Students investigate how bias affects communication in this lesson. At the end of the lesson, students are able to:
- Recognize bias in nonfiction texts.
- Recognize the distinction between an objective and a biased account of an event.
- Acknowledge that nearly all written works contain bias.
- Differentiate between irrational prejudice and reasonable opinions.
- Understand how a person's point of view influences the things they say, write, and read.
- Write a slanted story about an incident from the perspective of a specific person.
- Examine articles to determine the author's intentions and to spot instances of prejudiced thought.
- Acknowledge how word choice can reveal bias. 

- How does text interaction prompt thought and response?

- Author’s Purpose: The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or convince the audience to do or not do something.
- Bias: A judgment based on a personal point of view. 
- Editorials: A newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of the editors or publishers; an expression of opinion that resembles such an article.

- character cards (L-7-3-1_Character Cards) 
- students' copies of the Bias Meter (L-7-3-1_Bias Meter)
- “Hang Up and Drive” http://www.thewritesource.com/studentmodels/ws2k-phoneed.htm or other sample editorials and news articles for analysis. Examples include the following:
- APA Stylistics: Avoiding Bias. Purdue Online Writing Lab. 4/21/2010. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/14/
- “Teens Build Incredible Car” by Zach Jones in Scholastic News Online. 25 August 2010. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754743
-Choices: The Choice of Language by Dan Kurland. http://www.criticalreading.com/choice_of_language.htm
- local newspapers

- Comment on the way the character responds to the scenario in the students' paragraphs. Take note of any students who may require extra practice. Ensure that each student completes their response paragraph. After the conversation, gather them.
- It will be clear from the group paragraphs that each character writes about the scenario and the subsequent class discussion whether or not most students understand what bias is and how it shows up.
- Students' comprehension will be evident in their individual analysis of a news article, which will include determining the author's goal and pointing out any instances of objectivity or bias. Students can retry with a different article and view examples from other students to reinforce this experience if needed. 

Explicit instruction, modeling, scaffolding, and active engagement
W: Ask students to look at instances of prejudice, exaggeration, and stereotypes and discuss how these tactics can obstruct effective communication.
H: Give each student a scenario that calls for consideration and focus, and ask them to make a list of the factors that could influence a person's decisions.
E: Give groups the opportunity to work through a scenario, swap perspectives, and look for bias in an editorial.
R: After talking about the scene and the biases of the different characters, have the students retell the scenario from a different angle. They can then discuss and analyze the scenario to get ready to analyze an article on their own.
E: Assign students to compare their paragraph responses to the scenario with those written by fellow students for the same character. To enhance learning, ask students to mark sentences as biased or objective.
T: Use sharing with the class as well as group and individual exercises to impart knowledge.
O: Equip students to recognize bias on their own, drawing from a variety of experiences regarding bias's sources, effects, and language.
( IS. 6- Language Function + IS. 7 - Level 1 worksheets)

Focus Question: How do you identify bias, and what does it look like?

Students will examine the function of bias in communication in this lesson. The unit's performance assessment will include the exercises from this lesson.

Part 1

Say, "I'll be giving a card with a character's name and description to each of you. There are characters among you who aren't really in the scene, but they have strong opinions about what transpires. Your character will be assigned to other students as well."

Distribute character cards (L-7-3-1_Character Cards) to every student. After assigning them to read their character descriptions, have them pay close attention while you read aloud a scenario. Emphasize that the scenario is written objectively, with no indication of emotional involvement.
For students' reference, project the following scenario onto an interactive whiteboard, or document camera, or write a copy of it on the board:
A Great Dane named Socrates and a Chihuahua named Hercules are Mrs. Best's dogs, and Ricardo is taking them for walks. The dogs get away from Ricardo and pursue Mrs. Tate's cat across several yards, upending Mr. Abram's flower beds and tripping Julie Ames as she turns the corner. The chase begins when the cat jumps off a fence and darts in front of the dogs.

Say, "Now consider your character. How would he or she interpret the scene? List three ways you could respond to the situation, assuming you are that person. Write with the perspective of the first person." Allow students to write their responses for a few minutes, assisting those who need it. After that, assign the students to six groups, each consisting of the same character, and have them compare their responses. Keep talking: "Read aloud all of the reactions for your character, and then explain why you think they would react the way they did." To ensure that students understand the task, pay attention to the discussions taking place in the groups.
Gather each person's response and store it for the unit assessment.
Request that each group write a paragraph outlining the scenario's events in the first person. Remind them that this is a description of the events as though the character is witnessing them and that the individual lists were about this character's response to what happened. Ask each group to present their paragraph to the class as a whole. After that, read the scenario aloud again to the class and invite their feedback on how the various accounts differ. Write a summary of the following concepts on the interactive whiteboard or board:
Everybody has their own set of beliefs that influence what they read and experience.
A bias is an inclination or a leaning toward a particular viewpoint or way of thinking.
Strong biases can impede our ability to see things.
Fair or impartial refers to a person or a decision that is considered unbiased.

Part 2

Distribute the Bias Meter (L-7-3-1_Bias Meter) to the students and discuss about it. After reading each point-of-view piece, assign students a meter to place each one on and have them explain why they chose that position.

Present multiple assertions, like the ones below, on the interactive whiteboard or board, and ask students to classify them as biased or objective.
It is really offensive to force us to attend the assembly program. (B)
On July 19, 2010, $2 million was stolen from the bank. ( O) 
The despicable players from the losing basketball team scuttled to their buses. (B)
The mayor has squandered far too much cash on a project that is unworthy. (B)
The burglar took three oil paintings from the adjacent museum. ( O)

Ask students to list every possible influence on a person's thought process. Give them a model that represents objective information, like the one below:
"Grandmother Donna Florence is a single woman. Her two kids are far away from home. She works in a nearby store. She loves kids, so she donates some of her free time to help at the local daycare. Donna notices a small child that seems to be lost."

Ask, "What variables could have an impact on this person's behavior?" (Her age, her employment status, her family circumstances, and her affinity for kids)
"What additional elements might affect someone's behavior and thoughts?" After giving the students a brief time to brainstorm, have them write their ideas on the board. Students should list a wide variety of influences, including a person's unique interests and preferences, gender, age, and family values, as well as how a person or family makes a living and where they reside.

Part 3

Assign groups of students to analyze the "Hang Up and Drive" sample editorial.

Say, "We anticipate bias in editorials because writers utilize that platform to share their opinions about specific issues." After reading the editorial, take the following actions:

determine the writer's viewpoint.
enumerate how the author utilizes language to convey her prejudice towards this subject and persuade readers of her viewpoint.
identify the editorial's perceived bias based on a bias meter."
After allotting roughly ten minutes, have students present their findings by writing them on the interactive whiteboard or board. Among the suggested responses are the following:

The use of cell phones while driving is not advised.
The author draws a comparison between drunk drivers and cell phone users.
Their actions are characterized as "weaving back and forth, speeding up, then slowing down, or suddenly stopping," according to her description.
Cell phones are described as "a dangerous distraction."
Even though not all drivers who use cell phones behave in this manner, she writes as if they do, grouping them all together.
Their actions, according to her, are "very unpredictable."
Talk about where on the bias meter the students would place this editorial.

Say, "We expect objective reporting when we read news articles. Sadly, that isn't always what we come across." Give students examples of how different news outlets covered the same event (Choices: The Choice of Language by Dan Kurland, available in the Materials, for instance) so they can understand the significance of word choice and the distinctions between unbiased and biased reporting.

As part of the unit's performance assessment, assign students to locate and read a newspaper article and finish the following task:

determine the author's objective.
note if the article presents an objective or biased picture.
highlight the data in the article to bolster your decision to choose biased or objective
Should it be your preference, you could have every student look at the same article. For example, Zach Jones' "Teens Build Incredible Car" can be found on Scholastic News Online at http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754743. The author intends to provide an account of the electric vehicles that high school students created and constructed. The use of adjectives like "wonderful car," "amazing test drive," "phenomenal," "incredible," and "was so impressed" in the narrative indicates the author's bias in favor of the vehicle.

Extension:

Provide a different scenario with different characters for students who require more learning opportunities so they can practice with this kind of experience.
Keep a file of student-annotated articles like "Teens Build Incredible Car" to check for indications of bias in the author's word choice and the author's intention. If students feel they need more learning opportunities, they can go over these again and use what they've learned to tackle a new article.
If students are willing to go above and beyond the curriculum, they can investigate the issue of bias in historical narratives by consulting the resources provided in the Related Resources section.