Reflection Point 2.6

I enjoyed reading about David's work he and his students did to take up issues of classism and inequity.  In my classroom I hear a lot of kids talk about what is "cool" and what isn't.  This activity using The Hockey Story and Nike is a fantastic way to get kids motivated to learn and explore.  I looked around my classroom today and noticed how many children were wearing Nike.  I can see my kids relating to a conversation and additional activities on this.  

In addition to what David already did with his students I think it would be great to look at another popular company, such as Adidas or New Balance.  The students could do the same type of research on this company (check on child labor, mistreatment of factory workers, etc...)  One of the fifth grade standards is for students to complete a research project.  This would be a great way to complete this requirement.  

This topic leads to integration of a lot of school subjects.  The children could then take the information they learned and compare and contrast it in a Venn Diagram. Math skills could be integrated into this lesson by having the students graph results about the amount of students that wear the different brands at school. Social Studies could be integrated by students doing research on the history of child labor.  

Students could also do research in a public place, such as the mall.  The children could take a survey of how many people they saw wearing each of the popular brands.  While doing this, the children could also record the age group wearing each of the brands.  Again, this could be integrated into a graphing activity.  The children could also use this data in a research paper.  

The children could have looked through magazines and newspapers to see what these ads were telling consumers.  The students could analyze the ads just as they analyzed the outfits worn by the two teams' in The Hockey Story.  The ads could be cut out and put into a book, where the children reflect on each of the ads.  

This is a wonderful way to critically examine literature while integrating many subjects into a topic.   The students will be able to take ownership of the material and look at media and consumer products in a different way.