Who Is There?

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Objectives

Activities will helps students:

  • Take on different perspectives and consider other people’s experiences;
  • Apply historical knowledge to understand current events; and
  • Draw conclusions about how being over- or underrepresented by advertisements might affect people’s lives and self-concepts. 

Essential Questions

  • Who is well represented by advertisements? Who is less well represented?
  • What are some reasons for disparate representations of different groups of people?
  • How might representation or underrepresentation in advertisements affect people?

Activities

  1. Remind students of the meaning of representation discussed in lesson 6. Explain that they will be debating the reasons for and effects of representation in advertisements.
  2. Have students refer back to their individual or whole-class charts (lesson 6) describing the representation they observed in advertisements. Break students into teams. Have each team focus on one well represented group and one underrepresented group. For instance, one team might focus on temporarily able-bodied people and the other on people with visible disabilities. Once students have made their selections, encourage them to use their knowledge of history and daily life to form a list of reasons why the groups receive different levels of representation in advertisements. Students may do additional research or rely on prior knowledge, but they should work collaboratively. Preliterate students may draw pictures or icons.
  3. Once students have completed their lists, have them switch with another team. Now they are thinking about a group of people their classmates were previously analyzing. They may review their classmates’ lists. Have them write a speech or letter from the point of view of one of their groups addressing the effect of under- or overrepresentation on their lives. Encourage them to think about advantages as well as disadvantages in both cases. Preliterate students may choose to draw pictures, give speeches orally or perform a skit.
  4. Encourage students to share their work with their classmates.

Reflection

Taking on someone else’s point of view is an important skill. Extend this experience by asking students to imagine how advertisements they encounter outside of school might affect someone from a different race, a different gender or a different country. Encourage them to try out several different points of view and report back on their discoveries next time you meet.

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