Unit

MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements

Grades
9 - 12
Lesson Plan Type
Unit
Estimated Time
At least six 60-minute sessions
Author
Publisher
ILA
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Overview

Chances are that your students are all watching and enjoying videos found on the popular website YouTube.com. Take advantage of their interest—and practice important critical thinking and literacy skills—by having them make and edit their own videos that deal with important social, economic, and political topics. First, students will watch examples of online public service announcements (PSAs) and probe the multiple meanings of these video texts by asking challenging, open-ended questions. They use their responses and a Persuasion Map tool as a basis for writing scripts for their own PSAs. Students then create short video clips and use Windows Movie Maker to edit their videos.

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

In a multiliteracies classroom, students must learn how paper, live, and electronic texts interact with semiotic systems (aesthetics and visual, nonverbal communication, text semiotics, and language/language-based codes) and how these work in social, cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

  • 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
  • 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
  • 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
  • 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Materials and Technology

  • Digital video camera
  • Computers with Internet access
  • Transparency and overhead projector
  • LCD Projector (optional)

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

1. This lesson plan has students create their own video public service announcements (PSAs). It uses childhood obesity as a sample theme, but you may choose to have them pick a theme for these PSAs as a class or may assign them to work on a topic that is related to something you are studying.

2.
Visit the Ad Council: Childhood Obesity Prevention, Boost, AdCouncil: PSA Gallery, and Media Awareness Network: Public Service Announcements websites and take a look at some of the PSAs they contain. Your goal here is to familiarize yourself with the format so that you can help students analyze them. If you use childhood obesity as the topic for your students’ PSAs, make sure you look at the videos on the Ad Council Childhood Obesity Prevention website. These PSA’s can be found under the Television link under Campaign Material. You may also want to show the PSA video titled Bullseye on the AdCouncil: PSA Gallery website. In addition, you may want to select one PSA from the Boost website to share with students during Session 1 just to provide more examples for students. While the BoostUp videos are not about childhood obesity—they are about the importance of staying in and doing well in school—they provide some alternate formats for PSA’s.  (If possible, arrange to use an LCD projector to show the video and also for student demonstrations during Session 6.)


3. Review the PSA Outline handout, which is designed to help your students analyze and create PSAs. Make a transparency to use during Session 1 and one copy for every five or six students in your class to use during Session 2.

4. This lesson is based on the question-finding strategy found in Puzzle Them First! Motivating Adolescent Readers With Question-Finding by A. Vincent Ciardiello. You will use this strategy when viewing the PSA with students during Session 1. Question-finding is a process that leads students to investigate the multiple meanings of texts and ask challenging questions. It consists of two stages wherein students first gain an awareness of a puzzling or disturbing situation through discussion and teacher scaffolding and then begin to frame puzzlement and wonderment questions as follows:
  • Puzzlement questions include those that seek awareness and those that seek explanation. Students perceive anomalies and recognize ambiguity through awareness questions. They look for coherence and resolution through explanation-type questions.

  • Wonderment questions are generative, imaginative, speculative, and exploratory.
To prepare yourself to use this strategy during Sessions 1 and 2, print off and review the Procedural Prompts for Questions. For Session 1, think about the types of questions you might ask after looking at the PSA you have selected to share (see Step 2).

5. If your classroom does not have computers with Internet access, reserve three sessions in your school’s computer lab (see Sessions 1, 3, and 5). Make sure that these computers have Windows Movie Maker on them and download it as necessary.

6. Visit and familiarize yourself with the Persuasion Map tool. Bookmark this tool on the computers students will be using.

7. Arrange to use at least one digital video camera during Session 3. You might also check with students to see who has a camera, phone, or wireless handheld device that can film digital videos and ask them to get permission to bring these in on the day you will be filming.

8. Review the Using Movie Maker to Create Public Service Announcements handout before making copies for all of your students. If you are not familiar with filming and editing digital videos, visit the Let's Make Movies! website and review some of the links.

9. Make one copy of the Reflecting on the Process handout for each student in your class. Make enough copies of the Evaluating the Products handout so that each student in your class can fill out a sheet for the work each group does.

Student Objectives

Students will

  • Study what makes a persuasive argument by critically analyzing different public service announcements (PSAs)

  • Learn the question-finding strategy and apply it to a topic of interest

  • Practice persuasive writing by creating PSA scripts

  • Use a variety of media techniques to enhance what they have written in their scripts and create and edit video PSAs

  • Use video techniques and persuasive writing strategies they learned about while creating their own PSAs to evaluate those of their peers

Session 1

1. Show students the PSA you have chosen from the Ad Council: Childhood Obesity Prevention, or AdCouncil: PSA Gallery website. Discuss the PSA. What makes it believable? What problem is it trying to address? How does it do this?
2. Watch the PSA again and using the transparency of the PSA Outline, explore the structure of the PSA with students. Fill in the boxes as you discuss and identify the scenario, goals, reasons, facts, and sponsoring organization. Explain to students that they will use the same type of structure for their own PSAs.

3. Watch the PSA once more. Ask students to look for the following:
  • How the actors portray the message.

  • The persuasive techniques used in the video

  • The use of voiceovers (if any)

  • How the PSA uses text on the screen

Homework (due at the beginning of Session 2): Have students search a variety of media sources including newspapers, magazines, television, and a variety of Internet sources for information about obesity and healthy eating (or the topic you have chosen for their PSAs). They should bring these to class in the form of original sources (Internet documents can be printed) and notes they wrote. You can also ask students to look at the Bullseye video on the AdCouncil: PSA Gallery website or can show it to them before Session 2.

Session 2

1. Lead students through questions that are designed to help them explore the issue they are discussing by looking for what is unusual and unclear. If you are using childhood obesity as your topic, sample questions for discussion include:
  • What did you find in your research about healthy eating and childhood obesity that surprised you?

  • How does this information conflict with your beliefs?

  • How are the facts different than you expected?
2. Ask students to try to ask questions that are aimed at finding explanations for the problem they are exploring. Sample questions for discussion include:
  • How can you explain a lack of healthy eating in young people?

  • What steps can you take to find explanations?

  • What rationale can you give for this behavior?
3. The final series of questions should be imaginative, speculative, and exploratory. Sample questions include:
  • What are some other ways to promote healthy eating in young people?

  • What would you do if you were in charge of a national healthy eating campaign?

  • Can you imagine all the benefits young people would have if they started eating more healthy foods and maintained a healthy weight?
4. Once students complete their questions they should work in groups of five or six to begin planning their own PSA using the PSA Outline. Ask them to complete only Section 1, thinking how they could act out the problem. Makes sure students understand that they need to dramatize their issue in 30 seconds or less. Circulate among the groups while they are working and when you see a good example, have those students model for the class. Note: Allow students to select their own groups to maintain interest and motivation.

5. Once students have their dramatic actions recorded on the storyboard, they can begin to think of a slogan or saying that best depicts the goal of their PSA.

Session 3

This session should take place in a computer lab or a classroom equipped with one computer for each group of students. Students should bring their outlines from Session 2.

1. Students should use the Persuasion Map to plan the rest of their storyboards. Have them enter a goal or thesis and then list their reasons that support this goal and some facts from their research for each reason. When they are finished, they should print their maps.

2. Students should use the information from their Persuasion Maps to fill in their outlines as follows:
  • Section 1: What type of words should flash across the screen to put across the message or your goal? Think of a catchy phrase or slogan.

  • Section 2: How could you discuss the reasons in the video? How do you convince people to listen to your message?

  • Section 3: What are your facts? How will you share these facts dramatically?

Homework (due at the beginning of Session 4): Students should visit the Let's Make Movies! website. They should then use the outlines they created to make a storyboard and shot list for their video. You might also want to give them time during class to rehearse before they film during Session 4. They should collect any props they will need as well.

Session 4

As many groups as you have cameras should film their PSAs at a time; remaining groups can rehearse until it is their turn. Assist as necessary–you can either film for them or allow them to film with your guidance. Once students are done filming, you can download all files into one computer and then save them to a USB flash drive. You can also have students download their files directly from the video camera during the next session.

Session 5

This session should take place in a computer lab or a classroom equipped with one computer for each group of students.

Students should work on their PSAs in their groups. They should follow the instructions on the Using Movie Maker to Create Public Service Announcements (PSAs) handout to edit and render their PSAs.

Session 6

1. Students should share their PSAs with the class. If you have one available, they can use an LCD projector to show the entire class their video. Alternatively, students can do a museum walk, where half of the class shows their PSAs on individual computers while the other half goes to each “exhibit” to watch the videos. After every group has seen all the demonstrations, students can switch places until every student has seen every PSA.

2. Once the viewing is completed, have a class discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the PSAs. Ask the following questions:
  • Which did you find most convincing?

  • Which slogan was the catchiest and reflected the goal the best?

  • What reasons were most convincing?

  • Whose facts did you most believe? Why?

  • What videos were the most powerful? What features did they incorporate? How did the images make you feel? How did the text on the screen add to the message?

  • How did the voiceover contribute to persuasion?
3. After the discussion, ask students to fill out the Evaluating the Products and the Reflecting on the Process sheets.

Extensions

Student Assessment / Reflections

Students should use the Evaluating the Products and Reflecting on the Process handouts to assess their own and each other’s work. Use these evaluations to complete your own assessment of student knowledge of the lesson objectives. In addition, keep your own anecdotal notes as students work through the various media techniques and elements of persuasive writing.

Sahja Burley
Technology Coordinator
This is beautifully done. I could not have organized it better. Thank you for sharing this with us all.
Garry Marshall
K-12 Teacher
What a great lesson! I have done similar activities and started to develop a technology unit for IB MYP and incorporated many elements into the unit from the lesson. Thanks!
Garry Marshall
K-12 Teacher
What a great lesson! I have done similar activities and started to develop a technology unit for IB MYP and incorporated many elements into the unit from the lesson. Thanks!
Dawn Hendrix
K-12 Teacher
Amazing unit! I love the handouts, especially the evaluating the product. I adapted this lesson for the iPad. The only thing is missing is a rubric.
Manuel Mendoza
K-12 Teacher
I found this to be incredibly useful! I am going to adapt the information and use it at the high school level. Thank you!
Sahja Burley
Technology Coordinator
This is beautifully done. I could not have organized it better. Thank you for sharing this with us all.
Garry Marshall
K-12 Teacher
What a great lesson! I have done similar activities and started to develop a technology unit for IB MYP and incorporated many elements into the unit from the lesson. Thanks!
Dawn Hendrix
K-12 Teacher
Amazing unit! I love the handouts, especially the evaluating the product. I adapted this lesson for the iPad. The only thing is missing is a rubric.
Manuel Mendoza
K-12 Teacher
I found this to be incredibly useful! I am going to adapt the information and use it at the high school level. Thank you!
Dawn Hendrix
K-12 Teacher
Amazing unit! I love the handouts, especially the evaluating the product. I adapted this lesson for the iPad. The only thing is missing is a rubric.
Manuel Mendoza
K-12 Teacher
I found this to be incredibly useful! I am going to adapt the information and use it at the high school level. Thank you!
Sahja Burley
Technology Coordinator
This is beautifully done. I could not have organized it better. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

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