Lesson Plan

Unit Title: Self-Image
Unit Question:  How does media influence a teenager’s perspective of themselves?
Lesson #:  1 

Today’s Objective(s)/Standard(s )	Students should be able to identify and analyze codes and symbols in advertisements and movie trailers in order to differentiate what is real and what is not. Students should be able to relate the contents of the materials analyzed with their own lives.
Today’s Formative Assessment(s)	After students view the media they will be able to hold a socratic seminar to analyze the technical codes,using inquiry, communication, visual literacy skills. Students will be able to apply what they have learned to their own experience with this type of media.
Learning Activity(ies)/Strategy(ies)	1. Divide students in groups and assign each group a piece of media to evaluate.They will use one of the following: a magazine ad in Google images, a T.V. ad or/and a movie sequences and they must find codes and symbols on each one of these. 2. Students will present their findings to the class by showing the examples and making reference to it. 3. Using google docs they will reflect on codes and symbols learned by using clear examples of the presentations.
Materials:
Magazines Ads:
Videos:	Beauty Pressure Dove - Evolution Commercial (higher quality)
Movie trailers:	Mad Men Fathom

Communication is everywhere; we have it verbally with words, non-verbal with gestures and with visual aids full of universal signs. Our everyday lives are attacked by all of these conscious or subconscious images and information that send messages that transform into learning. The codes and symbols found on the ads on videos, magazines and movie trailers are totally related to our lesson plan we designed. Our main objective is to teach teenagers symbols and codes on media and to reflect on self-esteem. It is important to motivate a reflecting on who they are and that everything that they see in mass media, can be modified by technology programs, lights, camera or video camera shots, words, type of font and color and as well layout design.  All of these aspects can promote a positive or negative way the response of the audience. We want to inspire students to reflect on self-image and self esteem. I believe this reflective skill of teaching students to identify symbols and codes used in all type of visuals is an essential learning in the 21^st Century visual and media literacy education. It needs to be taught and we need to make our student conscious of it because their lives are totally different from ours in which we were not exposed that much or not at all to the net. A great percentage of their learning happens in the net and we need to make them strong evaluators.