WHAT
You might be wondering what have I done here with the two photos strategically placed above. On the photo on the left I have completed a quiz, which provided me with a snapshot of my beliefs about the importance of teaching media to students. It gave me a starting point for insights into how I may begin to teach this topic to my students when I have my own classroom. My results ended with me being named as a ‘Spirit Guide’, which is someone who is dedicated to student’s social and emotional well-being and understands that media is one crucial facet of their identity and sense of self-worth. I also fell under the categories of a ‘Techie’ and ‘Demystifier’.
Take the Quiz yourself!
As for the image on the right, I created a magazine cover. I chose the very cute photo of myself with my friend’s dog Cooper for the magazine ‘Soundings’, which is all about dogs, boats and the good life! (Who doesn’t want to be a part of that?!)
Create your own Magazine Cover here!
SO WHAT
During class time, I watched 4 different Dove commercials showing how women of any age, and some men have such low self-esteems. Dove has made these commercials to prove how the media not only portrays how we feel we should be seen or look, but how much self esteem has significantly dropped ever since media has become such a big part of our lives. These commercials, magazine ads, and Internet ads etc. can be used in an elementary classroom setting to provide students with insightful videos on how we all need to have a better self-esteem about ourselves, and others. These videos will really hit home for young girls who are having any self-esteem issues, and hopefully make them realize how beautiful, smart, and unique they are. It is interesting to find that after watching these ads that I will look at advertising differently. Dove has proven that advertising does not always have to be persuasive and negative, and that there are companies out there who will use it for positive reasons and confident advertisement.
Link to a beautiful Dove commercial
NOW WHAT
So what happens now? How would I apply teaching advertising to students? I believe that for students in the elementary setting, videos are an excellent media source for teaching advertising to students. They are able to engage themselves into the material they are watching in an interactive approach. This enables students to watch, and then reflect on what they just watched and it lets them absorb what the media has been portraying. I learned about how to apply advertising techniques, and most imporantly learned about myself and how I portray the media and how I know I want my students to portray it in the future.