Browse lesson plans

Finding hidden messages in advertising

In CareerStart lessons: Grade six, page 1.3

In this lesson for grade six, students will look for hidden messages in magazine advertisements and will create their own ads with hidden messages.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts)

By Jennifer Brookshire and Julie McCann.

How do I look to you?

In this lesson, students will evaluate public service posters and a grooming pamphlet to determine if and how propaganda was used to improve the health of children, and define acceptable appearances for young women in the 1930s.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

By Loretta Wilson.

Jonathan Edwards and the art of persuasion

In this lesson, students will study the elements of persuasive writing in Jonathan Edward's “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” according to the following criteria: speaker, audience, occasion, and means of persuasion, and then analyze a contemporary piece of writing, such as an advertisement, for similar elements.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Dave Guiley.

Nutrition and the media: Cereal box consumerism

This lesson will offer your students the opportunity to explore nutrition and how the media impacts our consumer decisions. Students will design a cereal box and read about how the use of color, slogans, and prizes impacts buyers. This lesson plan is easily adapted for exceptional children and can be expanded and/or adapted to suit your students' needs.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts, Healthful Living, and Mathematics)

By Gloria Simmons.

Trick or truth: Recognizing the hottest trends in advertising

Students will study commercials and advertising techniques, will work in groups to select different types of ads from magazines, and make a collage to illustrate one of the ten techniques advertisers use.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–6 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

By Kathy Idol.

Uncovering assumptions through critical writing

Students will learn to identify assumptions and propaganda techniques in advertisements. They will then use these techniques to create their own advertisement for a product and write a business letter persuading a company to produce their product.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

By Rennie Lee.

Would you really buy that? Persuasive techniques in advertising

In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 1.9

In this lesson plan, students learn about the persuasive techniques used in advertising and try to identify the techniques in a variety of ads.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Guidance)

By Andrea Fedon, Gail Frank, and Cindy Neininger.

Resources on the web

Ad dissection 101

According to David Shenk, author of Data Smog, today's children watch an average of 22,000 hours of television before graduating from high school. These hours of television contain over a quarter of a million commercials, and it is these commercials that... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

Provided by: IDEAS and Ryan Anderson

FactCheckED.org

This site helps high school students learn how to “see through the spin” and find out the true facts from the misinformation that they hear in messages every day. (Learn more)

Format: website/lesson plan

Provided by: Annenberg Public Policy Center

Identifying and understanding the fallacies used in advertising

In this lesson, students learn to analyze fallacious images and messages in advertisements and present their understanding of the fallacies through a multimedia presentation format. In order to acquaint students with the strategies of advertising campaigns,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Media awareness: Helping a product cross the finish line

In this final lesson of the Media Awareness unit, students will complete their advertisements, adding in details (such as color and symbols) and background/foreground space on the picture plane. Students will also share their advertisements with the class.... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Media awareness: The basics of advertising

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students discuss why they like the particular toy they have chosen to bring to class. They brainstorm, making a list of different categories of toys, and then discuss reasons for valuing particular toys. They begin to explore the... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–6 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: ArtsEdge