Media Literacy Activities in the Special Needs Classroom

Written by: Anne Vize • Edited by: Elizabeth Wistrom
Updated Jun 30, 2011 • Related Guides: Advertising

So how does advertising work? What makes us notice an ad in print or online in the first place? And what happens when we find ourselves unable to resist the lure of a new and exciting purchase?

Next up: Advertising Strategies ►

Class Exploration

Slide 1 of 4

To open this modified advertising lesson on media literacy and technology in the classroom, allow students to freely explore some print magazines and newspapers. Place these on a few tables around the room and encourage students to flick through the pages, noticing which pages they find interesting and where they find their eyes being drawn as they browse.

Then call your students together for a bit of a round table discussion about what they have observed. For some groups, you may need to lead this phase of the lesson yourself, and provide prompts and guiding questions to move the discussion in the desired direction. Prompts could include asking:

What pages did you look at?
When you looked at a page with an advertisement on it, what did you notice?
Which parts of the page did you find yourself looking at first?
From which direction did you flick through the pages - front to back or vice versa?

These prompts will help you set the scene for the next stage of the lesson - discussing and learning about advertising techniques.

Advertising Strategies

Slide 2 of 4

Advertising is often based on a simple principle - AIDA - Attention Interest Desire Action

Attention - gain the reader's attention through photos (often of people or faces), headings, colors or animation (in the case of online magazines or Ezines)

Interest - maintain the interest of the reader by making a promise, continuing a colorful theme, providing information about a product or service or using greater detail to make a reader want to continue reading

Desire - help the reader decide they desire the product, often by making a link between the reader and the people or group shown in the advertisement. How often have you seen an ad for coffee, for example, where there is a wholesome, loving group of people sharing some quality time together as a group, shot in slightly out of focus vision with evidence of an active, fun filled day shown in the background? The message is simple - drink the coffee, be part of this group, experience this feeling.

Action - the most important part of the advertising message- prompt an action from the reader - NOW. This can be 'click here', fill out this coupon, buy the product, join the gym now etc. For special needs learners there is an element of danger here as they can often be more susceptible to the call to action than other readers, and may be tempted to spend more than they should or buy items they don't really want or need.

Reading for Media Literacy - Photocopiable Pages to Support Student Learning

Slide 3 of 4

Collect Your Own

Slide 4 of 4

For the final part of this lesson, ask students to work in small groups to collect samples of advertisements and paste them onto a display board or large sheet of paper. Encourage them to write freely on the paper and make comments to indicate how the advertising is working to persuade a reader. Promote labelling of the page using clear arrows, neat hand writing and organised layout where appropriate. For some students it may be wise to use technology such as a quick print out of a word document cut into strips for labels rather than focus on handwriting. This activity is just one way of introducing media literacy and technology in the classroom - adapt the activity using other strategies as needed in your setting. For more ready to go advertising lesson plan ideas, try Reading for Media Literacy - Navigating the World of New Texts (Anne Vize, Curriculum Corporation, 2009), which has plenty of ready to use activities and copiable pages for students.

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