eSCAping Type 1

Like most pre-pandemic high school teachers, I had an admittedly hard time managing cell phones in my classroom. And now students are supposed to sit in front of a computer screen all day and learn?

Granted, most of my assignments were done through Google Classroom anyway, but how do you get teens to focus every single day when they have the WORLD at their fingertips?

(Quick shout out to elementary teachers – I don’t know how you are all pulling off distance-learning. You guys are AMAZING.)

Currently, I’ll admit to spending way too much time on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, and Netflix. You can’t really blame high schoolers for having a similar addiction.

So, here are three lessons English teachers can do that foster, rather than fight, these technological distractions.

I realize the school year is almost done, but these could be fun closing “review” assignments. Or you could hold onto them to use at the beginning of next year. For the record, I was planning on writing this post anyway since these are all things I did in my classroom; it just happened to work that these lessons can be done remotely as well…

Literary Devices in Pop Culture

Similes, metaphors, hyperboles, etc. are used countless times in all sorts of books. But do you know where else you can find them?

Songs and movies and pop culture in general! 

Every year, one of my first assignments was to have students find “literary” devices outside of literature, in one of my sneak attempts at showing the real world importance of ELA. And, to prepare them to do so, we’d spend a day watching (and honestly, usually singing along) to YouTube videos like this one: Literary Devices in Pop Culture

Spend some time browsing YouTube for a billion examples, then have students record their own findings as they do things they’d be doing anyway, like listening to music or watching Netflix.

Theme in Short Films

One of the most important literary elements is theme… often confused with subject or plot. But it’s important to know the difference because while the plot makes books (and movies) exciting, the theme is what makes them relatable (& therefore more enjoyable). 

For example, I don’t know anyone who experienced the 1920s by getting illegally, insanely rich and then risked their life for an ex-lover who mistakenly killed their spouse’s side piece. But I do know people who have a somewhat unrealistic view of their past, so much so that they’ll do anything to repeat it.

Similarly, I doubt you murdered anyone after your plane crashed on a deserted island when you were young, but I bet you’ve dealt with conformity, peer pressure, and the idea of hiding your true identity to fit in.

Since authors never explicitly say what their theme is, a lot of my students struggled with identifying one. So every year, we’d spend a couple of days watching Pixar Shorts on YouTube in order to practice this.

For example: 

• Film: “Partly Cloudy” 
• Plot: This film tells the story of a stork, Peck, assigned the challenging task of transporting dangerous baby animals created by Gus, a cloud. When a Baby Shark seemingly puts Peck over the edge, he flies away, leaving lonely Gus to cry. However, Peck returns wearing protective football gear – ready for safer deliveries and a worthwhile friendship.
• Subject: friendship, loyalty, acceptance
• Theme: Friendship is worth enduring hardships and challenges; 

Students can find numerous Short Films on YouTube, Netflix, and Disney+ to try this themselves!

Rhetorical Devices in Commercials

Whenever you’re trying to persuade someone of something, you should use ethos, pathos, and logos.  These rhetorical devices are essential pieces to any good research paper. But how can I convince my students of this? What will show them how important these are, and make them want to use these tools in writing?

Commercials.

Society is lured into doing and buying stuff through advertisements everywhere they look, and successful ads use rhetorical strategies.

I always planned this lesson around prime commercial viewing time – the SuperBowl. But before sending students off to do this on their own, we’d spend a day in class watching commercials through YouTube, and identifying the purpose & rhetorical strategies in each.

My favorite (because the examples are so prominent, and it always evokes student reaction) is that timeless SPCA commercial that tries to get you to donate or adopt. It uses ethos by including Sarah McLoughlin, logos through the facts and statistics they show throughout, and obvious pathos with the heartbreaking animal pictures paired with a sad song.

We also discuss the importance of the intended audience, since that greatly affects the type of strategies used. And we watch some political ads, which ALWAYS include ethos, logos, and pathos. 

Now, because of the 2020 Presidential election, and the fact that ads play before every YouTube video, this should be an easy assignment to recreate. 

 

And there you go! Three high school ELA lessons that can be done at any time, in any place. 🙂