This week in my Digital and Media Literacy class, we took a close look at advertising. As a class we were asked to complete two of five activities that focused on deconstructing commercials and examining our own personal views on the implementation of technology in the classroom. Although both activities were very different from each other, the activities allowed me to think critically about how technology should be used and taught in the classroom.
In the first activity I was instructed to critically examine four advertising campaigns created by Dove that promotes the discussion of body image. I would then use these advertising campaigns to analyze the message using the 5 P's - product, purchaser, pitch, placement and presentation - and the key questions from R. Hobbs' work - authorship, purpose, message, meaning, representation, and reality. An example of one of these advertisements includes, the Dove Real Beauty Sketches - You're More Beautiful Than You Think. This activity is an excellent to show students as the process of deconstructing advertisements is an important skill for students to learn. When students are able to identify the persuasion techniques that are applied in advertising messages than students are increasing their critical and reflective thinking skills. By including this activity in my own classroom I would be providing a safe learning environment for my students to gain new understandings about how the internet and advertisements are used.
The second activity was my favourite from the class. Here we were asked to complete a the Digital Learning Horoscope quiz, which provides you with a brief overview of your beliefs in regard to teaching students media in the classroom. After completing the quiz I was left wondering what this meant for how I would include media in my own classroom one day. This test provides information that I can use to challenge my own beliefs and forces me to reflect on why I have these beliefs. After taking this test I am left wondering how I could change my beliefs in order to improve my scoring while still staying in my comfort zone for implementing media literacy in my own classroom. Below are my results from the Digital Learning Horoscope quiz.
In the first activity I was instructed to critically examine four advertising campaigns created by Dove that promotes the discussion of body image. I would then use these advertising campaigns to analyze the message using the 5 P's - product, purchaser, pitch, placement and presentation - and the key questions from R. Hobbs' work - authorship, purpose, message, meaning, representation, and reality. An example of one of these advertisements includes, the Dove Real Beauty Sketches - You're More Beautiful Than You Think. This activity is an excellent to show students as the process of deconstructing advertisements is an important skill for students to learn. When students are able to identify the persuasion techniques that are applied in advertising messages than students are increasing their critical and reflective thinking skills. By including this activity in my own classroom I would be providing a safe learning environment for my students to gain new understandings about how the internet and advertisements are used.
The second activity was my favourite from the class. Here we were asked to complete a the Digital Learning Horoscope quiz, which provides you with a brief overview of your beliefs in regard to teaching students media in the classroom. After completing the quiz I was left wondering what this meant for how I would include media in my own classroom one day. This test provides information that I can use to challenge my own beliefs and forces me to reflect on why I have these beliefs. After taking this test I am left wondering how I could change my beliefs in order to improve my scoring while still staying in my comfort zone for implementing media literacy in my own classroom. Below are my results from the Digital Learning Horoscope quiz.