Running head: LESSON PLAN CRITIQUE 1

Lesson Plan Critique

Paige McClelland

University of British Columbia

December 4, 2016

ETEC 512 64B

Instructor: Dr. Janet McCracken

LESSON PLAN CRITIQUE 2

Introduction

My critique of the lesson plan “Exploring Consumerism where Ads and Art Intersect” by

Peggy Albers will begin by addressing the embedded learning theories or philosophies: the

theory of cognitive development, social learning theory and the zone of proximal development

(ZPD), and constructivism. Then I will explain how building from the theories present in the

original lesson plan will lead to the creation of a lesson that promotes authentic, student-led

learning. Through these changes, I will describe how elaborating on the existing theories

drastically improves the lesson from both a teaching and learning perspective.

Analysis of the Original Lesson Plan

Cognitive Development

Students use inductive reasoning to draw inferences from observations and make

generalizations about the influential nature of advertisements. This lesson is mostly targeted

toward students who are in the concrete operational stage (see Appendix A). In this stage, Piaget

recognized that intellectual development is focused on concrete objects, some abstract thinking

occurs, and students draw on personal experiences to solve problems (Bhattacharya & Han,

2010, p. 38; Good, Mellon, & Kromhout, 1978, p. 689). In the lesson, students have very few

options to think abstractly and reason critically; further, problem solving is de-emphasized

because students have limited opportunity for trial and error. Although students have a few

reflective opportunities, they do not overtly engage in metacognition. In the formal operational

stage, students extend concrete operational thinking and their ability to reason hypothetically.

The lesson plan targets high school students and should thus support both stages of cognitive

development. Therefore, my lesson restructure will focus on supporting students in both the

concrete and formal operational stages.

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Vygotsky’s Social Learning Theory and the ZPD

As Vygotsky believed, “Interactions with persons in the environment stimulate

developmental processes and foster cognitive growth” (Schunk, 2012, p. 242). In the current

lesson plan, students have ample opportunity to engage in group work and discussion to co-

construct knowledge; also, less competent students are supported as they enhance their thinking

with help from more skilled peers. Learning is very much social in nature, which is the strongest

aspect of the lesson. However, it is not until the end of the lesson when students have an

opportunity to individually reflect on their learning. Students rely on the More Knowledgeable

Other to guide the lesson and select all of the learning materials, with little consideration for

students’ cultural backgrounds and interests. My analysis will focus on enhancing the ZPD and

the need to incorporate and then remove scaffolding. As well, the updated lessons will focus on

providing appropriate guided learning that it less didactic and more facilitatory, with increased

support for students to balance reflective and metacognitive inquiry.

Constructivism

A main tenet of constructivism is that students need opportunities to discover and develop

knowledge for themselves. Schunk (2012) expressed this argument succinctly: “Teachers . . .

should structure situations such that learners become actively involved with content through

manipulation of materials and social interaction” (p. 231). In the original lesson, there is plenty

of opportunity for students to engage in group work, guided discussion, and manipulation of

materials. However, I fear that many of the teacher-selected materials will promote passive

learning on behalf of the students because the material is not very challenging or situated in

students’ interests. In the revised lessons, learners will be encouraged to discover concepts and
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ideas for themselves, and their input for structuring the lessons and rubric will be valuable and

fruitful to their learning.

Changes to the Lesson Plan

I have made many modifications to the original lesson plan in order for students to situate

their learning and move from the lower-order reasoning skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy of the

Cognitive Domain to the higher-order reasoning skills. The original lesson is one of four 60-

minute sessions; however, the amount of material that students are expected to cover is

unrealistic, so I have separated the original lesson into two different lessons with the expectation

that each lesson will extend over two class periods (see Appendix B). A benefit of splitting up the

lesson is to increasingly emphasize students’ responsibility for engaging with and building upon

prior concepts as well as provide students with some breathing room to space their learning.

Finally, the learning objectives will remain the same as the original lesson.

Cognitive Development

Applying Piaget’s theory of cognitive development to the present day, students in a class

should not be expected to operate all at the same level. Therefore, I have included opportunities

for students to develop in the concrete operational and formal operational stages. At the

beginning of the lesson, the teacher poses a question that is not easily answerable to engage the

students in actively answering the question; it also sets up the expectation that students can

develop a hypothesis to test and develop throughout the lessons. As Piaget believed, “learning

occurs . . . when [students] experience cognitive conflict and engage in assimilation or

accommodation to construct or alter internal structures” (Schunk, 2012, p. 238). Students begin

to reflect on their own understanding of the persuasive nature of advertisements and engage in

abstract or hypothetical reasoning. When students are tasked to develop a hypothesis, they have
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the opportunity not only to draw inferences and make generalizations but also to critically assess

their own interpretations, analyze the question from different viewpoints, and engage in

metacognition throughout the lessons. Students are then posed with increasingly complex

questions, but they can be easily modified depending on student readiness. As von Glasersfeld

(2008) recommended, “The more abstract the concepts . . ., the more reflective activity will be

needed. It is not just one act of reflection that is needed, but a succession of reflective efforts—

and any succession of efforts requires solid motivation” (p. 47).

Social Learning Theory and the ZPD

To motivate students and ensure they have support, the ZPD is essential for students’

social and cognitive development. Vygotsky (as cited in Galloway, 2010) believed that the ZPD

is the difference between what learners can accomplish on their own and what they can achieve

from the support of experts (p. 48). In the first lesson, the students and teacher work together on

the task of critiquing an advertisement, which learners may have struggled with to complete

independently. The updated lesson plans’ introduction and guided activity sections encourage the

teacher to model critical thinking strategies for students. As John-Steiner (1996) expressed, the

teacher should become embedded in the learning activities (p. 200) rather than play a dominant

role. While the teacher’s role may be facilitatory, there is room for them to provide insights that

students may not have already gleaned from personal experience, so students can engage with

the learning material and build on background knowledge.

Because students are encouraged to use advertisements they are interested in, they will

likely be more engaged and motivated to participate. A key component of the ZPD is scaffolding,

which was largely missing from the original lesson plan. In the updated lesson, I have structured

the lessons so that “the teacher offers assistance with only those skills that are beyond the
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student’s capability” (Lipscomb, Swanson, & West, 2010, p. 227). The teacher uses the

scaffolding strategies of think alouds, breaking the tasks into smaller parts, and using prompts

and questioning techniques when appropriate. As learners become more competent, the teacher

gradually removes the scaffolding and increases opportunities for group work and individual

activities in natural phases. It is important not to overemphasize student interactions (that is,

group work) at the expense of the individual learner, so I made sure to provide more room for

reflection, metacognition, and opportunity for individual students to apply what they have

learned from group activities and guided instruction to their own assignments. This strategy is

also helpful for the teacher to document transformative learning amongst students.

Constructivism

Building from Piaget’s belief that knowledge cannot simply be transferred to learners and

Vygotsky’s stance that social learning is essential for creating new knowledge, I have applied the

philosophy of constructivism to the lesson plan revamp. I have minimized the amount of passive

learning and increased active exploration and hands-on activities that are relevant to the students’

lives. Using the constructivist view that “teaching methods should reflect the outcomes we desire

in our learners” (Schunk, 2012, p. 234), the lesson activities have been more centered on

interpreting, analyzing, and critiquing subliminal messages from advertisements. Students have

more autonomy, differentiated tasks, and selection of their own learning materials, which

supports the growth of a multidimensional learning environment that promotes self-regulation

and motivation to learn. During the jigsaw activities, constructivism is seen in action; as von

Glasersfeld stressed, “this can be effective because they have to explain what they’re doing, how

they’re doing it, and what they expect to solve” (Lombardi, 2010). Further, there is more
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opportunity for students to talk through their conceptualizations rather than simply be given

prompts or materials that assume students all learn in a linear way.

Conclusion

To create the modified lessons, I chose to focus on creating rich and meaningful

experiences that encourage genuine participation. The updated lesson plans are meant to be

flexible to the learning environments in which they take place. I built on the foundations of

cognitive development, social learning theory and the ZPD, and constructivism to provide

lessons that value students’ point of view, provide relevant developmental tasks, seek their

engagement in thought-provoking questions, challenge them to engage in metacognition, and

assess them in the context of learning. Also, I focused on improving the lesson from both the

teacher and students’ perspectives. As much as we discuss how understanding learning theories

benefit students, incorporating theories that actually situate learners in authentic scenarios and

involve them in developmentally appropriate tasks are just as beneficial and rewarding for the

teacher.
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References

Albers, P. (n.d.). “Exploring consumerism where ads and art intersect” [Web page]. Retrieved

from ReadWriteThink website: www.readwritethink.org/classroo

m-resources/lesson-plans/exploring-consumerism-where-intersect-1114.html

Bhattacharya, K., & Han, S. (2010). Piaget’s constructivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging

perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology (pp. 35-40). Retrieved from

http://vmarpad.shaanan.ac.il/Emerging%20Perspectives%20on%20Learning,

%20Teaching,%20and%20Technology.pdf

Galloway, C. (2010). Vygotsky’s constructivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on

learning, teaching, and technology (pp. 48-49). Retrieved from

http://vmarpad.shaanan.ac.il/Emerging%20Perspectives%20on%20Learning,

%20Teaching,%20and%20Technology.pdf

Good, R., Mellon, E. K., & Kromhout, R. A. (1978). The work of Jean Piaget. Journal of

Chemical Education, 55(11), 688-693. doi:10.1021/ed055p688

John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, M. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A

Vygotskian framework. Educational Psychologist, 31(3/4), 191-206.

doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3103&4_4

Lipscomb, L., Swanson, J., & West, A. (2010). Scaffolding. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging

perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology (pp. 225-238). Retrieved from

http://vmarpad.shaanan.ac.il/Emerging%20Perspectives%20on%20Learning,

%20Teaching,%20and%20Technology.pdf
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Lombardi, J. (2010, June 19). Ernst von Glasersfeld on teaching and radical constructivism

[Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=YozoZxblQx8

Schunk, D. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.) [eBrary Reader

version]. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/macewan

von Glasersfeld, E. (2008). Learning as a constructive activity. AntiMatters, 2(3), 33-49.

Retrieved from http://anti-matters.org/articles/73/public/73-66-1-PB.pdf

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Appendix A: Original Lesson Plan

Title: Exploring Consumerism where Ads and Art Intersect by Peggy Albers

Session One of Four 60-minute Sessions / Grades: 9-12

Materials: selected advertisements from newspapers and magazines, PowerPoint with hand-

selected advertisements, computer with Internet access, Critically Studying Advertisements

handout, magazines and newspapers, and books that critique consumerism.

Student Objectives

Students will

 use spoken, written, and visual language to critically analyze advertisements and art;

 learn to read and interpret visual "text" and apply these strategies as they create their own

visual "text"; and

 read, interpret, and critically discuss explicit and implicit messages sent by companies

about their products.

Session 1

Before this session, post the ads you have chosen around your classroom. You may choose to

group ads for similar products together.

1. If you have chosen to create a PowerPoint, open the session by showing it to students

without comment.

2. Engage students in a discussion about advertising, referring to the PowerPoint

presentation if appropriate. Ask them to point out particular images they remember; ask

them to think about why they remember them. Questions for discussion include:

 What ads appealed to you? Why did they appeal to you?

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 What "characters" are the companies trying to create in their ads?

 Are they successful? Why or why not?

 Are they truthful? How can you tell?

 Who do you think is the audience for these ads? Give examples to support your

answer.

The goal of this discussion is for students to become aware of how advertisements influence how

we view particular age groups, and how they are created to encourage consumers, especially the

young and teens, to buy their products. You might choose to play the PowerPoint again during

the discussion.

3. Tell students they will be studying how companies advertise their products in different

magazines and on the Internet. Show students the Nike.com website and ask them to talk

about what they notice and why. Ask them if they think this site appeals to them or if the

marketers have missed their mark and in what way. If they do not say it themselves, you

might ask them to consider how a whole website can be considered an advertising piece,

and how, as they click on various links, they are psychologically, visually, and

aesthetically "buying" into Nike's marketing.

4. Using the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner, choose one of the specific sports.

Once you arrive at the homepage for that sport, ask your students what links appeal to

them or what they want to know more about. Click on the links accordingly. Questions

for discussion include:

 What do you notice about the people you see? What do they look like? What are

they doing?

 What are the settings? What words are used?

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 How do these words work to influence how young children, teens, and adults

view sports, ambition, life, and their possibilities?

 Does the Nike site appeal to young children? Teens? Adults? Or does it appeal to

an even more specific audience? How does it do so?

 Does the website capture the audience it intends? And, how does the website

define one's ability to "just do it"? Is it authentic and achievable?

5. Organize students into groups of no more than three or four students by numbering them

off. Each group should be given one ad from those you have assembled a copy of the

Critically Studying Advertisements handout. Each group should fill out the handout and

be prepared to share their analysis with the class. Since ads are meant to be read quickly,

give students no more than five minutes to complete this activity; this limited time also

helps students more clearly focus their attention on this engagement.

6. Have students do a gallery walk around the room to study the advertisements that you

posted. They should study the advertisements with the questions from the Critically

Studying Advertisements handout in mind. After this gallery walk, invite students to write

a short reflection on what they noticed and what they believe these ads are attempting to

communicate.
7. Conduct a whole-class discussion of students' responses to the advertisements they have

looked at, including the Nike.com website. Ask students to identify specific aspects of

how marketers attract consumers to the products in the ads. For example, does the size of

the product move their eye to a particular part of the page? Does the use of color invite

viewers into a "mood?" Have students generate a statement about how advertisements

sway consumers to buy their products. Examples might include:

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 Companies like Nike want to convince us to buy their product by appealing to our

interest in video, expensive lifestyles, and being famous.

 Fashion ads that feature teens are not necessarily selling clothes, but want us to

buy into a life that might not look like our own.

8. Use short book talks to introduce the books on advertising and artists who critique

consumerism that you have collected. Invite students to examine these books throughout

the lesson.
9. Invite students to write a reflection on the power of advertising on their own life and how

the advertisements they view affect them. Collect these for assessment.

Homework: Students should visit any place where a variety of magazines and newspapers are

available (including online). They should find examples of ads for a product that appear in two

different places, photocopy, print out the ads, and/or bring the ads to class, and indicate where

they found each one. If some students do not have access to advertisements, ask your librarian,

colleagues, and friends for magazines that they do not need. Place these in your classroom for

students to check out and take home.

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Appendix B: Updated Lesson Plan #1

Materials for both lesson plans: iPads, advertisements, iClickers, chart paper

Time frame: 2 class periods

Background

In the previous lesson, students brainstormed the definitions of consumer and consumerism, and

then created reasons why people their age are considered targets of advertisements. At the end of

that lesson, students had time to surf the Internet and select their favourite advertisement

(targeted towards teenagers) and then post it to the class’s online discussion board, with the

understanding they would be using an advertisement from the board in the upcoming lesson.

Introduction (10 minutes)

At the beginning of the lesson, students are posed with this question: “To what extent do

advertisements manipulate consumer choices?” To reflect on this question, the teacher can

prompt students to think about choices they make in their everyday lives, why they are

influenced to make these choices, and how advertisements might influence or manipulate these

choices. Then students can use an advertisement from the discussion board to write a short

reflection entry in order to hypothesize the question. If students are uncomfortable creating a

hypothesis, they can list the ways their advertisement is marketing consumers.

Guided Instruction (10 minutes)

The teacher selects a few online advertisements and presents them to the class. Students use

iClickers to vote for the most persuasive advertisement. (If iClickers are not available, an option

is to use Plickers.) Then, the teacher can critique the advertisement with the least amount of

votes, to focus more so on the implicit features, and draw attention to the advertisement’s appeal,

overall success, degree of truthfulness, and audience. As the teacher models the critique, students
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should have the opportunity to contribute. Based on the discussion, students can create five

questions to write on the board that may be useful for consumers to critique advertisements

targeted toward teenagers.

Collaborative Activity (30 minutes)

Throughout the classroom, the teacher has set up four stations with different kinds of

advertisements taken from the online discussion board. Using the jigsaw method, students will

be separated into groups of four. Each group will visit all four stations, and each group member

will have a different role: recorder, questioner, mediator, or reporter. Ask students to discuss what

they notice from the advertisements and why, reminding them of the questions listed on the

whiteboard as a place to begin their search. Each group should come up with a minimum of five

new questions to ask about the advertisements at each station. Tell students that they should

focus on how the companies advertise their products. Also, remind students to question if the

advertisements appeal to them or if the marketers have missed the target and in what way. The

teacher can use the following guiding questions to scaffold students if needed:

 What do you notice about the people in the advertisement?

 What word choices have the marketers used? How do the words work to influence how

teenagers view the products?

 How do the words and the setting work together to convey a message?

 Does the advertisement appeal to teenagers or does it appeal to an even more specific

audience? In what way?

Group Presentations (20 minutes)

Each group will have a few minutes to present their questions and findings from one of the

stations. Classmates are encouraged to discuss similar and dissimilar perspectives with the
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groups. This is an excellent opportunity for students to engage in trial and error with their

classmates and for the teacher to provide students with formative feedback.

Exit Pass (10 minutes)

On the online discussion board, each student will post one question and one interesting tactic

they learned about how advertisements manipulate consumers to buy a product, so students can

view different responses at their own pace. (Another option is for students to receive a Post-it to

write a question and one interesting tactic they learned. The Post-its will be placed on the

whiteboard for students to view on their way out of class.)

Homework

Let students know they will be completing a short assignment as a follow-up to this lesson in the

upcoming lesson. Students should look for two different advertisements that sell similar products

on the Web or in print. They should think about how consumers might feel manipulated by the

advertisements in similar or dissimilar ways. Students are free to use an advertisement from the

discussion board and search for another advertisement from a competing brand to bring to the

next class. The teacher will have magazines in class that students can “check out” in case they do

not have access to print or online advertisements at home.

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Lesson Plan #2

Time frame: 2 class periods

Introduction (10 minutes)

Invite students to participate in a discussion: Have students changed their hypotheses to the

reflective question from the first lesson? In what ways did marketing techniques from the last

class surprise students? Students will then view a short video called “The Story of

Consumerism”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFlMQAppIpg (full version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eWBg8ojno4).

Collaborative Activity (10 minutes)

The teacher will number students off to form groups of five students. Each group will receive a

piece of chart paper. Students are posed with the following question: “What do advertisements’

manipulation of consumer choices depend on?” For example, consumer choice may be

influenced by the popularity of current trends, and advertisements may depend on trends to

influence consumer decisions. In groups, students can have a conversation and document the

different ways that advertisements might manipulate consumer choices as well as what

advertisers depend on to influence consumers. (If they prefer, students are free to draw pictures

rather than write text.) Standing in a circle, students will present their conversations to the rest of

the class, which is an opportunity for the teacher to address any misconceptions. Then the teacher

will explain the assignment, which is to individually compare two different online

advertisements selling a similar product and their overall effectiveness.

Independent Activity (50 minutes)

Students are asked to take out their two selected advertisements; the teacher will have some

samples (of varying complexity) that students can use if they were unable to retrieve two
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advertisements. Students will then be directed to the Glogster website to create an interactive

multimedia poster based on the questions, “How do different advertisements selling a similar

product manipulate consumer choices in similar and dissimilar ways? How are consumer choices

influenced by advertisers’ choices?” Students can also have the option to write their responses on

paper or another medium if it is appropriate. Using their hand-selected advertisements, students

will compare and contrast how marketers chose to advertise similar products. Students will then

reflect on which product they would be more influenced to buy and why, which they will present

in their multimedia presentations. The purpose of this assignment is for students to engage in

metacognition and think about how their hypothesis or answer from the first lesson has evolved.

Students should explain how or if their answer to the original question has changed as a result of

the two lessons. The teacher will craft a short rubric with students’ input for formative

assessment and remind students about proper citing and copyright practices when using images

and sources. Finally, students will hand in their Glogster presentations for formative assessment,

along with their original journal entries. If students had print advertisements, they should hand

these in as well.

Closing Activity (10 minutes)

Students will walk around the classroom “gallery walk style” to view other students’ Glogster

presentations, which will be set up on individual iPads. The teacher may choose to upload the

presentations on the class discussion board for students to view.