Fourth and fifth-grade JAWS classes learn about advertising and media
Through their study of "Advertising and the Media," fourth- and fifth-grade Joining Ability With Subjects (JAWS) students in Kathleen Casper's classes at Browns Point, Fawcett and Skyline elementary schools have learned about two different types of advertising: advertising services and advertising products.
"We started with a unit on advertising campaigns and the kids studied speech strategies and campaign literature designs," Casper said. "We had a guest speaker, Tacoma City Councilmember Ryan Mello, come talk to the class at Skyline Elementary about his experiences running for office."
The students then pretended to run for Mayor of Tacoma and created their own ad campaigns and speeches, which they presented to the class.
"Now we are going into the product advertising part of the unit and the class is working on creating their own ad campaigns for a product that they are inventing," Casper said. "The students have to re-purpose an item and create print ads and radio and television commercials for it. They will present their TV commercials to the class at the end of February. The commercials are usually quite amazing in their scope each year that I've had students do this project."
Third-grade JAWS classes study civilizations, social justice and change
How much have civilizations changed over the centuries? What issues are similar? Which are different? Through a unit called "Civilizations, Social Justice and Change," third-grade JAWS students study ancient and medieval civilizations and compare them to modern civilizations in the U.S. and Asian countries.
"We look at issues such as transportation, utilities, environmental justice, governmental structures and more," Casper said. "The culmination event in this unit will be when the students first have to create their own imaginary countries and deal with issues in each of the categories of concern. Then they will research one area of concern in modern U.S. society and compare it to the events of the past and innovative solutions that are currently being done or could or should be done."
During the next step, students will contact lawmakers and suggest improvements, and this will mean going to city council meetings, visiting legislators or simply writing letters to community leaders, Casper said.
So far, the third-grade classes have had several guest speakers including Jun Zhang, a professor from Hong Kong who was visiting the U.S. who talked about modern civilizations in the Asian countries and the United States. Hugh Spitzer, a renowned Constitutional law and finance law professor from the University of Washington, spoke about how lawmakers starting a civilization must think of the needs of the people to create constitutions and other laws.
Browns Point Elementary School Principal Pat Thomas talked to the class about social justice issues, specifically about Black history and slavery issues in the history of our own civilization. Randy Stearns from the City of Tacoma talk to the classes about utilities and transportation issues within the city and in comparison to other areas of the state and the world.
Institute for a Democratic Future
To learn more about history and politics of the region and country that she can bring back to her JAWS classes, Casper participates in the "Institute for a Democratic Future" (IDF) a couple of weekends each month and by attending workshops and events related to the history and politics.
"I spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Jan. 17 in Olympia in very interesting classes and had a chance to shadow a legislator, meet the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader, listen to community groups lobby the legislators, talk with a Supreme Court justice, and more, Casper said. "We also had speakers talk to our IDF class about current issues such as the redistricting of congressional districts, what life is like as a legislator and the history of politics in Washington, among other topics. These experiences have led me to be even more excited about the possibilities of bringing speakers to my classrooms and to be involved in the community and encourage my students to also be involved."
Hugh Spitzer, a Constitutional law professor at the University of Washington talks to a third-grade JAWS class.