Summary
For this project, students were asked to utilize knowledge learned from previous Life Skills Training lessons on ‘Drug Abuse,’ ‘Making Decisions,’ and ‘Media Influences,’ to create a public service announcement (PSA) against drug use.
The students selected their groups, and each group chose a drug to research. They evaluated and cited reliable sources to research using the skills they learned during their grade level enrichment classes and instruction from their teacher. To create their PSAs, each group was given the freedom to choose any digital tool they wanted to present their information.
In addition to including informational facts on each drug, every group also had to decide upon an advertising technique to utilize when creating their respective public service announcements.
They were allowed to choose from the eleven listed advertising techniques in the Life Skills Training books, when selecting an advertising technique to creatively employ.
Each group was given 1.5 blocks to complete this assignment. Once completed, each group submitted their work. Then, they shared their presentation with their classmates during the next block. Each student evaluated the presentations to contribute to the final grade.
TIPC Ratings
Students were instructed on how to locate, recognize and make informed decisions about the information they researched to create their PSAs. Groups had to decide collaboratively about what sources would be appropriate for their assignment. Each group was responsible for working together to turn their research into their own understanding and properly cite their sources. In creating their PSA, groups had to determine what digital tool(s) to use that would convey the information about their topic in the most effective way.
The creation of a PSA is a real-world, authentic application-based task in which each member of the group is responsible for a part of the creation of the final product. Students worked in small groups to organize, to establish roles for each group member and to decide what digital tool(s) would be most effective to use for their PSA. Each member of the group contributed to the final product. Groups shared their PSAs with the whole class and each student in the class participated in an evaluation which was part of the final grade.
Students developed their own expectations and determined what information was the most important to relay to their audience when creating their authentic and real-world PSAs. With the information gathered by each member of the group, according to their role, the group had to select the most appropriate digital tool to use to convey their message and mood in the most informative way. They designed and implemented their product to deliver the most impact to their targeted audience.
Each group designed and created an original product which reflected the information gathered, the intended message, mood and impact of the message. Each group determined which digital tool would serve as the most appropriate vehicle for their message.
