Students will be able to create an ad-campaign on what should be done to help the Native Americans gain control of their tribal communities and public perception of cultural identities to get them as close to their pre-European arrival status
Estimated time to complete lesson: 3-4 class periods
Main Idea: Groups like the Ad Council, create public service announcements as a platform for addressing a wide range of issues around family, community, education, health, safety and issues of discrimination. By taking the information they have learned over the course of the unit they will develop an advertisement campaign as a class that identifies falsehoods, misconceptions, and stereotypes about American Indians and replaces them with truth.
Do Now: What are somethings that you see on television, the internet, or hear on social media that you know is not completely true, reinforce a stereotype or provide a misconception about a group of people? How would a person or group go about addressing these issues?
Connection: By being consumers of media we have a choice in what we choose to consume but if all of the choices are skewed in the ways they represent our world then we also carry that bias knowingly or unknowingly.
Activity: Students will watch a series of Ad Council videos and then look at some posters around different social issues including Vince and Larry (the crash test dummies) and Smokey the Bear. The teacher will ask what makes them successful in presenting their message and record their responses on the board. Then students will look at some posters of unsuccessful ad campaigns. The teacher will ask what makes them unsuccessful in presenting their message and record their responses on the board. The teacher will then ask students to brainstorm what American Indians would want the public to know about them and how the public can support them in continue to keep their land. Students will then begin designing a poster with a teacher approved message. Understanding the difference between successful and unsuccessful ad campaigns, students will design a series of posters that can be displayed publicly as part of a showcase. Once the posters are complete, students can begin designing proposals to send to the B.I.A. or D.O.I. to address issues of specific tribes relating to federal recognition of sovereignty, land use, or other perceived injustices. Using evidence from primary and secondary sources, reflections of how they have felt during the course of the unit and what they believe is going to give American Indian tribes justice, they will design arguments that support their claim and address counterclaims of law makers and unsupportive citizens.
Differentiation: Students who don’t feel comfortable drawing can choose to print and cut out images that they would like to use in their poster. The images chosen must have a theme that corresponds to the issue. Students can also choose to use the computer to design their poster. Advanced students can create more than one poster to create a theme of images or slogans. They can also develop a character like Smokey the Bear who would have a slogan that challenges the current public perception of Native Americans.