Propaganda Projects: Flyer/Personal Response Essay

TASK #3 (Propaganda Flier or Flyer/Poster): Alone or with your partner (you may work alone or with a partner), brainstorm an idea for your own graphic "flier" or "poster" advertising or using propaganda to appeal to a viewing audience. If these come out good, we'll hang them around the school.

How to do this:

• identify a current, modern-day issue that you feel passionate about

• What images come to your mind when you think of this issue? (jot these down as notes)

• What words or phrases do you think of? Write these down too.

• Can you connect a song, poem, person, celebrity, symbol, or popular culture item to the issue?

• What colors, shapes, lines, graphic elements might be connected to this issue? 

• Decide what will be your poster/ad/flier's dominant and subdominant images?

Then: Create and design! Use one of our word or photography processor programs to create your flier. Fliers generally don't have much text. Use your brainstorming in a creative way to send a message to the world (or our school at least...)

• Tips on How to Design an Awesome Flyer (article)
• How to create a flyer in Microsoft Word (video tutorial)

TASK #4: Personal response essay. Using the material and sources we have examined during this unit as sources (and Hannah Arendt's & Noam Chomsky's philosophy--which you are free to agree or disagree with), Respond in a personal reflective essay. Attribute your sources within your essay. Write about your reaction and/or understanding of some of these topics. Pick a thesis and write your reaction. For example: you might comment/reflect on propaganda on a particular news channel, or apply Chomsky's theories to school propaganda, or you may examine how a favorite song or band supports Chomsky or Arendt's theories. Your creative essay will be due at the end of next week (Thursday, March 30).

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete the viewing from last class or this class, please do so. The marking period ends Friday. Please make sure you have completed all work for this marking period. Work on the essay reflection as well, since the draft will be due by end of class Thursday.