I’m not a sports fan. I almost never care who wins the Super Bowl. I’ll admit this year I rooted for the Pats, but that’s mostly because the older I get, the more I appreciate Tom Brady’s longevity.
But regardless, when the Super Bowl comes, I want to see the ads. This year my favorite pre-game ad came from Jeep. In “More Than Just Words,” Jeep presents the Star Spangled Banner in images that touched me more deeply than you’d think possible in a two-minute ad. Take a look.
This seems like a perfect opportunity to help students think about the varied ways ideas can be presented, and the ways format can change impact. Simply listening to the words–or even the melody–of the national anthem has one kind of effect. Images have another.
Consider an assignment in which students select images to represent another set of lyrics, perhaps a song, a poem, or the national anthem from another country. They could think about both the content they need to portray and the emotions they want to invoke. It’s an opportunity for students to exercise their creativity and also to become more aware of the ways their emotions can be manipulated through media. These days, that’s a pretty important lesson.
creativiteach 