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Support Learning with these Co-Viewing Questions
Co-viewing screen content with kids provides a fantastic opportunity to develop their media literacy. The questions we ask children during their favourite programs – and our responses to their own questions – can encourage critical thinking and deepen their understandings.
Following are some key ideas that will help even the youngest viewers think critically about the media they consume.
Who made this program?
- All media is made by people – who do you think made this program? A young person or an older person? An individual or a company? What makes you think that?
- What are some of the decisions the creators made?
What was the intended audience and purpose?
- Why was this program made? Is it intended to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience?
- Who is the program for? Is it for kids or adults? Is it for people with a special interest? Why do you think that?
- How might different audiences respond?
What techniques were used?
- What made you interested and want to keep on watching?
- How did the creators make this scene so exciting / scary / relaxing? What were the characters saying? Was there music or other sounds? Was it fast or slow paced?
- What could the creators do to make this scene feel different?
Who is telling the story?
- Which character’s point of view are we seeing? Is there one person telling the story, or more than one?
- Was any information left out? Is there anything you’re still wondering about the story?
- Would the story change if we saw another character’s point of view?
- Is there anyone missing from this story? (For example, are there girls and boys in the story?)
What is your response to the program?
- How did the program make you feel? Do you think others would feel the same way? Do you think this is what the creators intended?
- What was your favourite character or event?
- Were any parts of the story similar to your own experiences?
- Do you agree with what the characters did?
- What were your favourite and least favourite parts?
See also:
August 13th 2024
ACTF resources for CBCA Book Week
We all enjoy stories that reflect our own experiences back to us – whether on the page or screen. The following resources allow teachers to explore Australian stories through both printed and visual texts.
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RUNT: Discover the screen adaptation of Craig Silvey's award-winning novel
Are your students reading Runt this term? Wrap up your teaching unit with our new page-to-screen resource and a trip to the cinema!
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Meet Australian Olympian swimmer, Wilhelmina Wylie
Do your students know the story of ‘Mina’ Wylie, one of our first female Olympians?
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New release: Windcatcher learning resource
Our latest resource provides sequenced learning tasks to complement and extend a class or cohort screening of the feature film, Windcatcher.
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Coming soon to cinemas: Runt film adaptation
Written by Craig Silvey and illustrated by Sara Acton, the novel Runt was published in 2022 and was named the 2023 Book of the Year for Younger Readers by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Australian schools will soon have the chance to enjoy this story on screen.