Overview:
This is the eleventh lesson in the Reading Ads with a Social Justice Lens series.
Children need empowerment strategies for what to do when faced with biased messages. In other words, they need to learn how to look critically at stereotypes without letting them in, to see and be conscious of biases without taking them on. By thinking through these strategies collectively and explicitly, children become better prepared to view media with a powerful, active and critical eye.
Objectives
Activities will help students:
- Practice
critical reading skills.
- Use expressive
oral language to stand up against prejudice.
- Practice
metacognitive reading strategies in viewing advertisements.
Essential Questions
- What biases do
advertisements most commonly perpetuate?
- What happens in
our own minds when we see and hear these biases on a constant basis?
- How can we
prevent the biases in ads from affecting the way we think and feel about ourselves
and others?
Activities
- Have the
students collectively view the advertisement below or a similar advertisement
that perpetuates stereotypes. The advertisement here perpetuates the idea that
girls should look a certain way, that girls care primarily about their
appearances and are somewhat ditzy, that it is “cool” to be a fake sort of
tough, etc. Guide students to use critical reading strategies developed in lesson
two to analyze the advertisement.
- Explain to
students that, as they have seen over the course of this series, some advertisements
are full of biases. They perpetuate stereotypes, use unfair representations,
and teach unjust ideas about how people are and how people should be.
- Ask students to
talk with a partner about what goes through their minds when they see an
advertisement. Encourage them to be as honest as possible: Maybe the first
thing they think of is whether or not they want the product being sold. Have
them be really specific in explaining what they think and how the
advertisements affect them.
- Then tell
students that their task is to come up with a list of three to five techniques
for “reading” an advertisement such as the one presented in this lesson without
letting its biased messages influence them. In other words, since we cannot
avoid, how can we work to minimize their impact on our self-esteem and the way
we view others different from ourselves? Explain to students that there is no
right or wrong here, but they should think of what strategies would be
genuinely effective. Students may work independently, in partnership or as a
group, depending on the needs of the class.
- After students
have developed their lists, publish them and display them prominently. Encourage
other students to read the lists and practice putting the strategies into
action!
Reflection
The real test of the strategies students come up with
is whether they work outside the classroom. Give students photocopies of their
lists to take home and post in their rooms or elsewhere in their homes. Challenge
them to put the strategies into action over the course of the week. Then give
them a chance to report back on whether and how the experience has changed the
way they look at advertisements.
