Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising Lesson Plan

My lesson rests upon the basis of providing learners with an opportunity to understand mass media and the way it works critically. The plan aims to disclose how they are exposed to advertisements strategically on a daily basis. Based upon this, the students can learn and begin to infer how the media can oppress certain groups of people and how it can influence culture in a great way.

    The lesson plan begins with a pretest to assess prior knowledge of the students which follows into a discussion within the first section in which students are to partake in the discussion by answering questions such as, “How many hours of television do you watch daily?” and, “What magazines do you like to read?” (Henry 2). This includes the students in a entire class activity in which they begin to create cues and associations.The answers that the students are giving are creating a direct relation to their daily life and what they do at home. This strengthens the link that is used to retrieve this information later. The student answers also make students feel more included in the lesson.  At this point, the notion of “cultural investigators” is introduced. Next, lab time is included into the lesson in which students access a quiz on a PBS website. After the quiz, there is a follow up discussion. This is important to clear up any misconceptions there may have been throughout the lesson. This is placed strategically in the lesson so that students do not continue with what they believe is correct but is not. As the information it still fresh, it is easier to correct before it sets in. The homework set throughout the lesson plan is constant and important as it relates to the students’ lives, creating important associations in which it may make it simpler for them to retrieve the information.

    The second session of the activity begins with a group activity. Both Piaget and Vygotsky  believe that group collaboration results in cognitive development. The group activity consists of students, in groups of four to six, comparing results of their own television viewing. On a large sheet of chart paper, in which the place the their watched ads into categories. Afterwards, they discuss the results, what is most advertised, etc. Group work like this helps students to aid one another as well as see their results from different points of view.  They also create a graphic organizer or visual, which aids in visual aspect of elaborative rehearsal. The graphic organizer aids in the retrieval process by creating cues which can trigger other memories. For example, if a student is learning about the food pyramid, the examples of certain foods in the pyramid can trigger the memory of the sequence that the pyramid is ordered in.

    The third session begins with a partner activity. Students complete an activity in which they find an advertisement that appeals to them and complete a worksheet that aids in the dissection and analysis of advertisements.This goes back to what Piaget and Vygotsky said regarding group work implementing cognitive development. Based on the different advertisements and responses, the students are able to get a broad view of answers and interpretations. This allows students to base their own meanings with a broad view. It aids in the ease of adding meaning to concepts so that they can be learned. After each group is finished, another whole class discussion is begun. They discuss findings to keep everyone uniform and on task.

    In the fourth and final session, there is a culminating activity. This activity consists of reviewing all the material and discussions and aims to understand what can the students now see and understand about these ads based on their research and exploration. This exploration allows for inductive learning as the students are searching on their own. This refers to information processing with ideas of interaction with the environment. Learners interact with the material and are able to apply and retain certain information. After, students are to write a response on how advertisements affect their culture.

    Much of the work throughout this lesson plan is inductive. Only some direction is given and the students are able to explore and identify key factors in advertisements and how they affect the culture they live in. The work, relating to their own lives, promotes a more engaging experience as it is directly applying to them. This inductive learning also promotes better retention of information and creates deeper connections. The inductive learning is structured well as students are given a scaffold but do research and find their own meaning in real life examples. For the most part, the inductive learning is structured well. There is a possibility where it may be a bit broad but keeps the focus on advertisements in culture.

    Another tool that is used is elaborative rehearsal. The students use this by creating associating verbal and visual associations from their day to day lives to the material being taught in class. Relating the lesson to their own life adds meaning to the material. If they are able to compare and contrast it to what they have experienced it brings the material they are learning to another level. When the students are asked for an example they have seen in their life, they are practicing application from Bloom’s Taxonomy. The real world examples students are able to pull is showing that they are learning what exactly the advertisements are doing. All of these result in a better retention of the material and an easier sense of retrieval when necessary.

    Vygotsky also emphasized social learning and believed that learning precedes development. The social interaction of the group work aids in expanding the schemas that the students have have started to develop. The students are given a scaffold, such as the worksheets or given instruction for discussion, in which they are able to have lengthy discussions dissecting these advertisements. He also strongly believed that students must interact with the environment to learn. By having these physical video advertisements as well as physical magazines, students have something that is in the real world to reference and compare and contrast. Therefor, many more aspects come into play. This leads into the next topic.

    The eighth grade students are in the formal operational Stage according to Piaget. In the Formal Operational stage, students are able to use abstract thought. This type of abstract thought is different, however, in this stage they are able to think about the world without any connection to the concrete world and they are also able reason inferentially. As a result of this, students are able to think about certain things that they have not experienced and draw conclusions from it. There are many examples in the lesson plan that showcase this stage of formal operational thinking. Students are able to infer the reason advertisements are placed specifically and who they target, even if they are part of the targeted culture or not. They are also able to use interpersonal thinking in which they can process multiple propositions and they show this by having group discussions in which multiple outlooks are given, also some of which are abstract in the sense that they are hypothetical, imaginary, or real. This allows for the students to work well in groups, taking into account how others feel and their viewpoints. They are able to cooperate clearly and see clear distinctions.
     The objectives listed in the lesson plan are considerably good ones. These objectives use specific words that demonstrate what students will be able to do at the end of the lesson. For example, the use of the words, “Identify,” and, “Interpret,” are specific and can be seen. The objectives are made in a way that reflects off the standards given. The objectived being very specific are based off the standards, which are much more broad. For example, one standard lists, “Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts…”(NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts). Some objective that has been based off parts this standard could be the objectives that state interpreting media messages and engaging in the inquiry of media. The objectives directly state what students will be able to do off the standard which mentions the use of certain tools.

In conclusion, the lesson exhibits many positive attributes in which students are this stage could learn much and retain it. It allows learners to proceed in cognitive development and has proven well in aiding in learning.

Works Cited

Henry, Laurie A. “Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising - ReadWriteThink.” Readwritethink.org, International Literacy Association, www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/critical-media-literacy-commercial-97.html?tab=1#tabs.