23 January 2009 – Lesson plan… Level I and II

Opener – Rive
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rives_controls_the_internet.html

Opener – Kevin Kelly
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

ARE YOU FOR SALE?
(with thanks to “The Ad and the Ego”) – We live in a consumer culture. The space around us is either for sale or available for advertising, even here in school, at the ball fields, on the walls. Our clothes become walking advertisements. Advertising affects us in subtle and not so subtle ways, always promising to improve our lives. Do the things we see advertised really affect our lives for the better? About how many advertisements do you think you are exposed to in the course of a day?

Do material goods improve our lives?
Are we more attractive?
Are we smarter?
If you can’t afford – or your family doesn’t want to pay for – some of the really cool stuff you see advertised, where does that leave you?
Are you less of a person, less cool?
What is cool?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/

Class activity – the class divides into groups of threes – each group a magazine. The group must choose one or two advertisement(s) from the magazine and say why they think it is the best ad. Each person must give their own opinion of the specific ad.