Rationale

My school is located in a suburban area where the families are fairly well off and are of high socio-economic status. The school is public so the resources are still limited, but a brand new MAC computer lab was recently built due to government funding. There are also six laptop computers available for teacher use, one for each grade. There are two classes for every grade (grade 1 -6) and the teachers must rent out the laptops when needed. The school is very focused on the performing arts so there is a separate music room and drama room filled with costumes and props for student use.

Ads!Ads!Ads is a unit plan which focuses on the world of advertising and is specifically created for grade five students. There are 21 students in this specific classroom. This unit is fairly long and should take about two weeks to complete. The lessons for this unit are on average one hour in length and are taught almost every day during the last period, which, is normally devoted to Language Arts. At the very beginning of the unit, the students will be given a notebook which they will label “Media Journal”. Almost every “Ads Ads Ads” lesson will have the students reflect in this journal. The journal will be accompanied with a folder in order to keep all the handouts for this unit organised.

The final project allows students to create and edit their very own TV commercials. The last day of the unit will be devoted to watching all the student’s videos while they simultaneously grade themselves using the rubric they created as a class. This unit will be graded by the teacher as well at the end of the two weeks. (see Assessment for more details)