During the past two mornings, I’ve been teaching my son’s seventh grade class about advertising and helping them to think critically about the products that surround us. I began, as I often do, by testing their brand knowledge. I showed them the first letters of several brand names (The M in McDonald’s, the A in A & W, the K in Kellogg’s, the H in Hershey’s, etc.) and asked whether they could name the brands just from seeing the first letter; (they could). Then I checked to see if they could recognize a brand by just a logo (such as the Target bullseye), and they all could do this, too. Most of them could even identify a brand by just a color (such as GAP navy). Lastly, I asked them to fill in the blanks: Got ______? Just __ __. Give me a ________. Do the ____. In the process, they realized just how much they “knew” from advertising. I then gave them some tools for analyzing ads so that they would not be unwitting victims, but conscious viewers and listeners able to discern, think critically, and make choices based on their own values. I also had the students analyze products and research the product’s effects on themselves, other people, other species, and the environment. Finally, I let them know about some young people who have, like them, learned about some of the problems in the world and have sought to fix them.

By the end of class, they were all making promises to do or change something that would make a difference. I emphasized that the promise should be small – something they would be sure to keep. On Monday, one child will be setting up a donation box at school to gather items for kids at out local homeless shelter. Another is starting a petition against animal testing. One plans to try to buy only fair trade items from now on.

There’s not much that’s as heartening and hopeful as watching a group of young people learn about some of the challenges we face and seek to solve problems. It’s why I’m a humane educator, and why I hope that more and more teachers and activists will become humane educators, too.

Download some sample activities like those mentioned above:
Analyzing Advertising activity
Behind the Scenes activity
True Price activity

Find more humane education activities.

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