Tara



Hi Everyone!


 * Who am I?** My name is Tara Molloy and I live and work in [|Middlebury, Vermont]. I am currently teaching Social Studies at [|Middlebury Union High School]. I have just finished up my second year of teaching and love it!
 * **Background?** I was born and raised in Troy, New York. Although some call this the armpit of the state, I am proud to call it my hometown. Before attending [|Saint Michael's College] in Winooski, I thought Vermont was only the city of Bennington. Now, I never want to leave this gorgeous state. I studied History and Secondary Education at Saint Michael's College, where I met many great friends and colleagues. My sister Eileen now attends SMC, and I look forward to visiting her whenever I can.


 * **Interests?** I love to travel. While in college I lived in Ireland and studied at the [|University College Cork] in County Cork, Ireland. I recently returned to Ireland this past February, where my friend Maeve lives and works. I would love to return to Ireland again to study. I also love to read and just recently started to kayak.


 * What are my passions?** I found out early that learning can be fun. I was fortunate to have great teachers along the way that taught me that valuable lesson. That is why many teachers enter into the profession in the first place, they actually liked going to school as a child. My passion as a teacher is to spread the love of learning, specifically history, to my students. The eighty minutes a student spends in my classroom is meant to be worthwhile, not worthless. I challenge them all to think deeper and push harder when examining history in their lives.


 * This Course?** When I was applying to the Masters in Curriculum and Instruction program I was nervous about returning to the classroom as a student. I have always been someone that works extremely hard at both studying and teaching. I always pushed to do my best. That was why this course fit perfectly for my schedule and my development. I am looking an opportunity to examine various methods of teaching and determine which would best suit the needs of my students. I am particularly interested in analyzing Web 2.0 and Differentiated Instruction and their potential integration in my classroom. I am already having fun playing around on my own personal wiki page and this is only day one...


 * Day 2 edition...**I have been checking out an internet tool called an RSS feed. I have set up two different RSS feeds to determine which I like the best. One is at www.bloglinks.com and the other is at reader.google.com. This is great!


 * Day 4:** I have now established a flickr page and I am trying to collect various primary visual documents for my ISP class. This class covers various areas related to modern history. If you see any cool pictures or ideas send me a message to my [|flickr account]


 * Sunday update:** Okay, here's the deal. Last week I found a great website from Northwestern University that had a wealth of World War II propaganda posters. It seems that my project has focused primary on this site and an idea I had off of it. This site offered over 350 posters and I found approximately thirty that seemed different enough to put on my flickr page. From this, I started thinking of ways to differentiate the material for my students and make it applicable to their lives. So... I put together a draft of activities related to World War II posters and modern advertisement campaigns for the war. The activities come in all shape and sizes and I would love all of your feedback. You can access the World War II propaganda posters from my flickr account above. I am in the process of compiling the more modern resources using YouTube and the web. I would love to hear your feedback of this lesson. This is definitely something that will be used in the upcoming school year. I don't know if that link works below. So I will cut and paste the activity below...

MY PROJECT:
 * LESSON PLAN: World War II Propaganda posters versus Modern Day Recruitment:** A [|flickr] based lesson


 * An Overview:** [[file:Teaching American History with Flickr.doc]]


 * Context:** The following activities are based on prior knowledge of both World War II and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The prior knowledge would most likely come from a reading assignment and a short lecture on the sentiment towards the war before the attack on Pearl Harbor and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This lesson will come in the middle of the unit on Conflict. The students will be studying many of the conflicts throughout history including the major World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Cold War, as well as the modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The idea for this lesson came after finding a wealth of World War II propaganda posters used in the military recruitment for United States.


 * Standards: Vermont Framework of Standards:**
 * 6.3 Analyzing Knowledge:** Students analyze knowledge as a collection of selected facts and interpretations based on a particular historical or social setting. This is evident when students:
 * e.** identify and distinguish among the uses and forms (official and unofficial) of propaganda.

1.Using flickr, Students will compare and contrast in writing six different wartime advertisements, specifically looking at the ads purpose and overall message about the war.
 * Objectives:**

2. Using the provided advertisements from Flickr, Students will collaborate in writing and performing a skit that demonstrates how attitudes about the specific war play a role in the advertisements for a specific time period.

3. Using the advertisements from the 20th and 21st centuries, Students will work with a partner in designing and drawing two advertisements that include at least one major theme.

4. Students will examine the positive and negative role and purpose of advertising in their lives using common products of their choice. This examination may come in the form of a letter, a scrapbook, a flickr page, a video campaign, etc.

When students walk into class I will have the [|Middlebury Union High School] homepage up on the projector. We will begin the class with a brainstorm based on the following questions: **What does this homepage tell the public about MUHS? Is this an accurate picture of MUHS?** The students will then create a list of ideas that they pull solely based on this homepage. We will discuss our answers as a group and I will write the answers on the board. After the brainstorm is over I will ask them: **Does conflict exist at MUHS?** **If so, please provide as many specific examples as possible. If not, why?** We would then generate another list, this time using sticky notes that they would bring to the board, read others and respond to them (this is a version of something called a rant write). We would open our discussion and create a master list based off of the themes present in the sticky notes. Then, I would close by asking my students: **What would our homepage truly look like if you were the web designer? How does your design reflect your feelings towards MUHS?** I would give them some time to create a drawing of their own version of the school's homepage, which will demonstrate what they view is important to know about MUHS, through pictures. My hope is that they would all be different and represent their own take on high school. Some may not look too much different than the one already found at the website, others certainly will. **//Why do this?//** //My hope is that this activity focuses them on the topic of advertisements and conflict. In this they are forced to think about an advertisement (the webpage) at the most basic level, of a product (the High School) that they can all connect with (for the good or bad). This activity will hopefully demonstrate that advertisements are created for a purpose and to send a message to a specific audience.//
 * Whole class hook:**


 * Minilecture:** The minilecture that would follow would actually be building off knowledge of the World War already address in previous days. I would probably have a slideshow of the propaganda posters going on the background and tie them into my lecture. This would provide some context for the lesson plan.

1. **With a partner**: Analyze three different military advertisements for each time period (six total advertisement): a. What does the advertisement say to you, the consumer? b. Why was this advertisement developed? c. Does the advertisement serve a larger purpose? If so, what is it? d. Pretend you are the editor in chief of a magazine. You have to decide which advertisement goes into your magazine. How would you change the advertisement to make its message more specific? Justify the reason for your change.
 * Activities:**

2. **Small groups**: Develop a skit that accurately identifies the American feeling towards the war in the 1940’s or in the world today. The information about "American feeling" towards the war should come directly from the military advertisements you previously analyzed. Time should be spent reporting out which advertisements you looked at in the previous activity and the larger purpose for the ad (question #3, see above). This should be a collaborative effort. Every person should have an equal role to play and contribute with the brainstorming, writing, prop finding and acting.

3. **Individual Assignment**: Create two advertisements, one for each time period, that address at least one of the following components in an accurate manner. Note: The components were left broad so that you may focus them to your liking. a. The enemy b. The area of the world c. The home front d. The role of women e. Allies f. Family Life g. Industry h. Education i. Science j. The reward for joining We will be creating a bulletin board for our advertisements in the classroom. (My thinking is that students who finish early may help in the layout of the bulletin board. This will serve as a anchor activity for some.)

4. **Individual Assignment:** Reflect on the following questions: Compare and contrast how the message of military advertisements has shifted in the past sixty years. Does the American feeling towards a war connect to the advertisements presented about the war?

1. Measure the effectiveness of advertisements in the world you live in. What are the strategies used to pull an audience in? What advertisements are you drawn to and why? Which strategies did they (advertisers) use? Create a way of showing which advertisements impact your life and which strategies are used to do so. Examples: create a flickr account, scrapbook, PowerPoint, Truth campaign. Be as specific as possible.
 * PUSH YOURSELF: Choose one**

2. Find an advertisement that either sticks out to you or does not stick out to you. Contact the company of the product explaining why you feel their advertisement campaign was effective or was not effective. Offer suggestions to keep for the future and ways for them improve their advertisement campaign. Create your own advertisement campaign for that product. You may contact the company in the form of a letter, podcast, skit, movie, youtube movie, or any other method.


 * Rubric: [[file:Everyday Advertisements Rubric.doc]]**


 * A Reflection on the Project**: [[file:Proficiency Assessment and Demonstrated Knowledge Assignment.doc]]

AREAS TO WORK ON: 1. Finding more anti-war advertisements (Isolationists and Iraq/Afghanistan) 2. Begin working on an imperialism lesson plan related to flickr. 3. Meet with Cathy to discuss this lesson plan and where it would fit...