Thursday June 25th

Media Literacy Lesson One--The Image of Women in Advertising

 For my first lesson, I spent a lot of time looking at the Media Education Foundation’s website.  I have shown Killing Us Softly in the past, but to be honest I’ve done little with it beyond just showing it and having students talk about in their “gut reactions” sort of way.  The Media Education Foundation has a ton of resources on their website that I haven’t had a chance to look at in the past.  This assignment gave me the opportunity to do this. 

Day One: 

Post copies of the advertisements from the Media Education Foudation’s resources related to the video Killing Us Softly (http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/206/studyguidehandout_206.pdf) around the room.  Number each advertisement so that students can refer easily to advertisements. 

Students will do a “gallery walk” around the room, spending as much time as they like looking at each advertisement.  They should take a notebook with them, and for each advertisement, they should record a number based on the following scale:

 

            1.—I think this is a good ad

            2.—I find nothing wrong with this ad

            3.—I feel neutral about this ad

            4.—This ad troubles me somewhat

            5—This ad troubles me greatly

 

 

Note:  Do not give the students any clarification about the word “troubles”.  Let them define it for themselves.  You could also use “bothers” if you prefer, but try to refrain from leading them into any prescribed thought.

 

 

Day Two:

Solicit “gut reactions” from students—ask which ads they felt strongly about, either positively or negatively.  Spend only 10-15 minutes on this.  Then introduce the concept of the portrayal of women in advertisement.  Access prior knowledge by having students freewrite.  Some potential topics might be:

            --Do you think women are treated fairly in advertisements?

--What effects on culture do you attribute to the portrayal of women in advertisements?

--Do you think people overreact to the treatment of women in advertisements?

--Do you think women are treated differently than men in advertising?

 

Have students share their answers with a small group, and then have small groups share with the class. 

 

Day Three:

Show Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly to the class.  Begin with a few caveats:

--The purpose of this film is not to force you to think in any one direction but instead to be exposed to what some people feel are problems with the way womena re portrayed in the media

--You should watch the video with a critical eye, both toward the advertisements presented as well as toward the way they are presented and to the criticisms made by Kilnbourne.

As students are watching, have them respond to the following questions:

--Which advertisements were most striking to you?  What did you think about them?

--Were there advertisements into which you felt Kilbourne was reading too much?

--Have any ideas that you previously had about this topic been changed?  If so, why/how?

 

 

Day Four:

Have students return to the advertisements posted on the walls after having watched “Killing Us Softly”.  Students should rank them again and record any impressions about them.  They should note advertisements that they view differently now or advertisements that they feel Kilbourne would object to (and note why she would object to them).

 

Wrap the topic up with a final class discussion about specific ads, the video, other examples they have seen, etc.  Give students a chance to share their impressions on all sides of the issue.

 

Media Literacy Lesson Two--Literature Circles using Blogs or Wikis

 

            For my second lesson this week, I decided to take an activity that I already to in my English Nine Classroom and adapt it to use wiki technology or blogging.  One thing I wanted to be sure to do is to incorporate the technology not just for the sake of using technology but to actually improve the lesson.  I’m anxious to try it out to see if the technology actually enhances the learning experience or if it just adds “bells and whistles”.  The thing I like best about he potentials of the technology, though, is that it enables the students to do so much more with the text and with each other in creative ways. 

 

First, the lesson that I have already taught (briefly)…

           

After reading a year’s worth of assigned texts, students are ready at the end of the year for some choice in what they read.  I very much want to offer students the opportunity to choose what they want to read, but in the past I have found that so-called “Independent Novels” have not been successful.  Often students put together mediocre presentations or book reports, and I am often skeptical about whether they actually read the book.  To avoid these pitfalls, I have had some success with using a modified literature circle.  First, students nominate books to be among those available for reading.  After we have established a list, we whittle it down to five books based on student interest.  Each student then selects a group to be a part of.  He/she is responsible to get the book and read it independently.  Then, each group is allotted one hour of class time for a “fishbowl” discussion, in which they have a book group like discussion of their book with one open seat.  Students in the audience have the opportunity to jump in to ask questions or provide comments from an outsider’s point of view.  Audience members are also responsible for evaluating the discussants and the overall discussion.  Each student is also responsible to write an analytical paper on his/her book.

 

Next, the research I did…..

 

            I spent some time looking at the following lessons:

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1087

 

http://itmc.cesa5.k12.wi.us/digitaltools/Units/PodBlogWiki/Second%20Units/KD_2ndWikiPlan.pdf

 

            What I liked a lot about these lessons is that they focused on how writing for a blog or wiki is different than traditional writing; these types of writing allow for students to make connections to other texts through links to images, websites, other documents, etc. 

 

 

And the adaptation…..

 

            I’d keep the general idea of the lesson the same.  Students would select books and groups in the same way.  I think I’d like to keep the fishbowl discussion as well, if for no other reason than it gives the rest of the class some insight into four books that they did not read but might like to in the future.  However, I would add the requirement that each group needs to set up a blog or wiki for their book (for now, I’m going to choose to focus on blogs because I am less familiar with wikis.)  The primary purpose of this would be to have groups interact about the text as they are reading it rather than simply at the end in their fishbowls.  It could also provide a great way to have students discuss questions/ideas raised in the book that might not be directly about the book and that they probably wouldn’t get a chance to talk about in a one hour discussion in front of their peers who have not read the book--things like: What is the American Dream anyway? (related to The Great Gatsby)  Is death really the worst possible outcome for a character (after reading Ethan Frome) or What responsibility to mothers have to their children? (related to The Awakening).  I would expand this lesson so that it is more than simply reading a book and discussing it, adding some of the following assignments/requirements:

 

--Students must post to the blog at the end of each chapter (or section or certain number of pages).  They should post their reactions to what has happened as well as any questions they have.  Other group members should comment on others’ posts.  Each student will receive a participation grade for their posts and comments (perhaps weekly?).

--The group will meet on the first day of this project to create their blog.  They should do some research into the art and style of the time and create their blog in this style.  They should also post relevant photos or incorporate appropriate music or audio.

--Each student will be responsible to post background information about the author in a “25 Random Things about….” Format (thanks Facebook!).  As an added challenge, each student will need to post 25 things that haven’t already been posted, thus encouraging students to be the first to post but more importantly to dig beyond the obvious encyclopedic factoids.

--After reading the book, each student will find a scholarly article of literary criticism about their novel (this might have to be adjusted depending on the books chosen).  They will read the article, post a link to it and then give a bullet point summary of the main points.  Other students will read the article and respond to the ideas posted but the original student.

--Students will post a list of cultural allusions to their novel or in their novel (again, this might have to be adjusted based on the novels).  Example: Of Mice and Men is referred to in episodes of Friends, King of the Hill, the movie Shark Tale, etc.

 

And lots more…..