Students gained an understanding of the difference of presenting news and presenting opinion. This is easier to differentiate in a newspaper format as the editorials are segregated into their own section. It is important that students also be able to identify editorial content on radio, television, or web. By creating their own video editorial, students got the opportunity to see the similarities in presentation of news and opinion. They also were able to make the connection that the viewer must be discerning as the programming of news and opinion is often mixed together.

        Another concept that was successful is that students were able to observe, discuss, and then create messages with multiple media. They got to see the power of video over print. They then saw the power of multiple images over a single one. This understanding has relevance upon communication tools they will create both in and out of education. It also allows them to be better consumers of media messages.

        Students also got to flex their higher thinking “muscles” by crafting messages with images that were representations of complex concepts. Of all the things that I ask students to do in this unit, this concept is often the most difficult. As a group, they “got it.”