Virginia SOL 10.C.4.B
The Standard
Analyze, compare, and contrast visual and verbal media messages for content (e.g., word choice and choice of information), intent (e.g., persuasive techniques, including but not limited to ad hominem, red herring, and strawman), impact (e.g., public opinion trends), and effectiveness (e.g., effect on the audience).
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Examining Media Messages
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students examine how words, images, selected facts, and missing information shape a media message. They compare intent, persuasive techniques, audience impact, and effectiveness across visual and verbal sources.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students compare specific words, images, facts, and omitted details across two media messages. They identify persuasive techniques, explain the intended audience response, and support judgments about impact and effectiveness with evidence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat an attractive image or confident speaker as reliable evidence. They may confuse emotional appeal with ad hominem, red herring, or strawman reasoning. They may also describe a message without explaining its likely effect on an audience.
How to Assess It
- Give students a campaign image and a 100-word campaign statement. Ask them to identify one content difference, one persuasive technique, and which message is more effective for a named audience.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed advertisement and transcript, then have them highlight claims, images, evidence, and omitted information using four colors.
Ask students to write which of two messages would persuade teenagers more effectively, using one visual detail and one verbal choice as evidence.
Play Fallacy Match by having teams pair short media claims with ad hominem, red herring, strawman, or sound reasoning cards.
Compare a local news post and public agency announcement about the same event, then track how each might shape public opinion.
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Printable 10.C.4.B Worksheet
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