Teachers Guide - In Search Of Al Qaeda | Teacher Center | FRONTLINE

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The time required to complete this lesson is 45 - 60 minutes.

In this lesson students will:

Explore how fear, hate and mistrust develop.
Examine the media's influence on their perceptions.
Analyze the techniques used by editorial cartoonists to influence public opinion.

Computers with Internet access
Pencils and paper

1. Ask students to list on a piece of paper reasons for fear, hate and mistrust. They should come up with at least five reasons. Give them three to five minutes to create their list.

2. Brainstorm together with the students to create a class list of the reasons for fear, hate and mistrust.

3. Students should look at editorial cartoons at http://www.cagle.com. They should go to the site and click on "War on Terrorism." Have students select "Sept. 11 Remembered in Cartoons."

4. Have the students look at the first three cartoons and answer the following questions:

What kinds of symbols are used in the cartoons?
What do the symbols in the cartoons represent?
What message did the artist hope to get across?
Do you agree with the artist's point of view?

5. Allow students to explore the site for five to 10 minutes.

Students should select a cartoon they feel has the most potential to cause feelings of fear, hate and mistrust and print it.
Students should write a paragraph analyzing the cartoon's message and its effectiveness.

6. If students do not have Internet access, teachers can print out two cartoons and make copies or transparencies. Students can compare the following cartoons and then write a paragraph about which cartoon they believe to be most effective and why.

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/TerrorWorld2/5.asp (from Iran)
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/BushTerror/main.asp (from the United States)

1. Students should be evaluated on how well they analyzed the artist's intent and effectiveness.
2. Assign homework for students to draw an editorial cartoon that illustrates the theme/information of one part of the documentary.

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