Using Public Service Announcements to Connect Early US History to Modern History

We had one week of school left before spring break. We had just completed an 8-week unit on the Road to Independence, which included the events leading up to the American Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, and the War itself. Our next unit would focus on creating the Constitution, the Constitution itself, and the Bill of Rights. I was not eager to jump into it knowing spring break would erase any learning we started. We needed something engaging yet worthwhile to fill that week. Our one-week window seemed like a great opportunity to make some connections from early U.S. History to the modern world.

image from U.S. History Images website

One essential question for the Road to Independence unit was, When is it necessary for citizens to rebel against their government? This question is applicable to many revolutions from history, including the Arab Spring rebellions. Living in the Middle East, many student know something about the Arab Spring movement, they or their family come from one of the countries, or they (at least) have heard of the countries involved.

My teaching partner and I brainstormed several possibilities for what we could do: news casts, Venn diagrams, informational essay, etc. Then we pushed pause and thought about what we really wanted students to understand by the end of the mini-unit, a principle of government found in The Declaration of Independence: When governments start taking away citizens' rights and freedoms, citizens can take action to try to change or get rid of the government. 

Suddenly, it dawned on us: a Public Service Announcement  (PSA) alerting the public to the dangers of tyranny and specific (nonviolent) actions that citizens can do to act against them. Students could use examples from both U. S. History (1763-1775) and one of the Arab Spring countries (Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, or Syria in 2010-11) to support their ideas. Here's how the mini-unit played out:

• Day 1: Build background knowledge about Arab Spring countries' dictatorship/ signs of tyranny. Students watched The Arab Awakening: Absolute Power (Al Jazeera English service, July 27, 2011, YouTube) and took notes in the center column of a 3-column note sheet:

 

• Day 2: Research one of the Arab Spring countries to discover why citizens rebelled and how they took action. Because we had such a tight time frame, and because PSAs don't need a huge amount of information because they are so short, we provided students a list of about 3 resources (one of them Wikipedia) to use for their research. These research notes were captured in the left column of the notes sheet.
• Day 3: Connect to U. S. History, understand the genre of PSAs, and work on PSA outline. Students worked with partners to brainstorm the U.S. History connections to the characteristics of a dictator, and then we shared out together (for example, filling the streets with soldiers to keep citizens controlled, like the British did after the Proclamation of 1763 and during the Intolerable Acts in Boston). They also reminded themselves of the actions the colonists took to try to get rid of the tyranny (boycott, petition, protest) and specific examples for each. Next, I showed several PSAs from the Ad Council and we analyzed the parts of a Public Service Announcement. This gave them a vision of what their product would look like. Finally, they used an outline template modified from the sample on the ReadWriteThink lesson, MyTube: Changing the World with Video Public Service Announcements. They would use the outline to voice over their visual when making their PSA movie. The outline my students used looked like this:

•  Day 4: Prepare the visual presentation. Each box on the outline translates into one slide on the visual presentation (4 boxes = 4 slides). We used Google presentations because then we teachers could be shared on it and nothing gets lost. We emphasized using Creative Commons and images labeled for reuse when selecting images for their slides. I reminded them how to cite images correctly. And then I let them go.
• Day 5: Make the PSA movie. Our technology integrator showed us how to turn a Google Presentation into a QuickTime movie with sound. Students scattered all around the hallways and courtyard to find a quiet place to voice over their slideshow. Using headphones with microphones allowed their sound to be much clearer than just using the computer's external mic. Once their 1:30-3:00 movie was done, they saved it into a shared Google folder so I could access it. 
• Assessment: Once again, ReadWriteThink's PSA lesson came in handy. I modified their PSA rubric to fit our project:
  Surprisingly, students found the PSA project confusing. They wanted models (of this exact project, not PSAs in general), which we didn't have because it was a new idea. I was sure the project was straightforward and clear. They have written many essays this year, and this was just another form of an argument essay with a thesis (Watch out for the danger signs of tyranny and act if you see them), reasons (characteristics of dictatorship and nonviolent citizen actions), and examples to support (Arab Spring and U. S. History). 
  
  
  As I graded the projects, I noticed that about a third of the students took this and ran with it, about a third got the general idea, but missed out on some of the components, and about a third make a PowerPoint presentation complete with a title slide and an introduction, "Hi, I'm ____, and I'm going to tell you about my Arab Spring project", completely missing the concept.
  
  
  I like this project, and I think it was do-able in the time frame we had. I like the way it took U.S. History and transferred the big ideas into a more general and modern context. I like that it connected to our region and directly to some students' lives. 
  
  
  There are some things I will want to change (always). I will show them a model of this exact project (I have a few good ones now). I will be clearer with the goal of the project and help them see how it's just another argument essay. Transferring those essay skills to different genres is essential. And I will (maybe) give it another day or two. Still, despite its rough patches, I think this one is a keeper.