My first session from the Virtual Digital Conference was a session about using commercials and Public Service Announcements in the classroom to teach students the three modes of writing. Eric Hammerstrom led the session "Video: An Important But Forgotten Medium." Although the recording did not have the best audio quality, and was difficult to follow at certain points, I gained several "take aways" from his session. Eric discussed how commercials and PSAs have the power to combine three modes of writing: narrative, informational, and argument in a short snippet of time. They are great teaching tools to show students that will spark discussions about the power of word choice. Creating a commercial is a difficult task as Eric discusses how authors of commercials have two seconds to capture the audience’s attention and eight seconds to maintain the audience's attention. If words, images, audio, and the message are not interesting, the audience will simply change the channel. Mr. Hammerstrom displayed a slide showcasing The Rhetorical Triangle, and how it is important to teach students the three points on the triangle. The first point is the author. In this case, students are the author and have creative freedom to design the commercial. The second point is the audience. Students need to be aware of who their audience is, and have the knowledge about their audience, the third point on The Rhetorical Triangle, to write a commercial that will appeal to the specific audience.
Learning about making commercials and Public Service Announcements was interesting and left me reflecting on how I could actually use videography in my classroom. I thought about having students make commercials advertising books that they have read and enjoyed. Using a video to advertise or recommend books to peers would be a very engaging activity. Eric stressed in his session that before a quality commercial can be shot, the storyboard and script writing of the commercial need to be done. Students would need to focus on quality writing before getting to the fun of creating the actual video. Currently, my students are finishing up National Park travel brochures that they created as an activity to supplement the anthology story we read about Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. I could incorporate a video element to this project. Possibly having students work collaboratively to create a Public Service Announcement stressing the importance of preserving and protecting National Parks. The possibilities are endless…having the time and equipment is another story.
