Overview
Recognizing satire is no joke: Have you or someone you know ever fallen for a piece of satire as real news? It may not be as hard as you think to do. So, how can you distinguish a satirical news source from a legitimate news source? This lesson explores all the tips and tricks for how to recognize satire, avoid spreading fakes, make your own satire and have fun while doing so!
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- define satire and explain the four types of satire.
- recognize satirical news posts online before resharing them as misinformation.
Grade Levels
Grades 6-12Downloadable Lesson Documents
Key Vocabulary
- Satire — A work that reveals flaws, absurdities, and/or vices of a person, policy, or another work, often used as social, moral, or political commentary. The aim of satire is to alert the public of a problem and force a change. Four types of satire:
- Exaggeration - To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
- Incongruity - To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings. Particular techniques include oxymoron, metaphor, and irony
- Parody - To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing in order to ridicule the original. For parody to be successful, the reader must know the original text that is being ridiculed.
- Reversal - To present the opposite of the normal situation or order.
Before You Watch
Which type of satire is being used in this Tweet from The Onion about Serena Williams?
- Review the four types of satire. Which type of satire does the Onion post above represent?
- What is the message this post communicates?
- Why can satire be an effective way to get likes and shares?
While You Watch
Preview the questions. Then watch the MediaWise Teen-Fact Checking Network (TFCN) video. According to the video…
- What technique of satire does the Mouse Trap article and TikTok use? (Circle One) Explain.
EXAGGERATION. — INCONGRUITY — PARODY — REVERSAL - What is the message the article and TikTok are trying to communicate?
- What are three ways the MediaWise Teen Fact-Checker learned the source is satire?
After You Watch
- What are some satirical websites or social media profiles you know about?
- Why is it important to recognize satire?
- What is the overall aim of satire?
- Why might someone choose to use satire to present their point of view?
- Why is it important to be informed about the topic you plan to satirize?
Extension Activity
Match the editorial cartoons with the type of satire used in each of the editorial cartoons on the extension activity document. Then draw your own satirical cartoon to draw attention to an important issue at your school.
About the Next Lesson
Be MediaWise Lesson 11: Advertising disguised as news: Students will learn how to figure out when someone is trying to educate them - or pressure them into buying their product. They will understand the importance of finding out who’s behind the information and how to locate credible health agency sources.
Background Reading
Subjects
media literacy, social studies, language arts, journalism
Standards
Common Core ELA Standards Reading
RLRI.X.6-12 – Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3)
D3.1.6-8. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
D3.1.6-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
ISTE
6-12.1.4.a Students: know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
Additional Resources
- MediaWise “Is This Legit?” Series
- How To Combat Political Misinformation from PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs
- Fact-Checking Lesson for Student Journalists
- Misinformation Overload Interviews from PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs
- StoryMaker Media Literacy Learning
- Reuters Media Literacy Contest
- Journalism in Action , a history of journalism in the U.S., including political satire, from PBS NewsHour Classroom
These lessons were developed by PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs in partnership with MediaWise and the Teen Fact-Checking Network , which are part of the Poynter Institute . This partnership has been made possible with support from Google.
