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Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship Lesson Plan Ideas

Use these media literacy and digital citizenship lesson plans to foster students’ digital literacy and spur healthy habits around media and technology use.

by Grace Ruiter , Oct 20, 2023

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In honor of Media Literacy Week (October 23-27), we’ve compiled some of our best media literacy lesson plans and resources to help you grow your students’ digital literacy. You can draw on these lesson ideas in preparing students to both interpret media and participate in the conversation about it as digital citizens.

Digital citizenship calls for us to engage online with kindness and care and be mindful of how we use technology. Getting students ready for digital citizenship means equipping them to responsibly and ethically utilize technology and to navigate digital discourse with discernment. Media literacy is foundational for not only digital citizenship, but citizenship in general.

Why Media Literacy Is So Important

The digital public square swirls together fact and fiction, playing into our biases and tugging at our emotions for attention. When even video footage of political leaders can be faked, and rhetorical noise crowds major social media platforms, it can be hard to know what to believe.

Preparing students to sniff out misinformation and stay informed without sacrificing their mental health makes media literacy skills more important than ever.

Lesson Planning Resources

Our expert curriculum development team combined proven teaching strategies with subject matter knowledge to design these lesson plans and curricular resources.

Mini-Lesson

Help students develop healthy habits for protecting their mental health while staying informed and taking action.

Diverse group of teen college students ignoring each other looking at mobile phones checking social media

Mini-Lesson

Explore media bias using recent news coverage of controversial events and help students think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.

Mini-Lesson

Reading “laterally” is a key media literacy strategy that helps students determine the quality of online sources. This mini-lesson trains students to use this technique to evaluate the credibility of the news they encounter on social media feeds or elsewhere online.

Two high school students look at a laptop screen in a school library

Teaching Strategy

Help students identify and analyze the key characteristics of the three most common types of news articles.

Students in library working on computers

Lesson

Students examine how identity and biases can impact how individuals interpret images and experience the challenge of selecting images to represent news events, particularly connected to sensitive issues.

People hold hands in prayer in the parking lot of convenience store that was looted and burned after Michael Brown was shot by police in Ferguson, Mo.

Mini-Lesson

This is the first mini-lesson in a two-part series on the impact generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E have on education.

Students in classroom work on their laptops.

Mini-Lesson

This is the second mini-lesson in a two-part series on the impact of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E on education.

Mini-Lesson

In this mini-lesson, students sharpen their media literacy skills as they evaluate the impact of social media on their lives and question how we can manage social media’s harmful effects.

A group of people use their smartphones outdoors.

Mini-Lesson

This mini-lesson explores celebrity influence and online hate, specifically antisemitism.

Picture of Children Using Mobile phones stock illustration.

Mini-Lesson

Explore questions around the power of social media influencers and consider who has the ability to counter online hate.

Collection

Explore classroom resources for making connections between current events and your curriculum, including activities and discussion strategies for high school and middle school students.

A student speaks while another listens attentively.

Toolkit

This toolkit provides flexible and adaptable tools and strategies for integrating current events into your teaching.

Professional Learning

Self-Paced Course

Virtual

This workshop introduces Facing History’s approach to teaching with current events, which includes reflection, pedagogy, and teaching strategies.

Community Event

On-Demand

Virtual

The question is considered: how can teachers and families work together to help young people develop their understanding of themselves and the world around them?

Picture of black father talking to daughter using smartphone.

Professional Learning

Jul 25, 2025

Virtual

Through participation in this off-timetable day, young people will consider the importance of Black history and learn about important Black British figures. This event is for teachers in the UK.

Two students talking at the Supporter Event, UCL Institute Of Education.

Featured Resource

by Facing History Staff

Aug 14, 2024

Use our classroom posters to help foster a thoughtful and reflective learning environment.

Collage of Facing History & Ourselves classroom posters.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

Watch this one-hour webinar to explore our unit, Developing Media Literacy for Well-being, Relationships, and Democracy.

Cropped shot of a group of friends using their phones together outdoors

Insight

by Michelle Perkins

Dec 14, 2023

A look at recent teacher training sessions to support teachers in discussing racial and religious hatred in the classroom.

British Muslim Heritage Center in Manchester, United Kingdom

Professional Learning

Jul 25, 2025

Virtual

Through participation in this off-timetable day, young people will consider the importance of LGBTQIA+ history and learn about important LGBTQIA+ British figures. This event is for teachers in the UK.

Featured Resource

by Rob Tokanel

Oct 19, 2016

Teachers are encouraged to discuss the history of LGBTQIA+ civil rights with their students to help them explore the dangers of fearing and demonizing the “other.”

Professional Learning

Oct 8, 2024 | 1 - 5pm EDT

Boston, MA

This workshop will support educators in teaching and guiding students’ understanding of elections and the importance of democratic dialogue. This event will occur in-person.

Professional Learning

Jul 25, 2025

Virtual

Through participation in this off-timetable day, young people will be able to consider how they have the power to impact others and shape their communities through their choices and actions. This event is for teachers in the UK.

Uniformed high school students write at their desks.

Professional Learning

On-Demand

Virtual

This one-hour webinar presented approaches and ideas that can complement and strengthen your teaching of 2023’s Black History Month throughout the school year.

Insight

by Kaitlin Smith

Sep 9, 2021

Facing History shares on the importance of having Black teachers in the classroom.

Teacher helping a male pupil studying at a desk in classroom stock

Insight

by Julie Halterman

Apr 19, 2022

In response to the rise of legislation targeting transgender people, Facing History provides resources for educators to build an affirming, welcoming class community for your students, especially trans and non-binary students.

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Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship Lesson Plan Ideas

Why Media Literacy Is So Important

Lesson Planning Resources

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A Gift for Your Classroom: Free Poster Download

Developing Media Literacy for Well-being, Relationships and Democracy

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Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Drop Down Day

Teaching the Missing History of LGBTQIA+ Civil Rights

Teaching the Election: A Workshop for New England Educators

Upstanders Drop Down Day: Choosing to Act

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Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship Lesson Plan Ideas

Why Media Literacy Is So Important

Lesson Planning Resources

Media Literacy Lesson Plans

Creating Healthy News Habits

Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?

How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker

News Article Analysis

The Power of Images

Digital Citizenship Lesson Plans

The Ethics of Generative AI in the Classroom

Learning to Navigate Generative AI Content: Media Literacy Strategies

What Does It Mean to Live with Social Media?

When Online Hate Speech Has Real World Consequences

Influence, Celebrity, and the Dangers of Online Hate

Teaching with Current Events

Current Events in the Classroom

Current Events Toolkit

Teaching with Current Events Self-Paced Workshop

You might also be interested in…

Combating Bias & Isolation in Adolescence: Strategies for Teachers and Families

Celebrating Black History Drop Down Day

A Gift for Your Classroom: Free Poster Download

Developing Media Literacy for Well-being, Relationships and Democracy

Challenging Racial and Religious Hatred in the Classroom

Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Drop Down Day

Teaching the Missing History of LGBTQIA+ Civil Rights

Teaching the Election: A Workshop for New England Educators

Upstanders Drop Down Day: Choosing to Act

Preparing to Teach in Black History Month: Celebrating Our Sisters

Today is the #WeNeedBlackTeachers Day of Action

How to Build an Affirming Classroom in the Face of Anti-Trans Legislation

Donate now and together we'll build a better world

Inspiration, insights, & ways to get involved