Digital Curriculum:
Media Construction of
the Middle East
Curriculum Kit:
Media Construction of War
Curriculum Kit:
Media Construction of
Presidential Campaigns
Vendors of Media
Literacy Materials
|
Media Construction of the Middle East
Media Construction
of the Middle East: A Digital Media Literacy Curriculum*
Cover |
Overview, Objectives, and Pedagogy
| How
to Use These Materials
| Resource
List
Unit
1: Introducing the Middle East
Unit 2: Israel/Palestine: Histories in Conflict
Unit 3: War in Iraq: Whose Voice, Whose Story?
Unit 4: Militant Muslims and the U.S.
Unit 2: Israel/Palestine:
Histories in Conflict
This
unit reviews the background history of Israel/Palestine and gives students the
opportunity to recognize, examine, and analyze conflicting historical claims
and perspectives. It presents different political, religious, national, cultural
and historic perspectives in a variety of different media sources and documents
(history texts, newspapers, web pages, documentary films, songs, maps, etc.)
for students to decode.
Lesson 1:
Same Land – Different Histories
Lesson 2: May 15, 1948 – Independence
or Catastrophe
Lesson 3: 1967– Deepening
the Divide
Lesson 4: Whose Fear and Whose Security?
Lesson 5: Singing the Struggle
Lesson 6: The Politics of Maps
Lesson 1: Same Land –
Different Histories
Teacher Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students examine conflicting historical perspectives and claims about
the Arab/Israeli conflict by identifying and discussing bias in history
texts. |
| 
Handout in Teacher
Guide (PDF)
|
Documents:
Excerpts from Israeli and Palestinian school textbooks that present conflicting
histories of Israel/Palestine up to 1947; an excerpt from U.S. encyclopedia
entry |
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Lesson 2: May 15, 1948
– Independence or Catastrophe
Teacher Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students review facts about the independence of Israel; analyze Palestinian
and Israeli histories of 1948; and explore authorship, bias and objectivity
in history. |
| 
Handout
in Teacher Guide (PDF)
|
Documents:
Excerpts from two articles with conflicting perspectives from www.bitterlemons.org. |
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Lesson 3: 1967 –
Deepening the Divide
Teacher Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students review the history of the 1967 war and its implications for the
Arab/Israeli conflict. They learn to think critically about web research
by exploring issues of authorship, credibility, bias, propaganda and objectivity. |
| 
Handout in Teacher Guide (PDF)
|
Documents:
Excerpts from the Web sites of the Education Department of Jewish Agency
and from www.palestinehistory.com. |
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Lesson 4: Whose Fear and
Whose Security?
Teacher Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students explore the Intifada from both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives
and analyze credibility, bias and truth in documentary film. |
| 
Video
Clips (QuickTime)
|
Documents:
Clips from the documentaries Days of Rage and A Search
for Solid Ground. |
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Lesson 5: Singing the Struggle
Teacher Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students learn about the diversity of political perspectives in Israel
and Palestine by identifying political and cultural perspectives in songs. |
| 
Audio Clips (QuickTime)
|
Documents:
Clips from "Boxed In" by Palestinian pop group Sabreen; "Falestine"
by Arab songwriter Mohamed Abdel Wahab; "Shir
La Shalom" ("Song for Peace") by Jacob Rotblit, performed
by an Israeli military band; "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem
of Gold") by Israeli folk singer Naomi Shemer |
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Lesson 6: The Politics
of Maps
Teacher's Guide (PDF) |
Lesson Summary:
Students review historical and contemporary issues related to the political
and cultural geography of Israel and Palestine. They identify and discuss
the bias of maps through their choice of content, language, and symbols,
and the drawing of borders. |
| 
Slideshow (PDF)
|
Documents:
11 maps of Israel/Palestine from different sources and different time
periods
|
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| |
