Join Ms. Heather for a fun-filled 45 minutes looking at how characters and created and stereotyped. Beginning with a discussion about stereotypes and moving into a live, engaging reading of The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, students will enjoy interacting with their peers from other connecting schools during this session.The session will conclude with a quick classroom art project and character portrait ‘unveiling.’

Videoconference Outline

• Welcome and Introductions (5 Minutes)
• What does a Princess look like? An interactive brainstorm session and discussion about stereotyping (10 Minutes)
• Interactive Reading /Discussion of The Paper Bag Princess (10 Minutes)
• Character Portrait Activity: Each class should divide students into 3 groups. Each group should draw or paint a picture of a stereotypical Prince,Princess or Villain standing beside a non-stereotypical version of the same character.(15 Minutes)
• Character Portrait Unveiling (5 Minutes)

Materials needed for this program:

Each participating class will need 3 large poster-size pieces of paper or posterboard, markers, colored pencils, crayons, and any other art materials the teacher wishes to provide for the Character Portrait Activity.

Objectives:

• Students will understand that the representations made by the media are not always accurate
• Students will understand the concept of stereotyping
• Students will identify their own perceptions of various stereotypes

Pre-Videoconference Activities

Our Virtual Storytime series is designed to have very little prep work involved. You may find it helpful for the post-reading activities to familiarize students with the book being read/discussed prior to the videoconference event and/or familiarize students with the author.. You may also want to have brief discussion with students about the theme or literary device being focused on during the storytime. In this case, the theme being discussed is stereotypes and we'll be talking about characterization.

About the Facilitator

Heather Weisse Walsh is the Manager of Educational Services for MAGPI with the primary responsibility of fostering dialogue and collaborative efforts between members. Heather is responsible for developing and managing MAGPI’s educational services, including include interactive video programming and educational content, advanced video initiatives, virtual environments, remote instrumentation projects and professional development endeavors. She earned her MSEd in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in English from McDaniel College. In 2009, Heather co-authored a research study that investigated using interactive video technologies in reading comprehension instruction. While at MAGPI, Heather has worked with content partners to create more than 200 original, interactive video programs for the education community. She is the co-chair of the Internet2 Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group, as well as a member of the Internet2 K20 Advisory Council.

This lesson has been adapted from the Media Awareness Network's Once Upon a Time lesson.