Students will learn through direct instruction, discussion of concepts related to media literacy, in-class practice exercises, recording reflections, designing an ad using an advertising technique, identify advertising techniques found in different media sources, analyzing junk mail, and research and analysis. Students will interact with the teacher directly in the classroom and through email outside of the classroom. 

The time of the class will be structured to open with an overview of the activities, a presentation of information, guided practice exercises, and sharing of individual analysis of media resources. The topics covered include facts that are observational, facts that are definitions, opinions that are supported, and opinions that are unsupported, cause and effect relationships, advertising techniques that include false causations, single cause fallacy, the difference between causation and correlation, a false dilemma, circular reasoning, appeal to pity, bandwagon, and purr words/snarl word/weasel words. 

Session One: Learning about thinking and selling. An introduction to advertising techniques designed to persuade buyers to buy their products. The first technique introduced and practiced is fact and opinion. Next, is cause and effect followed by circular reasoning, appeal to reasoning, bandwagon, testimonial, repetition, and purr words/snarl words/weasel words. Students will be given a scavenger hunt activity to work on outside of class along with a challenge to create three different product advertisements that appeal to different audiences. 

Session Two: Analyzing junk mail. Students will begin this session by sharing work on their scavenger hunt activity and their product advertisements. The remaining time for session two involves students in examining junk mail collections for tactics used to entice buyers such as--looks like there is a check-in it, includes something free, claims to have a prize for you, made to look like express or priority mail, looks like it is from the government, etc.

Session Three:  Research and analysis. Students will begin session three by sharing assignment work from session one and two. Next, students will examine two or three sections of a daily newspaper to calculate how much is advertising and how much is news. 
After examining newspapers, the students will examine product placements in a movie selected from the website -  ow.ly/ojBKj

When students identify five or more product placements, the teacher will direct them to the website - ow.ly/ojBX0
At this site, students will analyze different ads for the same product over different periods to develop a theory about how the ads changed over time. For example: "Between the 1930s and the 1950s, advertisers increased bandwagon and celebrity appeals and decreased the use of repetition."

Session three ends with the students recording reflections and sharing their new media literacy knowledge.