Humanities 8 Journey

Socratic Seminar - ‘The Dream’

November 5th, 2009 by Humanities 8 Journey

Our Socratic Seminar is about the short story, ‘The Dream’  by the Thai writer, Kuruvin Boon-Long. Make sure that you have carefully read the story and be ready to have an open-ended discussion.

Here is the file for the story:

the-dream

And here is an audio recording of ‘The Dream’ (narrated by Mrs. Joan Estin):

In order to participate in the discussion, you need to bring a copy of the story, your learning log notebook and a completed entry-ticket.

We’ll use our Socratic Seminar to explore questions and speculations about the story. Here are some points you can touch on (maybe you can think of others!):

* questions about some aspect of the story’s plot and theme

* questions about vocabulary and/or use of figurative language and symbolism

* connections to our unit on Consumer Economics + Identity (e.g., perception, influence, etc.)

* the author’s purpose in writing this story

* personal connections you have with the story

And here are some sentence starters you might want to use during the seminar:

* I’d like to know…              * I’m not sure, but…

* I’m wondering why…       * What puzzles me is…

* I’m confused about…       * I’d like to ask the author…

Posted in Consumer Economics | | | 0 Comments

Reflection on Advertising - Analyzing and Branding

November 2nd, 2009 by Humanities 8 Journey

Create a post at your blog on what you have learned about advertising. Your post can be organized in the following way:

1. What did you already know about advertising?  What did you assume about advertising?

2. What do you remember most about analyzing ads - the samples and the one you chose?

3.  What was it like working with a team in coming up with a logo and slogan for Vinco?  How did your team decide on a product to focus on and how difficult was it in coming up with a consumer target group, values that connect to your product and a perception that you wanted consumers to have by looking at your ad? What was it like having professional advertisers as well as teachers and other students checking out your team’s advertising work?

4. How did these two activities (analyzing ads + Vinco branding) affect your perceptions about advertising?

Below are photos from the Vinco branding activity.

[View with PicLens]

Posted in Consumer Economics | | | 1 Comments

Analyzing Advertising

October 15th, 2009 by Humanities 8 Journey

Directions:  Look over the first two advertisements below (the cell phone and ice-cream ads). Study the images and text in the ads, and read the side notes to get some ideas about advertising techniques used in these ads.  You will learn more advertising techniques by reading the sheet ‘Marketing Techniques.’ On the back of the sheet is one more example of analyzing an ad (’Got Milk’).  Now you’re ready to choose and analyze one of the 18 ads from the image gallery below.

[View with PicLens]

Posted in Consumer Economics | | | 0 Comments

Video Connections to Consumer Economics

October 11th, 2009 by Humanities 8 Journey

The following are videos you can comment upon here, or you can get the file for one or more of the videos and create a post at your own blog.

‘Consumerism, the Musical’ (first line - ‘I’m the king of excess…’)

A video podcast about consumerism by ‘The Resident’

Music Video - ‘Made in Thailand’ by Carabao - lyrics translated into English - made-in-thailand

Mini-Documentary - ‘Why People Buy’

Thai TV Commercial - Smooth-E Face Cream - ‘Materialism’

Dove Cosmetics - Advertising Campaign - ‘The Evolution of Beauty’

Brand Shopping in Japan

‘Poddicts’ - a story of ‘addiction’ to iPods. Note how the details of the actor smoking and often saying  the word ‘like’ fit in with the context of his character.

Ethical Consumerism - an animated message

Background to the story about Iqbal.

Mini-Documentary - ‘What’s Behind the Label?’

Movie Trailer for ‘The Cove’ - 2009 documentary about dolphins in Japan hunted for sea shows around the world.

Sponge Bob in China - labor issues connected to consumerism

George Carlin, Comedian - a rant about American consumerism and other issues

News Video, 2007 - ‘Gross National Happiness’ - the Mountain Kingdom of Bhutan meets the material world

Posted in Consumer Economics | | | 1 Comments