Media and Mind Molding
Essential Questions:
How has the media influenced the course of events throughout history? How might we use our voices and our writing to advocate for change in the world?
Context
As Covid 19 forced us into our homes and cut us off from our offices, schools and social lives, media and in particular social media, filled the space. We turned to our TVs and phones to facilitate connection with the world and with each other. Seeing the rise and intensity of focus on Black Lives matter generated by this unique time in history I began to reflect on the relationship between media and advocacy.
Products:
Students used mediums of their choice to craft Opinion Editorial articles, podcasts, art or films that used argumentation and rhetorics to advocate for topics that are important to them. I centred student identity by giving them creative freedom to take this wherever they wanted.
I taught rhetoric through playful activities such as convincing a 4 year old to eat broccoli ( see Rhetoric Teaching Video) and creating argumentation hopscotch (photos in link below). Some were serious, some not so much but every student developed their ability to identify and deploy the rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos and pathos.
