Though in both lesson plans presented here in this paper, the White Towel and Critical Media Literacy; Commercial Advertising, share the same overall goal; the further development of the students’ media literacy and personal agency, the two lesson plans attempt to achieve this goal in different ways. With an assumption of, at least, an initial medium agency level among students, the White Towel lesson plan attempts to grow media literacy by immersing the student in a representational paradigm while employing a framework of a production pedagogy. The Critical Media Literacy; Commercial Advertising lesson plan, with its assumption of a high level of initial agency among students, attempts to grow media literacy through a Popular Arts paradigm
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The broader aspects of the lesson plans get students to think creatively about an ‘unreality’ filled with meaning and symbolic actions that delivers a meaningful message immediate to the audience’s present (Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012, p. 63). “Every act of representation,” Hoechsmann & Poyntz write, “involve a reflection, selection and deflection of reality” (Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012, p. 73). Therefore, the students are, not merely reflecting on creating the ‘unreality’ of their commercial, but, besides, are reflecting on their own reality; its symbols and how they themselves create meaning within their own personal domain. Therefore, the students are getting their own agency by reflecting on their own beliefs and channeling them into ‘unreal’ beliefs of the …show more content…
In his work, Buckingham suggests that, by the age of twelve and beyond, “children have already begun to speculate on the ideology of media and its effects” (Buckingham, 2004, p. 44). The students of this age are, most likely, well immersed in the particular forms of the media they consume and have developed opinions about it. The students partaking in this lesson already inherently can identify commercials, read the content and possess the ability to think critically about its messages. An example of this assumption of the level of agency is the lesson’s allowance of students’ independent exploration and collection of various material evidence and allowing them to voice their opinions concerning both the media they consume and their collected
The broader aspects of the lesson plans get students to think creatively about an ‘unreality’ filled with meaning and symbolic actions that delivers a meaningful message immediate to the audience’s present (Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012, p. 63). “Every act of representation,” Hoechsmann & Poyntz write, “involve a reflection, selection and deflection of reality” (Hoechsmann & Poyntz, 2012, p. 73). Therefore, the students are, not merely reflecting on creating the ‘unreality’ of their commercial, but, besides, are reflecting on their own reality; its symbols and how they themselves create meaning within their own personal domain. Therefore, the students are getting their own agency by reflecting on their own beliefs and channeling them into ‘unreal’ beliefs of the …show more content…
In his work, Buckingham suggests that, by the age of twelve and beyond, “children have already begun to speculate on the ideology of media and its effects” (Buckingham, 2004, p. 44). The students of this age are, most likely, well immersed in the particular forms of the media they consume and have developed opinions about it. The students partaking in this lesson already inherently can identify commercials, read the content and possess the ability to think critically about its messages. An example of this assumption of the level of agency is the lesson’s allowance of students’ independent exploration and collection of various material evidence and allowing them to voice their opinions concerning both the media they consume and their collected