Embedded Files
About the Project:
Hi! My name is Catherine Gonzalez, and I am an English Secondary Education major. I am very passionate about literature, partially because the techniques with which I analyze it readily enable me to examine other aspects of my life more closely. I know that this is not the case with everybody, however, and many find such close examination of a literary work to be a waste of time. Therefore, something that I aspire to do as an English teacher is directly share ways to apply literary analysis skills to real-world contexts. In this project, I focus on applying these skills to advertisements, as they both play a prominent role in students’ day-to-day lives and possess various forms of sensory input. This not only makes advertisements relevant for students, but also makes them more readily appealing for many different types of learners to work with.
Detecting and Analyzing Propaganda:
This resource discusses the need to apply critical analysis skills to media intake. Despite this need, many students have not learned how to do this because English teachers have focused more on “teaching students the etiquette observed by King Arthur and his knights” than how “to read their newspapers and magazines critically so that they can form their own opinions on the basis of the most accurate evidence available” (Jewett 106). This can lead students to possess the perspective displayed in the attached meme with regards to various forms of media, making them more readily succumb to an advertisement’s face-value messages.
This resource also explores an experiment conducted within four Minnesota high schools where students were taught five weeks of propaganda analysis. Examples of teaching techniques within these units include looking at advertisements for specific types of products (toothpaste, soap, cold cream, and breakfast cereal) and making specific observations about the advertisements, such as the effectiveness of the diction and what feelings their narratives evoke.
I imagine adopting these strategies by starting broadly and gradually becoming narrower. For instance, I would begin by showing advertisements to my students, having them identify what they feel and notice, and getting more specific from there by connecting these observations with how they evoke particular emotions. I believe that this approach will make the advertisement-analysis process more insightful for students because they will have noticed their reactions to the advertisements before diving into them, therefore internalizing the advertisements' impacts while also analyzing their techniques.
Media Awareness I: The Basics of Advertising
This resource is the first of a three-part unit-plan covering advertising techniques in a 6th-8th grade classroom. Some of the teaching strategies it discusses are having students analyze what they like about particular products displayed around the classroom, asking students to bring a favorite product into class from home, and having students find an advertisement for their favorite product to discuss what the advertisement chooses to highlight about the product. What I especially like about this lesson plan is how it incorporates elements from the students’ lives. In my future classroom, I would also like to have students bring in products that they really like and analyze them critically because that will directly connect what we learn to their own lives. As is displayed in my picture, it would also give students a chance to share a bit about themselves with their classmates and connect with them while learning.
Media Awareness II: Key Concepts in Advertising
This resource is the second of a three-part unit-plan covering advertising techniques in a 6th-8th grade classroom. Some of the teaching strategies that it brings up include having a class discussion about the different advertising techniques that advertisements for different categories of children’s toys use (action figures, dolls, etc.), distributing a handout that calls attention to different aspects of advertisements (colors, size, etc.), and having students create “spoof advertisements” of their own. Amongst these techniques, I would most like to have students create their own “spoof advertisements” because I believe that doing so will help them engage more readily with our lessons by practicing the techniques that they observe, giving them a more heightened awareness of those techniques. It will also allow them to be creative and have fun by creating satire.
Media Awareness III: Crossing the Finish Line
This resource is the third of a three-part unit-plan covering advertising techniques in a 6th-8th grade classroom. Some of the teaching techniques used include having each student share their “spoof advertisements” with their classmates, leading a discussion about the advertising strategies that companies use and the effects of those strategies, and having students work in pairs, with one student creating a product and the other developing a way to market it. In my future classroom, I would like to have my students share their “spoof advertisements” with their classmates. I believe that doing so would help reinforce their abilities to explain their reasoning and also give them a chance to showcase what they did and be like the “teacher,” as depicted in my picture on the side. I also like that students could learn from the creative decisions of others. Knowing that some students are uncomfortable sharing in front of the whole class, I would likely have students split up into small groups to share their projects with one another.
From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing
This resource promotes connecting visual and written works to one another in a classroom setting. It emphasizes that because students grow up in an “aggressively visual culture” (George 15), their ability to think critically about visual communication is vital to their survival in the present world. Some of the teaching techniques discussed in this resource include connecting techniques that advertisements use to techniques in written works that students will create in class (ex. essays) and having students continue to make visual arguments in future assignments if they so choose. As this resource has made me consider the significance of validating various forms of communication, I believe that I would like to use both of these strategies in my future classroom. By comparing techniques in an advertisement to written assignments that students have for class, they learn about the portability of certain communication skills across different mediums (hence my photo of a phone with a portable charger). Additionally, by allowing students to work with visual mediums in future assignments, it enables them to continue heightening their analytical skills in ways that best relate to them and validates visual products as a means of communication.
Page updated
Report abuse