Skills you learn from Media Studies (Year 9)

This is one of three lesson plans for teachers introducing Media Studies to Year 9 students:

• Jobs that use Media Studies (Year 9)
• Skills you learn from Media Studies (Year 9)
• Why study GCSE Media Studies? (Year 9)

These lesson plans will help you show students how Media Studies connects to their future careers.

We recommend using this lesson plan at the end of the autumn term. By this point students will have had time to engage with media content this year - through English, Drama, IT, or other subjects, and through their own viewing, scrolling, and listening - giving them real material to draw on when thinking about the skills Media Studies builds. Recognising those skills helps students see Media Studies as more than the content they scroll past every day, and sets them up for GCSE choices in the spring.

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Learning objectives

• Students will understand that Media Studies builds a broad range of transferable skills.
• Students will be able to name 2-3 skills they recognise from media they've consumed or studied, and give examples.

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Before the lesson

• You will need a computer connected to the internet and a classroom screen.
• Open the What can you do with Media Studies? page and have it ready on the screen.
• Review the Skills that Media Studies builds section and think of teaching examples for each one - ads, news stories, social posts, or videos students will recognise.

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During the lesson

1. What media have we engaged with? (5 mins)

• Ask students to call out examples of media they've discussed in school this year - in English, Drama, or other subjects - and ads, news, music videos, viral posts, or shows they've engaged with in their own time.
• Write the suggestions on the board and highlight any patterns.

2. Skills that Media Studies builds (15 mins)

• Bring up the What can you do with Media Studies? page on the classroom screen.
• Review the contents of the page with students so that they understand what it covers.
• Scroll to the Skills that Media Studies builds section and work through each skill in turn.
  • Ask students which example from the board involved that skill - reading content critically, recognising who it's aimed at, noticing how the same story changes across platforms, or thinking about the ethics of how something is shown.
  • Share your own teaching examples if students are stuck.

3. Making it personal (10 mins)

• Ask students to pick 2-3 skills from the list they feel they've used when consuming or talking about media.
• Go round the class, asking each student to name one skill and give an example of when they used it.
• Close by reminding students that these are valuable skills for work and life, not just for exams.

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After the lesson

• Share the What can you do with Media Studies? page with students and their parents/carers:
  • www.coffeewith.xyz/subjects/what-can-you-do-with-media-studies
• Encourage parents/carers to explore the page with their child and to discuss the contents.
• Use the School Tools / Activities feature to record the lesson activity:
  • Activity name: Year 09 - Skills you learn from Media Studies
  • Activity type: Linking curriculum learning to careers
• Read the follow-on lesson plan:
  • Why study GCSE Media Studies? (Year 9)