Students are bombarded with advertisements countless times throughout their lives, and it is important for them to recognize and understand the mediums in which these messages come from. The Language Arts classroom offers a space for students to explore and analyze popular culture texts (such as music, television shows, advertisements, trends and styles) and to uncover explicit and implicit meanings that exist within these texts. Students can write personal responses as well as persuasive essays to respond to texts, and can also create their own representation on a theme or topic used in popular culture.
The following resources are full of wonderful classroom activities and assignments.
Teacher Resources:
-Scanning Television (2nd Edition): Seeing Ourselves:Media and Representation Videos 1-24 (DVD) 2003 Face to Face Media Ltd.
-Scanning Television:Teacher's Guide: 51 Short Videos for Media Literacy Studies, by Neil Andersen, Kathleen Tyner, and John J. Pungente, SJ. Published by Harcourt Canada 2003.
Scanning Television is a Canadian resource that shows a variety of North American advertisements and short documentaries about the advertising industry and popular culture. span>
-Adbusters Magazine and website. http://www.adbusters.org.
Adbuster magazine and website is essentially a "culture jammer" media production that analyzes and satirizes popular culture and advertising. It is a great classroom tool to use as a contrast to conventional advertising and media, and for analyzing point of view.
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Kline ,Published by Vintage Canada in 2000.
No Logo is a non-fiction book written by Canadian writer and activist Naomi Kline. The book examines globalization and big-name branding and how activist resistance is changing the way the world thinks about globalization. Individual chapters would be very useful for discussing advertising and branding and how it affects youth and the world. The writing in this book is compelling and accessible and would appeal to many young adult readers.
Mass Media and Popular Culture (Book and Resource Binder) By:Barry Duncan, Janine D'Ippolito, Cam Macpherson, and Carolyn Wilson. Published by Harcourt Brace and Company Canada, Ltd. 1996
Mass Media and Popular Culture is a effectual book that examines media and popular culture and invites young adults to examine and challenge their views and opinions of the topics. This is a great textbook to use for a full media unit in either Language Arts or Social Studies, but it can also be useful for smaller subunits or lessons.
