Sandi Stupica

TE408
21 February 2009
Unit Overview
Context:
Heather Lewis’ eighth grade students at Waverly Middle School have a diverse range of students.
The unit previous students began to think about what a “perfect” world looked like as they read
The Giver and watched “The Truman Show.” They saw what happens when there are seemingly
no problems in a controlled world. In the current unit, students are still analyzing their realities
and how it is shaped as they study stereotypes. Two weeks previous to my lesson, students have
completed activities that allow them to consider the “truth” behind stereotypes. They have also
watched movies that reveal how specific characters dealt and reacted to prejudice and
discrimination.

Unit:
The unit will ask students to continue research how their realities are defined. To do this, the
unit will take a closer look at American perceptions of diversity and nationalities and how these
are shaped to form our realities. Society has divided people into categories of gender, race,
ethnicity, etc. – ascribed membership into a category of people. For individual groups to gain
more power in society, they use stereotypes to degrade certain categories to make them have less
power. These stereotypes continue through media; for example, in advertisements.

Themes/Concepts:
People are more than the stereotypes given to them. Advertisements perpetuate this idea.
Society continues to think that European origins as innately superior, women are excessively
emotional, and etc. To begin challenging these ideas, students will begin contemplating the
following questions:
1. What is the product? What is attempted to be sold?
2. Who is the audience for this advertisement? Are they trying to attract females or males?
What is the age of the audience? Who is the ad directed to?
3. Why would someone want to buy this product?
4. How does the advertisement make you feel about the product?
5. What do the designers of the advertisement want to make you feel?
These questions are stepping stones to having them think of bigger issues concerning
advertisements and their perpetuation of stereotypes; such as:
1. Why would someone use a woman’s body as an object for an advertisement?
2. Would you want your body objectified?
3. What strategies can be used to teach female sexuality as not focused on weakness?
4. How are men’s bodies objectified?
5. Are objectified advertisements controversial? If so, why are they controversial?
6. Why do marriage advertisements promote heterosexual relationships?
7. As a whole, what do advertisements suggest to society?
8. How do these advertisements reflect our understanding of gender?
9. How can you instill new values in society?

Rationale:
These prevailing stereotypes are socially constructed but can begin to be silenced with students
beginning to contemplate questions. During the past couple of weeks, we have been questioning
stereotypes and the misconceptions of race, ethnicities, gender, and etc. For example, in class,
Sandi Stupica
TE408
21 February 2009
we decided that the famous saying and stereotype “All blondes are dumb” is not always true.
Just like blondes, other people are categorized and judged based on their appearances. Some of
these judgments are passed on through advertisements that are found in our day-to-day lives. To
start observing how ads do this, students will be working in groups of three to discuss
advertisements and then discuss their answers as a group.

Inventory:
In the past unit, students wrote five-paragraph essays explaining the lack of freedom that Truman
in “The Truman Show” and Jonas in The Giver had in their very regulated and constructed
worlds. I had the opportunity to look at these essays that were posted on GoogleDocs and saw
that the students were beginning to think about how freedom and opportunity are vital to
anyone’s happiness. In the current unit, perspectives of nationalities and ethnicities in America,
students are now contemplating the formation of stereotypes. Recently, they answered various
questions individually regarding the existence and truth behind stereotypes. After they worked
individually, they had a class discussion.

Goals:
To allow students to revisit and revise previous presumptions as they begin to gain new
perspectives and question the stereotypes of their lives. This unit follows The Giver and The
Truman Show unit. Therefore students have already begun to question the things that shape their
lives. They realize that the perceived utopian worlds of Truman and Jonas are not perfect, but
this wasn’t realized until these characters began to question their realities. Therefore, these texts
scaffold for the next lesson as it brings attention to critical changes necessary and brings
questions about society.

Assessments:
1. Class participation is necessary to gain a vast array of ideas and perceptions. (informal)
2. Completion of worksheets will allow groups to discuss their individual thoughts. There
are no right and wrong answers but they are helpful in scaffolding them to more well-
thought-out presentation. (informal)
3. A presentation accompanied with the completion of a hand-out that reveals that they
attempted to answer the questions. (formal)

Lessons:
(See detailed lesson plans for teaching sequence below)

Activities:
1. Analyze and discuss advertisements
2. Completion of hand-outs
3. Presentation of advertisement
4. Peer/class evaluation of advertisements

Discussion:
Discussion will occur daily as they learn how stereotypes occur frequently in the media. In
groups, they will analyze advertisements and discuss the following questions that are written on
their hand-outs:
Sandi Stupica
TE408
21 February 2009
1. What is the product? What is attempted to be sold?
2. Who is the audience for this advertisement? Are they trying to attract females or males?
What is the age of the audience? Who is the ad directed to?
3. Why would someone want to buy this product?
4. How does the advertisement make you feel about the product?
5. What do the designers of the advertisement want to make you feel?
When creating their own advertisement, they will discuss the following also as a group:
1. Who is your audience?
2. How can you make your images more appealing?
3. How can you influence your audience to buy the product?
4. Why do advertisers use words and phrases like “practically,” “virtually,” and “new and
improved?” Why does Billy Mays in his commercials say, “This product takes out
virtually all stains?” Does “virtually” go “virtually” unnoticed when it is said on TV?
What if this same phrase was written? Would the same amount of people buy Billy’s
product?
5. What does the voice in radio and commercial sound like?

Text:
1. Television commercials
2. Radio recordings
3. Magazine advertisements
4. Newspaper advertisements

Daily Lesson Plans

Day 1

Grade:
8th grade English

Goals:
To continue questioning stereotypes and the misconceptions of individual races, ethnicities,
gender, and etc. During the pass week, in class, we decided that the popular saying and
stereotype “All blondes are dumb” is not always true. Just like blondes, other people are
categorized and judged based on their appearances. Some of these judgments are passed on
through advertisements that are found in students’ day-to-day lives. To start observing how
advertisements accomplish this, students will work in groups to discuss questions that are listed
on a hand-out.

Rationale:
To have students rethink their current society will lead to the continuation of shrinking the gap in
power structures. Over the years, the gap has shrunk but the supposed differences in gender,
race, class and etc. has contributed to perceptions of one’s innate ability and worth. Opening
minds to change begins in the classroom. Therefore, students should become aware of the
surroundings and stereotypes that shape not only their communities, but their very being.
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TE408
21 February 2009
Assessments:
This particular lesson will not attribute a letter grade, but rather students will be assessed on their
contribution. If a student participates in class and group discussion, the student will receive an
“A.”
1. Class participation is necessary to gain a vast array of ideas and perceptions.
2. Completion of hand-outs will allow groups to discuss their individual thoughts. There
are no right and wrong answers but they are helpful in scaffolding them to more well-
thought-out presentation.

Objectives:
1. To reflect on objectives learned in The Truman Show and bridge them to “real world”
situations.
2. To give students the opportunity to discuss hand-outs in small groups.
3. To allow students to begin thinking about how to create advertisements that reflect social
values in advertisements that do not reflect stereotypes – is this possible? Students will
only begin to think about it because of time restrictions. At the end of class, the groups
will receive the creation of an advertisement assignment.

Tasks:
Introduction: Focusing Event (3 minutes)
1. Relate the lesson to what has been previously learned – Throughout the past few weeks,
students have been discussing stereotypes and their individual perceptions of nationality,
race, and gender. Society’s perceptions, including the most common prejudices that were
discussed in class, are perpetuated through advertisements. This can lead to a cycle of
misconceptions. To break this cycle, students can begin to question these ideas. (2-3
minutes)

Development: Modeling/Explanation Demonstration (10 minutes)

2. Place students in groups of three. Groups will be formed by using a class list – for
example, a student who has a last name starting with “z” will work with someone who
has a last name that starts with “a.” The purpose of this is to have students working with
people who they typically do not work with.
3. Distribute three advertisements and a hand-out per group.
4. Ask for volunteers to read it out-loud. The hand-out will have the following questions:
• What is the product? What is attempted to be sold?
• Who is the audience for this advertisement? Are they trying to attract females or
males? What is the age of the audience? Who is the ad directed to?
• Why would someone want to buy this product?
5. Model how to complete the hand-out by examining an advertisement. To effectively
model how to answer the questions, explain the thought process that one uses to come to
their conclusions.

Practice: Guided/Monitored Practice (25 minutes)

6. Students will begin discussing their three advertisements as a group.
7. The questions on the hand-out should be answered for each ad.
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TE408
21 February 2009
8. The teacher will walk around the room to permit students to ask questions and to keep
everyone on task.

Checking for Understanding: Assessment/Feedback (10-15 minutes)

9. Each group will present their answers for one of the advertisements that they worked on
as a group – each group member needs to talk about the ad.
10. The class will provide feedback by agreeing or disagreeing (and describe “why”) with the
presenting groups evaluations/answers.

Closure: Wrapping Up
11. Explain tomorrow’s activity – within the same group, students will have to present or
create their own advertisement.
12. Students will be provided a list of the possible products in which they can advertise.
13. Allow the group to discuss what kind of advertisement and product they would like to
create; such as commercials, radio recordings, magazines, newspapers, and etc.
14. If time permits, they will be provided a hand-out with the following questions:
• Who is your audience?
• How can you make your images more appealing?
• How can you influence your audience to buy the product?
• Why do advertisers use words and phrases like “practically,” “virtually,” and
“new and improved?” Why does Billy Mays in his commercials say, “This
product takes out virtually all stains?” Does “virtually” go “virtually” unnoticed
when it is said on TV? What if this same phrase was written? Would the same
amount of people buy Billy’s product?
• What does the voice in radio and commercial sound like?
15. Tell students that they can use props from home but they must be “school appropriate.”

Day 2

Goals:
To provide students the opportunity to begin thinking of how to portray better social values
through advertisements. Within the same groups as yesterday, students will create an ad of their
choice: radio broadcast, commercial, billboard, magazine/newspaper advertisement, and etc.
Each group member will have a role in creating the advertisement and take part in presenting it
to class.

Rationale:
Now that students have had experience critiquing advertisements, they now have the tools and
ideas to create their own ads. Students have recognized that ads attempt to appeal to certain
audiences – and in attempt to do so, they are perpetuating stereotypes and excluding other groups
of people. The conversation and discussion from the previous day should have provided the
scaffolding for students to appeal to various audiences – more than which most ads do. To be
“school appropriate,” the school will be provided a list of products which the can advertise.

Assessments:
Sandi Stupica
TE408
21 February 2009
Again, this lesson plan will not use an assessment that is looking for “right” answers to be
graded. Rather, students will be assessed based on the following:
1. Participation in class and group discussion.
2. The completion of the hand-out.
3. Creation of an advertisement – each student must play a role in creating the ad.
4. Presentation of the group’s created advertisement to the class. The group must share their
answers to the questions on the handout – this will let the class know more about the ad
in which was presented.

Objectives:
1. Students will be able to gain more experience working n groups and compromising
answers.
2. Swill be able to brainstorm, create, and design advertisements that do not promote
stereotypes – hopefully they will begin to realize how almost impossible this task is.
3. Students will be able to attain more experience addressing and communicating with their
peers during the discussions and presentations of advertisements.

Tasks:
Introduction: Focusing Event (10-12 minutes)
1. Organize students back into the groups they formed from the previous day.
2. Remind Groups of the directions.
3. Show example of different advertisements; such as commercials, radio recordings,
magazines, newspapers, and etc. Each ad perpetuates ideas in different ways; such as in
voice, design, jingle, and etc. This will allow students to begin thinking about the
difference in each piece of advertising media. (10 minutes)

Practice: Guided/Monitored Practice (15-20 minutes)

4. In groups, students will create an advertisement. It can be a radio broadcast, billboard,
commercial, magazine ad, etc. A list of products will be given for each group to choose
from. To help them make an advertisement they will be provided a hand-out with the
following questions:
• Who is your audience?
• How can you make your images more appealing?
• How can you influence your audience to buy the product?
• Why do advertisers use words and phrases like “practically,” “virtually,” and
“new and improved?” Why does Billy Mays in his commercials say, “This
product takes out virtually all stains?” Does “virtually” go “virtually” unnoticed
when it is said on TV? What if this same phrase was written? Would the same
amount of people buy Billy’s product?
• What does the voice in radio and commercial sound like?

5. Presentation: Each group will present advertisements.

6. Introduce actual advertisements and discuss how they appeal to audiences.

Closure: Wrapping Up
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TE408
21 February 2009
7. If time permits, compare and contrast their created advertisements with real
advertisements. Were the same methods used? What method is more effective to
attracting an audience?

Accommodations
1. Teacher will wear microphone for hearing impaired students.
2. Hand-outs and visual media will be used for visual learners.
3. Groups will be created for most success.

Materials:
1. Construction paper
2. Props
3. Glitter glue
4. Glue
5. Magazines
6. Markers
7. Video Clips – television and radio advertisements
8. Overhead

Discussion
Your experiences with planning the unit/daily plans
My lessons will be taught March 2 and 3 but I have completed weeks of planning and
revision. It has taken me about two weeks to finally strategize a lesson plan in which I feel
comfortable presenting. Creating the unit plan was tough because it is a concept that provides
me a lot of freedom– stereotypes and perceptions of ethnicities, race, and gender in America.
My placement teacher gave me freedom to create a lesson plan. This allows me to be creative
and present a topic that is of great interest to me – media.
My lesson connects to the overall meaning of the unit as it reveals that stereotypes
abound in society, but most are not true and should not have any relevance in society. I have
given my rough drafts of my unit and lesson plans to my placement teacher, and she has
approved of the route I have decided to take. This is because I focus on the connection between
the previous unit and the current one. The past unit, which used The Giver and “The Truman
Show” as text, is a great scaffold for the lesson. Therefore, they have already begun revising
previous assumptions of their lives. Also, the lesson brings a new way to look at how society is
shaped by advertisements. Subconsciously, these ads are placing people into categories. By
examining ads, students can determine that in fact, stereotypes exist but are not accurate
portrayals.

Your experience implementing it. What are you learning?

I have yet to implement my lesson but I have started to learn how to write this new
genre. In class, we have learned that backwards planning is the most beneficial for students but I
also wrote my lesson not only based on the desired objectives but also the tasks. The unit is
about ethnicities, race, and gender in America and the civil rights of citizens. Due to my
journalism minor, I recognize some of the ways in which these stereotypes are perpetuated and
continued through advertisements. So when I created my writing sequence, writing my daily
lessons and tasks were easier to write than the goals and objectives. With my background
Sandi Stupica
TE408
21 February 2009
knowledge of journalism, it is easier to write a lesson. I am full of new and fresh ideas, but when
I am the teacher of my own classroom, I will need to rely more on my purpose and objective of a
lesson, rather than tasks.
I have also learned that writing sequences require multiple revisions. Even teachers who
have been creating writing sequences for years require revisions because context continues to
change. Each day and lesson scaffolds the next. If students do not experience or understand
certain lessons, then proceeding lessons need to be revised to meet students’ needs. For me, not
only has my context changed, but I have been learning what information fits certain categories
and what voice to use. I thought the audience for my lesson plan was other teachers or perhaps
substitutes. Rather, I should be writing the information so that it is understandable for my
students.

How does what you planned account for the development of procedural knowledge?
My lessons account for the development of procedural knowledge in my students because
I’m showing them how to find the stereotypes portrayed in advertisements. Advertisers are more
concerned with making the most profit possible rather than satisfying human roles. They teach
people of all ages that their happiness will be realized through buying more and more things.
Therefore, advertisements serve the needs of the market and prevent society from asking
questions we need to ask about the kind of world we really want to live in and what we value.
Therefore, my lesson uses questions to show students how to abandon the ideals presented in
advertisements. My first lesson requires students to analyze advertisements by answering the
following questions: “What is the product?” “What is attempted to be sold?” “Who is the
audience for this advertisement?” “Why would someone want to buy this product” How does the
advertisement make you feel?” “What do the designers of the advertisement want to make you
feel?” These questions will be the stepping stones to how they should question and critique
society’s culture of capitalism.

How does what you planned connect to the overall plans for the unit and vice versa?
The unit, which is about stereotypes in America, connects to my lessons because it
attempts to show students how advertisements reflect negative perceptions of race, gender,
ethnicities, and etc. In the first two weeks of the unit, students have discussed the existence of
stereotypes and if they are a true reflection of one’s character. Also, they have learned about civil
rights and how these are sometimes taken away – for instance, students studied Caesar Chavez
and the treatment of Mexican immigrants. Similarly to the treatment of Caesar Chavez, people
continue to earn unequal treatment such as lower paying jobs and unequal treatment. Advertisers
have become sophisticated in their ability to shape and manipulate these unconscious attitudes
and values. Sometimes, this is unrecognizable because the ideas and perceptions of society seem
“normal” and not a stereotype. For students to begin questioning ads, this will allow them to
recognize these ingrained stereotypes and perceptions in society. Therefore, my lessons connect
to the overall unit because it gives students another way to see how stereotypes are perpetuated.
Students have had experience doing this through discussion and movies but now they will
explore advertisements.

What makes what you’ve planned dialogic? What are you learning about the challenges of
dialogic teaching? How specifically could you improve these plans in this regard?
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TE408
21 February 2009
When I began creating my analyzing advertisements lesson plan, I planned to make
dialogic discussion the most important element. Rather than searching for any correct answers, I
am providing students questions so they can begin scaffolding their own questions and answers.
I want students to gain multiple ideas and perceptions of how stereotypes are shown in
advertisements; therefore, dialogic discussion should be used to gather this information. I have
created hand-outs for students for answer in groups. Groups will then share their answers in
class so everyone can respond. The lesson is designed in such a way because students learn
more from each other when the teacher can be the facilitator rather than a lecturer. During
discussion, I can help students to gather ideas and shape their arguments (because finding just the
right words is sometimes difficult), but I do not want to present my opinions as the correct ones.
The challenges I am expecting to face is that students will be nervous to share their
opinions to the class. To overcome this challenge, I will place students into small groups. It is
safer to share one’s ideas in a group before ideas are shared in front of a larger group. Talking
with group members provides the approval that is needed for students to feel safer. Also, I plan
to walk from group to group and discuss some of their ideas with them. This will also give them
more confidence to speak in front of the class.