Kids are Funny

This is going to be a short, sweet, Happy Friday post. I just needed to write a little bit about why working with middle school students can sometimes be a very funny affair.

First, some background:

-If you were unaware, we have been doing a lot of work studying Media Literacy, Propaganda, Persuasive Techniques, and Advertising in class. The students have had a great time learning about different propaganda techniques and advertising strategies, as well as examining commercials, both in video form and print form.
-One of the end results of this unit will call for the students to produce an Ad Campaign in a small, collaborative group.
-Taking advantage of the time of year, we have been looking at past and present Super Bowl commercials...looking at the good, bad, effective and ineffective.

This all leads to a moment from this morning.

We were looking at some of the Super Bowl commercials from this year. The students needed to do a 2-paragraph analysis and review write-up for their chosen Ad on our Moodle Course, then copy + paste the link so we could watch. Many of my students chose various Doritos commercials (shows where they're at mentally & emotionally), and a couple chose the Taco Bell ad from this year using the "We Are Young" song and featuring senior citizens having a crazy night on the town. This was all fine and good. When the video ended - like every other YouTube video - other "related" options were shown to watch next.

Well...

One of the next "options" showed a barely clad Kate Upton. Keep in mind that none of the girls in my class paid any attention to this and said nothing. After about a 3-second delay/realization, roughly 18 young gentelmen LOST THEIR MINDS! Like, their worlds were forever changed. Nothing made sense; everything made sense. Unbelievable.

Classic stuff. Middle School is just funny. And sometimes, you just have to laugh.

Have a good weekend.

Winners - So Far

During class today and tomorrow, we will be looking at our selections of past Super Bowl commercials. Students needed to choose a favorite commercial from a previous year and write a 2-paragraph summary and analysis of the commercial. This is coinciding with our media literacy unit, as well as looking at how persuasion and propaganda apply to our own writing. So far it has been interesting to see what some of the 'big hits' of the past few years have been. Most of the students are drawn to the funny/hysterical advertisement, which is no surprise, seeing as how they are 11 and 12 years old.

Here they are:

Later this week, I will share some of the hits from this year's Super Bowl, according to our 6th graders!