Final Post - Revisiting Post 1

At the beginning of the semester I chose to analyze VW's The Force commercial, an advertisement for the new Passat model.  When I look back at my original post, I still agree with all of the statements I made regarding audience, music, types of shots, and nostalgia.  After learning more about the design process and about using design to guide the eye, I would add a few more observations.  First of all, the color scheme that the commercial uses is very monochromatic.  There is a calm feeling that the audience gets from the commercial due to the single-shots, slow movement, etc., but this is juxtaposed with the ominous Star Wars music.  The color scheme helps to stabilize the film as the music builds.  Second,  I notice now that each shot uses different lines in the picture to draw the eye in a certain direction.  For example, when the boy is walking down the hallway, the camera angle and the walls on each side create the feeling of depth.

Constructing and deconstructing media messages is part of being a consumer, but it is also part of being a teacher.  We are constantly constructing messages for our students using a variety of media tools.  Knowing about the design principles and how to construct these messages to meet specific objectives is a valuable tool. 

Week 14: Learning Element with Student Side

I created my original learning element online at cglearner.com.  Unfortunately, the site gave me a LOT of problems today:  I couldn't even log in!  I reset my password several times, but to no avail.  After much frustration, I decided to simply write the student version here.  As you can see in the original learning element, I had already posted the learning focus and 'about this learning element.'  Below details the activities.  The titles of each activity are linked to the active page on the MMP site I created, as appropriate.  

Knowledge Objectives:

• How do people effectively persuade others?
• How do persuasive techniques contribute to a strong argument?
• Why is it important for a persuader to know his/her audience?
• What strategies do advertisers use to get their audience to do or believe something?
• How can understanding persuasive techniques make you a more educated consumer?

Learning Activity 1: Pre-Assessment

Activity 2: Loaded Words

Activity 3: Audience

Defining Audience: Who uses the product?  Who views the commercials?  Who reads the magazines that the ad is in?  

Activity 4: Commercial Ad Analysis - as a class

As you watch the videos, consider the following questions: 

• What product or idea is being advertised?

• Who is the audience for this commercial?  Consider age, gender, interests, etc.

• What is the commercial promising or suggesting to the audience?

• What persuasive techniques are being used?

• What makes the commercial interesting or eye-catching?

• How did you feel after watching the commercial?  Did you want to buy the product, or perhaps learn more about it?  Were you left thinking about it, or singing a catchy tune?

• Was this advertisement effective?  Explain your response, and include what your favorite and least favorite elements of the commercial were. 

 Activity 5: Commercial Ad Analysis: as a small group

Activity 6: Brand Analysis Project

Activity 7: Peer Responses on Edmodo

Instructions: (part 1)go online and log into your Edmodo account.  Go to your class page.  By clicking on the active links next to each document, view your classmates work.  Take some time to watch the videos they selected and to view the print ad they included.  Comment on their work using the readers' response sentence starters provided. 

(part 2): Go to your class page and find where you posted your project.  Read the comments your classmates wrote to you.  As a final post, respond to your document.  You may answer questions your classmates asked, clarify things that weren't clear, and/or reflect on your own work and the project itself.  Your final reflective post should be one paragraph (at least 5 complete sentences).

Activity 8: Persuasive Techniques Quiz

(Study Guide) You will need to know...

• All persuasive techniques, including the 'extras' that we discussed in class and took notes on
• Audience
• Connotative Language
• Apply knowledge of persuasive techniques to ad analysis

Week 14: CITEd toolkits

For my toolkit, I chose to include resources for using technology in the middle grades English/Language Arts classroom.  I chose this avenue primarily because I wanted to look for resources that I could potentially use in my own classroom (yes, a selfish motive!) but also because the colleagues that I interact with most teach the same thing as I do, so creating a toolkit that I could share with the people I talk with the most just seemed like a logical thing to do.  I also included some resources that maybe don't link directly to English/LA, but that I have used and liked or that would be helpful given our current curriculum.  For example, I included a link to a resource on conducting effective online searches and evaluating primary source documents as tools for the (very large) research paper that teach the kids how to write at the end of the year.

Using Technology in the English/LAL Classroom

Since I chose to share this resource with colleagues, I decided to put mostly online interactive tools, resources, and websites into the toolkit.  Had I shared this with an administrator or tech coordinator, I most likely would have included more scholarly resources and articles related to the importance of tech integration in the classroom.  However, since most of my colleagues barely have time to eat lunch during the day, let alone read a long article, scholarly articles did not feel like the right direction to take with this.  One of the teachers I shared with is as techy as I am, but the other two are not as comfortable using technology -- one of them actually calls herself the grim reaper of computers because everything she touches breaks! -- so also tried to choose resources whose titles and page names were not overwhelmed with tech terms so they would be more accessible. 

I was impressed with the quantity of resources linked from the CITEd page... it was very extensive.  I do wish there were more options for sorting the resources (maybe there are and I couldn't figure it out though...), and unfortunately some of the links I wanted to investigate were dead.  I wonder how often they update their database?  I am looking forward to speaking with my colleagues this week to see what they thought of the toolkit.  I am definitely interested in the potential that something like this has for collaborative professional development!

Week 13: Learning Element

For this assignment, I used the MMP project I have been working on for Persuasive Techniques in Advertising.  The final project asked the students to complete a brand analysis by choosing a brand or product to analyze, view 2 commercials and 1 print ad, and write up an analytical report with a conclusion (trends, noticings, etc.).  Students then posted their projects in digital form to our class page on Edmodo, and then viewed/commented on their peers' work using readers' responses prompts and sentence starters.

I had a bit of trouble wrapping my brain around the Learning Element software... for me, it was not very intuitive.  From a critical standpoint, it seems to make a relatively simple task of planning, sequencing, and scaffolding into a more (unnecessarily) complex process.  Nevertheless, the link to my Learning Element is below.  As you can see, I completed the teacher side and started (but have not yet finished) the student side.  Check bad next week for the completed product.

Learning Element