Social Media & Pop Culture Project - student investigation of cultural influence

In this interactive unit, students will work participate in a two-week (depending on class length) investigation where they will evaluate the influence of social media, fashion, and other cultural norms within their life. First, students will spend about two days in their own investigation, where they will evaluate their own habits: phones, social media, ear buds, fashion, politics & then they will observe their surrounding world to see the habits of those people surrounding them. Next, they will participate in a Nearpod, which is an interactive Power Point. In the Nearpod, students will take polls, write comments, learn statistics, and then at the end, they will be able to see their class results. After they finish this investigation, students will then read small passages from non-fiction texts about how social media has influenced our society. Students will examine the implications of pop culture within our society - how it has changed, why we have it, and how we can develop a healthy relationship with pop culture. The last two pieces involve analysis, structured toward the AP Language and Composition course, but can be used for any class. The first piece is a guided rhetorical analysis essay that includes a brainstorming sheet to help students navigate the text. The text is centered around the impact pictures have on us as people. Finally, students will work with an argumentative essay, which is fully guided for student thinking, where students will take a stance on the claim that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society. This full unit pairs well with my Unit 5 Bundle on Pop Culture.