A teacher asked me for help with a critical thinking workshop for fifth graders to stimulate their analytical skills and work on their English. The theme was advertisements and commercials.
Warm-Up
To start the lesson, ask students if they can think of any ads they know. These ads might be on TV, online, in town, or wherever. Next, ask students to describe ads to the class. Then, find out if they like them and whether they feel like buying the product.
Critical thinking and advertising – Example
After the above warm-up, try this critical thinking workshop activity. First, show an ad to the class, and if you have a video ad, so much the better. Otherwise, use a printed ad. Next, present a list of questions to the class, such as those below. And then, discuss the questions with students and elicit possible answers. Here is an example below, with the ad picture, questions, and possible solutions.
– Who created the message?
Answer: XYZ Telecommunications. (This is a phone operator that I invented)
– What techniques did they use to attract attention?
Attractive young people, smiling and relaxed, enjoying communicating and sharing on their phones. Nice soft colours. “Keep in touch with your friends” is a short, catchy phrase.
– What values or information do they include or omit?
The idea XYZ are communicating is that if you are on your phone with your friends and loved ones, you will be happy, relaxed, laughing and having fun. In addition, you will be sharing the pleasure with a friend who is also on their phone. Life is all laughter, sharing and fun when everyone is on their phone in the company of their friends!
What the advertisers omit is that too much screen time causes depression and other problems*. Screen time isolates you from those around you, as shown in the photo. People are together but not talking to each other. Mobile phone radiation may be dangerous.
– How truthful is the ad (exaggerations?)
This answer is subjective, depending on how students interact with their phones.
– Who is the ad for, (age, male or female, interests)?
This ad targets young adults. In addition, it probably targets men and women because both sexes are equally represented in the picture. However, these days, what with neutral genders, transgender people, and non-identified genders, frankly, who would dare to speculate? The people in the group include Afro-American, Caucasian and Asian people, and perhaps others, for cultural diversity.
– What is the purpose of this message? Information and sales
XYZ Telecom created this message to advertise its brand.
Now let’s make this lesson interactive and dynamic – create a live photo!
Now students know the method and what is expected of them, make small groups. Start by giving each one an ad to think about and answer the critical thinking workshop questions. Then, instead of just sharing the answers, try this fun, creative idea. First, each group prepares a “live photo” of the ad. They do this by creating a freeze-frame to communicate the content and meaning of the ad. Next, students hold the position while a narrator from the group presents the product, telling the class who made the ad, what the ad is communicating, etc., as per the questions above. And then, finally, the narrator asks the class if they can guess the product. Again, the group keeps the position and expressions throughout the activity.
LEGO ADVERTISEMENT PICTURE
Please imagine a boy and his dad with a cool, sporty red motorbike lego model, and below that, a different dad and his kid, with a Star Wars stormtrooper lego model. The Lego logo is displayed along with the header “I love my Dad.”
This Lego ad genuinely existed, but if I put the picture on my website, Lego or Disney may sue me for millions, even if it promotes their products. Therefore, please imagine the ad!
Demonstrate first
The teacher should demo this first. So, show an ad and get a group to make a freeze-frame, using appropriate expressions. Then, narrate the advertisement to the class: This ad is made by Lego. They used a cool motorbike to attract attention. The red bike is bright on the grey background. They also used a famous star wars stormtrooper. People love star wars, so they’ll love star wars Lego.
They used good-looking people, and both dads have trendy beards, so they look hip and cool because no child wants a dad who looks like a dork. (Although, one might find the ‘let’s clone a beard and look like everyone else movement,’ dorkish. Where is the individual who stands alone and beardless?)
The idea is that with Lego you will be absorbed and have a fun, privileged moment, with your dad all to yourself while he lovingly watches you create a cool lego model. The ad also reminds you that you love your dad cause the words “I love my dad” are written across the bottom.
What they leave out is that painstaking hours have to go by before you get to place the final piece (which, in all likelihood, will be lost under a sofa by now!) The ad is relatively truthful in that the models are to scale in relation to the humans, but there’s no way Dad will just sit and watch. Annoyingly he will probably butt in and make most of the model himself!
Creative critical thinking workshop idea
Next, have each group invent its ad. Do a quick brainstorm for ideas of products students could choose. After creating the ad, the class comments on it and whether it makes them want to buy the product. Have the class vote on the best ad and choose one product. See which group sold the most.
Be sure to put a strong leader in each group. Don’t put all the talented ones together. Instead, spread the talent around, so there is someone to lead the group, linguistically and otherwise.
Let students work with others who also like their chosen product. Because if someone hates Lego, they may be unhelpful on the ad-creation team, and the task may annoy them.
Using video ads
Video commercials are great because the advertiser has time to tell a story. Human psychology is driven by avoiding pain and going towards pleasure. Advertisers play on this. You might have a desperate “homemaker,” with stained or grey laundry. And then yippee, after having polluted the environment with some powerful detergent, they are ecstatically happy again. First you get the despair of the grey laundry. Then the kids come home from rugby covered in mud. The new detergent appears and everyone glows inside, knowing they can get all the mud off thanks to the incredible product. Life is wonderful, thanks to laundry detergent.
That said however, laundry ads won’t be of much interest to kids or teens. So instead, find ads for products they know and are relevant to them. There are, of course, always the classics, like the Andrex loo roll ad and the labrador, which has been going for decades. It’s soft, long, and very strong. If you type Andrex toilet paper advert into your browser, you’ll find a choice.
Repeat the critical thinking workshop idea using the videos. Have students vote on the best ad. Perhaps as a homework task, students can find an ad they like and prepare to act it to the class. Have students work together to act an ad with a script. Then, vote on best sketches. Finally, have students make up their own ad and perform it as a short skit.
Other ideas for ads
How about vintage ads from the 1950s? Or ads from different cultures? Share your ideas below, because we’d all love to hear them.
All the best, Shelley Ann Vernon.
Check out my books here and in paperback here.
* Twenge and Campbell http://www.jeantwenge.com/research/
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1 thought on “Critical thinking workshop for middle school”
Very good teaching plan and it is very helpful. It tells me a lot of methods to teaching critical thinking and empower me in teaching. Thank you very much!