On February 18, 2016, students attended the Second Annual African American Read-In instead of attending class.  Students from the high school volunteered to read poems, excerpts from speeches, and some even shared their own original poetry.  In order to reflect on African-American writing from that event, please do one of the following:

• In 200 words or more please reflect on the poetry and writing that you heard while in the auditorium.  Look over the order of presenters and reflect on a poem. Summarize the words in the poem and analyze the meaning of these words.  How did the students recite these words?  Did they show inflection? How did their voice and tone reflect the message behind the poem. Do you think the Read-In was a beneficial use of time?  Did you learn anything?  Did it make you think about tolerance and respect in our society?
• OR, look through any of the below sites of African American authors and their writing.  Choose a poem, copy and paste it into a post, and analyze its meaning as well as your thoughts about the poem. Make sure you use at least 200 words.
  • https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/black-history-month
  • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/black-history-month/
  •  http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous_poets/african_american.aspx 
• OR, look through any of the below sites of African American songs. Choose a song, copy and paste it into a post, and analyze its meaning as well as your thoughts about the song.  Make sure you use at least 200 words.
  • http://www.songsforteaching.com/africanamericanhistory.htm
• OR, since images can represent/say a 1000 words, find an image that represents an African American poem or song lyric and post it in a blog.  Then write 100 words summarizing and analyzing the meaning behind the image.

       

 

 

 

 

All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and be proud of being an individual. No one should be stereotyped by their race, gender, background, social status, etc.  We are all human beings and we should be proud of who we are because there is no other person like us. Don’t judge a person by the outside appearance; don’t stereotype a person or generalize an entire group or race of people.  We are all human and we all deserve love and respect; and, we should all show ourselves respect.  We all Matter.  You Matter. Let’s make a difference and be more awesome!

Now, take the Challenge:  Since it’s Black History Month, please pick a person or group of people who represent Black History so that we learn more about these important people and their amazing accomplishments. Look at the Poster below:

Pick one of the challenges, find an appropriate image or video, and write a 200-300 word reflection on the image/video.  Analyze what the image/video represents and how that one image/video can pretty much say a 1000 words. How is the image an important example of Black History Month?  Explain in detail.  Make sure you include the image/video in your Post.

 

 

As my students watched the Budweiser Don’t Drink and Drive Commercial that premiered during Superbowl 50 in 2016, they were asked to focus on the persuasive methods and shock value of the video so they could help prepare for their social issue research paper multimedia presentations.

Before  I played the 60 second commercial on Monday (literally the day after the Superbowl), I asked students to focus on 3 aspects (which they needed in their social issue research papers):

1. What is the purpose (message) of the video?
2. How did the commercial show both sides of this perspective (message)?
3. How effective was the shock value to get audience attention to the major social issue?

 

Now it’s time for students to have some choice as they analyze other commercials and videos.

Directions: Your goal is to find and share at least 3 video commercials in order to write at least 250 words by analyzing the PURPOSE, AUDIENCE, and STANCE of these commercials. Make sure you go to ADD MEDIA and EMBED the videos into your blog post so your audience can view the video and comment on whether they agree or disagree with your analysis….or add more to your analysis.

Here are your options:

• Analyze your top 3 Favorite Superbowl Commercials
• Analyze your bottom 3 Least Favorite Superbowl Commercials
• Analyze your top 3 Most Funny Superbowl Commercials
• Analyze your top 3 Most Serious Superbowl Commercials
• Analyze your top 3 Unbelievable/Unrealistic Superbowl Commercials (ones in which actions happened that we know are not realistic to real life)
• Analyze 3 Different Types of Superbowl Commercials (Food related, Car related, Beverage related, etc)
• If you have another creative idea to analyze 3 different Superbowl Commercials, see me to approve and go ahead
• If you prefer to not analyze commercials, find 3 videos you like and analyze their purpose, audience, and stance. (For example 3 most motivational videos or 3 inspiring videos, etc)  See me for approval

Some added resources to help you complete this assignment well:

Super Bowl Commercials 2016 Best and Worst

Close Reading of Super Bowl Commercials

Rhetorical Analysis of a Superbowl Commercial