The Literacy Project- Curriculum/Activity Description

Date: February 2004

Submitted by: Sharon Feeney – adapted from Marcia Nichols, Daly Middle School, Lakeview, OR

Subject: Reading: The Junk Mail Explosion: How Ads Persuade

Level: any

Brief Description: Increase student awareness of persuasion tactics used in junk mail advertising.

Duration: a minimum of one hour, with endless possibilities of other themes to use in the future developing from this activity.

Materials Needed:

~ Junk mail collected from staff and students for about one month

~ “The Junk Mail Explosion Project” handout

~ colored paper, tape or glue, pens, hi-lighters, poster boards.

Lesson Objective(s):

~ Read critically

~ Figure out how the system that affects an issue works (from EFF role map)

~ Increased ability to recognize persuasion techniques

~ Employ intellectual defenses against persuasive techniques

Lesson Procedure:

Students discuss, and then individually list, advertising tactics used in junk mail. Using “The Junk Mail Explosion Project” handout as a guide, the students analyze the mail (individually and/or in groups) and then identify and highlight the persuasion tactic. Each piece of mail is mounted on colored paper and labeled with the persuasion tactic used – compiling all for their finished poster(s).

Assessment/Evaluation:

Pre-activity list of advertising tactics from each student. Post-activity completion of poster correctly identifying many advertising tactics, in addition to teacher observation and student self-assessments.

Massachusetts ABE Curriculum Frameworks

Strands and Standards addressed:

¨ Refine comprehension strategies

¨ Recognize and identify a variety of genres and styles

¨ Distinguish between fact and fiction

Special Comments:

Students can also use this project for math and science, possibly counting how much mail was collected, averaging amounts of mail per household, and / or the volume of material collected and multiplied per household could estimate how much of this paper ends up in our landfill (or recycling) and the environmental impact thereof.

Other Related Links and Resources: