you can ask a trusted friend/relative to use the rubric to
assess your photo array (or headline array) and audio presentation and provide you
with feedback as well.


Knowledge and Understanding

Success Criteria:

selects images or headlines that represent different perspectives (media

interpretation)
organizes photos or headlines logically (media production)

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

80-100% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59%

With a high degree With a considerable With some degree With limited
of effectiveness degree of of effectiveness effectiveness
effectiveness

Communication

Success Criteria:

demonstrates a strong command of the English language

uses appropriate tone/voice for purpose and audience
organizes ideas logically and concisely
adheres to the conventions of grammar, sentence structure, and spelling
as appropriate for the purpose

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

80-100% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59%

With a high degree With a considerable With some degree With limited
of effectiveness degree of of effectiveness effectiveness
effectiveness


Application

Success Criteria:

speaks clearly and concisely

uses voice for maximum effect on the audience
uses language of camera shots and angles accurately or explains tone,
mood, and diction accurately
provides background information clearly and concisely

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

80-100% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59%

With a high degree With a considerable With some degree With limited
of effectiveness degree of of effectiveness effectiveness
effectiveness
Explore this!

Explore the following audio for some presentation tips.

0:00 / 0:21

Access transcript
(../audio/transcript/eng4c_02_tips_on_presenting.html)

Once you have completed your photo array (or headline array) and audio presentation,
review your work to make sure you have met the success criteria.

As stated previously, you can then use the rubric to self-assess your work or to ask a
trusted friend/relative to assess your work and provide feedback.

Notebook

Now that you have created a media text - your photo array or headline
array - and delivered an audio presentation, reflect on the following
questions in your notebook:

1. What do you think your

strengths and weaknesses
are as both a media creator
and presenter?

2. Which media creation

strategies and presenting
strategies did you find most
effective? Explain why.

3. How comfortable are you with engaging in both media creation and
oral communication tasks? Can you identify some skills that will help
increase your confidence for media creation and oral communication
tasks?
In this learning activity, you had an opportunity to examine how images and headlines
can convey different messages. In doing so, you were exploring images and headlines
as media texts.

A media text is

any material that you analyze to determine its meaning and purpose
(including words, pictures, sounds, or music).
any text that is presented in a media form (written, audio, video, or any
combination of these).

Media texts communicate important messages. The audience, depending on their

perspective, may interpret the message differently to create their own meaning.

Notebook

In your notebook, reflect on the following questions:

1. What is the relationship between protest and resilience? Explain your

thinking.

2. How have/do some communities exhibit grit and resilience to

overcome specific challenges (e.g., colonization, racism,
homophobia, classism, ableism, sexism)?
 3. What role does resistance play in how communities confront
challenges?

4. How did learning about different camera shots and angles help you
understand the messages conveyed by media texts?

5. What are the key points that you will take away from this learning
activity?

Think

In this learning activity, you practised analyzing images and headlines

as media texts. Now think about the following questions:

1. What do you think your

strengths and weaknesses
are as a media interpreter?

2. Which media interpretation

strategies did you find most
effective?

3. How comfortable are you

with engaging in media
interpretation tasks? Can you identify some skills that will help
increase your confidence for media interpretation tasks?

Self-check quiz

Check your understanding!

Complete the following self-check quiz to determine where you are in

your learning and what areas you need to focus on.

This quiz is for feedback only, not part of your grade. You have unlimited
attempts on this quiz. Take your time, do your best work, and reflect on
any feedback provided.

Press Quiz to access this tool.

 Quiz
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ou=22862567&type=quiz&rcode=eLO-63586337)
(/d2l/common/dialogs/quickLink/quickLink.d2l?
ou=21376308&type=quiz&rcode=eLO-63586337)
Based on your answers, reach out to your academic officer for
additional support as needed.