Overview

Unit Outline

Lessons

Assessments and Rubrics

Media Unit-Overview

This unit has been designed to incorporate many different forms of media: newspapers, magazines, advertising, TV, radio, film, billboards. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate to students the ways in which desire is constructed in a consumer driven society. This will be accomplished through the creation of company identities, the creation of a product, and the evolution of that product into a way of life. The intent of this unit is to use the drama technique of framing to create a situation in which students have a personal investment in the product they are producing. This investment will develop as the students create the product, and prepare an advertising campaign for the purpose of eliciting desire in the viewers/passive participants of that campaign. The investment the students experience in the creation of this ad campaign will then be challenged at the end of the unit when the students will be asked to re-create the meaning of their original projects. By asking students to develop a dialogue, an opposing voice, against the monologue of their original piece, hopefully students will be challenged in their understanding of the uses, and the power, of media in its different forms.

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• Worksheet
  
• Video tape of commercials/videos
  
• Audio tapes of radio commercials/PSAs (preferably from a range of different stations)
  
• A variety of styles and genres of magazines (Cosmo, Teen People, Sports Illustrated, Car and Driver, Good Housekeeping, Rolling Stone, Health and Fitness etc.)
  
• Newspapers or other media forms (if internet access is not available)

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Two: Corporate Management

Focus/Context:
With the foundation for the Media unit in place, this lesson focuses on the preparation necessary to begin the creation of the consumer-producer environment. Within the classroom companies will be established and roles assigned using similar mannerisms as those displayed in the actual corporate advertising division. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate as a team in order to make these important decisions, and will recognize the techniques used to develop and maintain an influential and effective production company. Through their experience the importance of building a solid structure in order to obtain a firm hold on the target consumer should be evident.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening:
1. Students will examine their own and others' ideas in discussion to extend their understanding.
2. Students will participate in small-group and whole-class discussion, by using a range of strategies to defend points of view and contribute to effective talk.
3. Students will demonstrate respect for others by expressing ideas and opinions in a manner that reflects sensitivity to others.

Viewing and Representing:
1. Students will analyze and assess feedback while writing and representing in other forms.

Student Activities:

• Students, while in their groups, will create a company. They will assign roles to each of the "company" members.
  
• Students will discuss and decide upon a list of goals for their company and its workers.

Teacher Activities:

• Teacher will introduce the concept and process of forming companies and assigning roles within the companies.
  
• Teacher will divide the students into groups and explain to each group that they will create a company which will eventually market a product.
  
• Teacher will explain to students the task of assigning roles to each company member. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of a solid team effort and a strong base from which to work with.
  
• Teacher asks students to make a list of goals for the company and its workers.

Assessment:
Students will be formatively assessed by the teacher using checklists with anecdotal records. The teacher will observe the discussions of each group to determine their progress and if they are on task.

Resources:
Consumer Studies/Economics text to aid with the introduction and assigning of role.

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Three: Creating the Brand

Focus/Context:
Concerns of a company are usually set in how to make profit, and how to effectively target the consumer. The path to achieving success in both of these areas is to market a product. The members of the company have to consider all aspects of the marketing world before deciding on a product to sell. They must evaluate consumer spending habits, appropriate target audience, and if they will be facing any competition from a similar product. With all this researched the company then has to embark upon its advertising campaign, the first step of which is designing a logo for the company/product. As with the previous lesson, students must again work collaboratively within the company to ensure its success.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening:
1. Students will examine their own and others' ideas in discussion to extend their understanding.
2. Students will participate in small-group and whole-group discussion, by using a range of strategies to defend points of view and contribute to effective talk.
3. Students will give and follow instructions and respond to complex questions and directions.

Reading and Writing:
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how authors construct information texts for particular purposes.
2. Students will respond critically to texts of increasing complexity.

• recognize how their own ideas and perceptions are influenced by what they read and view.
  
• demonstrate an awareness that personal values and points of view influence both the creation of text and readers'/viewers' interpretation and response.
  
• explore and reflect on culture as portrayed in texts.
  
• identify the values inherent in a text.

Viewing and Representing:
1. Students will integrate interesting stylistic effects in imaginative writing and other ways of representing meaning.

Vocabulary:
marketing, target audience, logo

Student Activities:

• Students, within their companies, will choose their target audience using their own experience with advertising (what catches their eyes).
  
• Students will collaboratively decide on a product reflecting the demands of the target audience or possible profit therein.
  
• Students will design a logo which appropriately reflects their company/product, and which will effectively "grab and hold" the attention and interest of their audience.

Teacher Activities:

• Teacher will introduce new vocabulary and put it into context.
  
• Teacher will bring examples of logos from companies/products to the classroom and discuss both the effectiveness of the logo, and the target audience of the company/product.
  
• Teacher will encourage discussion about how to target an audience, and how the logo contributes to this task.

Assessment:
Students will be formatively assessed by the teacher using checklists with anecdotal records. The teacher will observe the discussions of each group to determine their progress and if they are on task.

Resources:
Magazines, product labels, catalogues, etc... (texts which display various logos and ad campaigns.)

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Four: Developing an Advertising Campaign

Focus/Context
Living within a capitalist economic system has created a consumer driven society. Our economic system, and our individual consumer identities are braided together by the media. This symbiotic/parasitic relationship is important to any understanding of the way media functions. The focus of this lesson is to engage students as a part of the economic system that must encourage consumerism in order to survive. The purpose is to guide students to a realization of the ways in which media is used to achieve complex agendas.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Speaking and Listening
1. Students will make thematic connections among print texts, public discourse and media.

Reading and Viewing
1. Demonstrate and awareness that texts reveal and produce ideologies, identities and position.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the impact literary devices and media techniques have on shaping the understanding of a text.

Writing and Representing
1. Students will create an organizing structure appropriate to the purpose, audience and context of text.
2. Students will demonstrate skills in constructing a range of texts for a variety of audiences and purposes.

Teacher Activities

• Teacher will facilitate students as they make decisions about what their product is and who it is for
  
• Teacher will facilitate students through the process of designing the ad campaign by generating discussion about consistency of message, appealing to large demographics etc.

Student Activities

• Students will work in their groups deciding what their product is and who it is for
  
• Students will use that information to decide the best forms of advertising to use to encourage people to buy their product
  
• Each student will be required to produce a magazine ad for their product, and each company of students will be required to produce a billboard ad for their product. In addition each company will be required to design (and if possible produce) two (or three) other media forms of advertising (radio, TV, film, T shirts, bumper stickers etc)
  
• Students will then work within those forms of advertising to come up with themes, styles, colours, layouts, that will appeal to their target audience

Assessment
Students will be assessed using a holistic scoring rubric for collaborative learning

Resources

• Samples of other advertising campaigns (7up, McDonald's, Tommy Hilfiger etc.)
  
• Samples of media forms (magazines, newspapers, radio ads, TV commercials, film spots etc.)

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Five: Creating Your Own Magazine Ad

Focus/Content
The art of advertising should not be lost on our students, those whose attention the ads are desperately trying to grab. The sheer number of ads that we are exposed to on a daily basis gives testament to the fact that consideration must be given to the techniques used by advertisers to reel us in, in today’s classroom. In previous lessons we have discussed the techniques used by advertisers, outlined in Resourcelines. In this lesson we will be putting to use some of the techniques that have been discusses, when students are to complete individual magazine advertisements.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Speaking and Listening
1. Students will be expected to examine their own and others’ ideas in discussion to extend their understanding.

Reading and Viewing
1. Students will be expected to question the relevance and reliability of information in texts they read and view.
2. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.

Writing and Other Ways of Representing
1. Students will be expected to demonstrate proficiency in using a variety of forms of writing and other ways of representing.
2. Students will be expected to integrate information from a variety of sources to construct and communicate meaning.

Vocabulary
Target Audience, Logo/Signature, Headline, demographics

Student Activities

• Students will participate in a class discussion on the readings from Resourcelines (pp. 266-270) which will have been assigned as in class readings in previous. Included in these readings are characteristics of advertisements, terms and techniques, a description of target audience, and guidelines for creating your own advertisement.
  
• In groups of four, students will be given a folder containing various advertisements, from different magazines. Students will be asked to apply what they have discussed in class with regards to advertising, and the techniques used to determine the following: target audience, the type of magazine the ad came from, and the techniques the advertiser have employed. Students will pick a reporter who will be in charge of displaying the advertisement and discussing their findings.
  
• Students will then individually create an advertisement to introduce the products they came up with in groups, in previous lessons. A rubric, that has been designed by the class will be distributed before the students begin their advertisements.

Teacher Activities

• The teacher will facilitate in the class discussion, providing examples of the different techniques as they are being discussed. Example can take the form of magazine ads, newspaper ads, Internet ads, t.v. commercials, etc.
  
• The teacher will divide the class into groups of four, using a method that has worked well in the past. While the groups are discussing their ads, the teacher will circulate the class, answering questions and providing help when needed. After a predetermined length of time, the teacher will lead the discussion back into a class discussion, calling on different groups to report their finding.
  
• The teacher will describe the assignment, that has students creating their own magazine ads, hand out the scoring rubric, and supply the students with whatever arts supplies that may be needed. Time will be provided in class, with the agreement that any work not completed in the time allotted will be completed for homework.

Assessment

• Students will be assessed holistically using a rubric. The rubric enclosed was created to be used along with Resourcelines, and can be found at: http://www.pearsoned.ca/sightlines/gr_9/common/rubrics/rubric08.html

Resources
Dawe, Robert, et al. Resourcelines. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Six: Selecting a Location

Focus/Content
The location that an advertiser will choose to display an ad has much to do with the target audience. The thought that goes into creating a truly masterful advertisement has most likely been intended with a certain age group, sex or even type of person in mind. An advertisement can only be as effective as the people who are moved by it, and a person is more likely to be moved if the ad speaks directly to him/her. We have worked in previous lesson at creating an advertisement billboard. This lesson will be devoted to talking about what makes a good location, and then actually going out and setting them up.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Speaking and Listening
1. Students will be expected to examine their own and others’ ideas in discussion to extend their understanding.
2. Students will be expected to participate in small-group and whole-class discussion, by using a range of strategies to defend points of view and contribute to effective talk.

Reading and Viewing
1. Students will be expected to recognize how their own ideas and perceptions are influenced by what they read and view.

Student Activities

• Students will take part in small group discussions, where they will discuss the effects that location has with regards to advertisements.
  
• Students will then report back to the class on what they consider to be important factors to consider when choosing a place to display an advertisement.
  
• Taking their ideas into consideration, the two groups will get together and choose a fitting location for their ads. The advertisements will be put up.

Teacher Activities

• The teacher will divide the students into groups, using a method that has worked well in the past. As the students discuss, the teacher will act as facilitator. After a predetermined amount of time, the students will come together to discuss what they have discussed with regards to the importance of location for an advertisement.
  
• The teacher will organize the students into the two groups they worked in to create their product and billboard, and allow the students time to decide on a location for their billboard. The teacher will have received the proper permission to have the billboards displayed for an extended period of time.
  
• After the groups have decided on a location, the teacher will assist the students in displaying the billboards, providing the necessary tools.

Resources
Dawe, Robert, et al. Resourcelines. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Seven: What is Adbusting?

Focus/Context
Adbusting/culture jamming is the manipulation of existing advertising material(s) to make a statement about one’s beliefs, to clarify or reveal the “true” meaning behind the advertisement, the creation of an ad parody, or more simply put, to reclaim cultural space. Naomi Klein examines this cultural phenomenon in No Logo: “The most sophisticated culture jams are not stand-alone ad parodies but interceptions - counter-messages that hack into a corporation’s own method of communication to send a message starkly at odds with the one that was intended” (281). The focus of this lesson is placed on creating awareness among students about what ads are really saying to them and allowing them the opportunity to view the affect that adbusting has on the meaning of a given advertisement.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Speaking and Listening
1. Students will be expected to examine their own and others’ ideas in discussion to extend their understanding.
2. Students will be expected to participate in small-group and whole-class discussion, by sing a range of strategies to defend points of view and contribute to effective talk.

Reading and Viewing
1. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
2. Students will be expected to recognize how their own ideas and perceptions are influenced by what they read and view.

Vocabulary
Adbusting, Culture Jamming

Student Activities

• Students will be introduced to the concept of culture jamming/Adbusting and provide examples to illustrate their knowledge of how to use these words correctly.
  
• Students will be exposed to Adbusters Magazine and be directed to explore the adbusters website ( target=”_blank”>).
  
• Students will participate in a class discussion about the nature of culture jamming and the positive and negative implications that may result from this kind of activity.

Teacher Activities

• Teacher will provide students with vocabulary and definitions.
  
• Teacher will distribute Adbusters Magazine and indicate the address of the Adbusters Website.
  
• Teacher will facilitate a discussion regarding the possible implications of participating in a culture jam.

Resources
Klein, Naomi. No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2001.
Adbusters Website (http://www.adbusters.org)
Adbusters Magazine (various issues).

Media Unit: Grade Nine Lesson Eight: Operation Adbusting-Us

Focus/Context
In the previous lesson, students were introduced to the concept of culture jamming/adbusting. They were given the opportunity to view various examples of adbusting from the Adbusters website and magazine and to discuss these phenomenon. Previously in this unit, students were given the task of creating a billboard advertisement for their company projects - that is, they designed their own corporate messages, complete with logos and product pushing mechanisms that they felt would sell their product(s). As part of this project, the class was divided into two groups (companies) and using a dramatic approach, each student participated in one of the two companies’ advertisement schemes. The focus of this lesson is to allow students the opportunity to do a little adbusting of their own in the safety of the school environment (i.e. they will have the experience without the negative consequences).

Specific Curriculum Outcomes
Reading and Viewing
1. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
2. Students will be expected to recognize how their own ideas and perceptions are influenced by what they read and view.
Writing and Other Ways of Representing
1. Students will be expected to use a range of strategies in writing and other ways of representing to: reflect on their feelings, values, and attitudes; reflect on problems and provide solutions.
2. Students will be expected to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a wide variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
3. Students will be expected to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.

Student Activities

• Students will once again be divided into the company groups that were formed previously in this unit.
  
• Students will be given the opportunity to work collaboratively as a group to adbust the billboard advertisement of another company. In addition to adbusting the billboard advertisement, each company will also have to complete a report about its work, explaining 1. the ad’s original (“true”) message; and 2. their (“revealing”) message.
  
• Each group will present its adbust and report to the rest of the class.
  
• The adbusted billboards will be re-hung for others to view.

Teacher Activities

• Teacher will instruct students to resume their company groups.
  
• Teacher will facilitate a discussion wherein students will come to understand the constructed nature and hidden meaning(s) behind their advertising projects.
  
• Teacher will assist each group in the selection of another group’s billboard. The purpose of this selection will be for each group to adbust the billboard of another group.
  
• Teacher will distribute the scoring rubric for this activity to each group.
  
• Teacher will evaluate each group’s presentation and report using the scoring rubric.

Assessment Students will be graded holistically using a prepared scoring rubric. This rubric will be shared with the class prior to completion of the assignment.

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