Lesson: Advertising All Around Us
In this lesson, students learn how shapes are used in character design in comics and animation and look at how male and female characters are depicted in comic books.
Grade range: 4-6
Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discoveringstudent/chapter/constructing-reality/
Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discovering/chapter/media-are-constructions/
Time Frame
One class period (45-60 minutes) | Extended Unit |
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Activities |
Constructing Relaity Constructing Bicycles Commercial Considerations Advertising Strategies
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Constructing Relaity
Constructing Bicycles Commercial Considerations Advertising Strategies Advertising Comics Making an Advertising Comic |
Preparation:
Make sure that you are able to show the videos and that students are able to access the interactive activities.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media are constructions
- Media are made by different people for different purposes
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form
- Media makers use rules of notice like composition, angle, distance and focus to draw and direct our attention
Media have commercial considerations
- Ads use the same techniques as other media in order to persuade
Key questions:
- How do media attract and direct our attention?
- How are ads different from other media?
Frequent student misconceptions: It’s easy to tell the difference between something that is an ad and something that isn’t
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Consumer awareness: Commonly used advertising techniques
- Making and remixing: How to use ad techniques in comics media
- Key vocabulary: focus, framing, personification, rules of notice
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Create a comic with a persuasive message
- Understand: Identify the characteristics of advertising and common advertising techniques
- Engage: Recognize advertising content that is not explicitly marked as advertising
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A1 Transferable Skills
A1.2 Student Agency and Engagement
evaluate and explain how transferable skills help them express their voice, be engaged in their learning, and plan the next steps to develop their capabilities and potential
A2 Digital Media Literacy
A2.4 Forms, Conventions, and Techniques
demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, consider the impact on the audience, and apply this understanding when analyzing and creating texts
A2.5 Media, Audience and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of texts, the intended audience, and the purpose for production
A3 Applications, Connections, and Contributions
A3.1 Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning
explain how the knowledge and skills developed in this grade support learning in various subject areas and in everyday life, and describe how they enhance understanding and communication
Strand C: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts
C1 Knowledge About Texts
C1.1 Using Foundational Knowledge and Skills to Comprehend Texts
read and comprehend various texts, using knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures, and background knowledge
C1.2 Text Forms and Genres
Grades 4-5: describe some characteristics of various text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and explain how they help communicate meaning
Grade 6: analyze a variety of text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and explain how their characteristics help communicate meaning
C1.3 Text Patterns and Features
Grade 4: identify text patterns, such as spatial order in a graphic text, and text features, such as type styles and hyperlinks, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning
Grade 5: identify text patterns, such as cause and effect in a persuasive text, and text features, such as a preface and glossary, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning
Grade 6: analyze text patterns, such as problem-solution in a report, and text features, such as subheadings and pull-down menus, associated with various text forms, including cultural texts, and explain how they help readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning
C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts
Grades 4-5: explain how images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
Grade 6: analyze and compare how images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
C1.5 Elements of Style
Grade 4: identify various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre
Grade 5: describe various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre
Grade 6: identify various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text form and genre
C1.6 Point of View
Grades 4-5: identify the narrator’s point of view, including first, second, or third person, in a variety of texts, and describe the advantages and disadvantages of the approach used in each story
Grade 6: identify the narrator’s point of view, including first, second, or third person, in a variety of texts, providing evidence, and explain how using an alternative point of view would change each story
C2. Comprehension Strategies
C2.3 Monitoring of Understanding: Making and Confirming Predictions
Grades 4-5: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text, and pose questions to check whether their predictions were correct
Grade 6: make predictions using background knowledge and textual information, pose questions to check whether their predictions were correct, and, if not, adjust their understanding
C2.5 Monitoring of Understanding: Making Connections
Grades 4-5: describe how the ideas expressed in texts connect to their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them
Grade 6: explain how the ideas expressed in texts connect to their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them
C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.1 Literary Devices
Grade 4: describe literary devices, including personification and anthropomorphism, in a variety of texts, and explain how they help create meaning and are appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
Grade 5: describe literary devices, including imagery and humour, in a variety of texts, and explain how they help create meaning and are appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
Grade 6: describe literary devices, including hyperbole and idioms, in a variety of texts, and explain how they help create meaning and are appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
C3.2 Making Inferences
Grades 4-5: make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to extend their understanding of various texts
Grade 6: make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to develop interpretations about various texts and to extend their understanding
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
Grade 4: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, and explaining cause and effect
Grade 5: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, recording relevant information, and explaining cause and effect
Grade 6: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, evaluating the quality of information and its relevance for a specific purpose, and formulating conclusions
C3.5 Perspectives within Texts
Grades 4-5: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in various texts, explain how these perspectives are conveyed, give some evidence of any biases the texts may contain, and suggest how such biases could influence an audience
Grade 6: explain explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in various texts, including narrative texts, provide any evidence that could suggest bias in these perspectives, and suggest ways to avoid any such bias
C3.6 Analysis and Response
Grades 4-5: explain how various topics, such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, are addressed in texts, and describe what insights or messages are conveyed
Grade 6: explain how various topics, such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, are addressed in texts, analyze the insights or messages conveyed, and identify different positions presented
Strand D: Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts
D1. Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.1 Purpose and Audience
identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create, and explain why the chosen text form, genre, and medium suit the purpose and audience, and how they will help communicate the intended meaning
D1.2 Developing Ideas
generate and develop ideas and details about various topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences
D1.4 Organizing Content
Grades 4-5: select and classify ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and sequence content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium
Grade 6: classify and sequence ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium
D2. Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
Grades 4-5: draft texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 6: draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, expository, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
D2.4 Point of View and Perspective
Grand 4: identify the point of view used in their texts, and the perspectives and bias conveyed in their texts
Grade 5: identify the point of view, implicit and explicit perspectives, and bias conveyed in their texts, and explain how their messages might be interpreted by audiences with different perspectives
Grade 6: identify the point of view, perspectives, and bias conveyed in their texts, and explain how their messages might be interpreted by audiences with different perspectives
D3 Publishing, Presenting, and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
Grade 4: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including simple digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
Grade 5: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
Grade 6: produce final texts, selecting a variety of suitable techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
The specific tools that each medium uses to get and direct your attention.
The sharpness of an image, or the different parts of it. An image that is in focus will have clearly defined lines, while an image that is out of focus will have fuzzier lines.
Framing is what the media makers choose to show us or how they choose to present it.
A literary device in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person or by a figure in human form (e.g., The sun smiled down on us. Or The stairs groaned as we walked on them.)