Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson and I'm delighted that you've decided to join me today.

We are going to be starting our non-fiction unit about teenage kicks, that's what it's called.

And it's all about topics of interest to teenagers and young people in the past and now.

And you're gonna get lots of opportunities to read interesting non-fiction and also plan and write your own.

So when you are ready, let's get started.

So the outline of today's lesson is that you can explore attitudes towards teenagers over time and you can write an article title that reflects current day teenagers.

So we're going to start with the key words.

So there are just three key words today, all really useful for unlocking your learning.

The first one is consumer.

And a consumer is someone who buys goods or services.

And a stance.

If you take a stance that is your way of thinking about something, usually it is expressed publicly as an opinion.

And an epidemic.

It's a term drawn from sort of diseases, but it's a particular problem that seriously affects many people at the same time.

Now if you would like a little bit of time to familiarise yourself with the key words, just pause the video and make a few notes and then rejoin me when you are ready.

So there are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

We are going to start by comparing attitudes to teenagers over time.

And then you are going to write article titles about teenagers.

So first I'd like to start with a discussion.

Look at these four pictures here.

All of these people in the pictures are teenagers, but at different times and in very different circumstances.

You can see the one boy on his own.

And then there's a classroom.

And then there's a picture of Swinging London, which is young adults in London during the 1960s, And then we have a young private in the Marine landing in Vietnam.

The average age of soldiers during that conflict during that war was 19.

So they're all teenagers at different times.

And I would like you to discuss how you think life might be different for these four groups of teenagers.

So pause the video and have a discussion, or if you are working by yourself, pause the video and just make a few notes.

So brilliant discussion and we are really gonna build on that now.

I want you to really home in on this question.

What do you associate with being a modern day teenager, in the here and now? So pause the video and have a discussion about that.

Really interesting what you had to say.

Now I want to share some information with you, which is this.

Now the term teenager is actually a really rather new term.

It was first used around the 1940s.

Now I know that's quite a long time ago, but many, many words are hundreds of years old.

And the early references to teenagers usually mention fashion or trending interests, like music maybe.

And this is really important, that the term initially recognised teenagers as consumers, as buyers of things.

So now I want you to discuss this.

Do you think that the role of a teenager centres around trends, fashions, and consumerism? Consumerism is often used to mean not just buying things but buying lots of things.

So pause the video and have that discussion.

Or if you're working by yourself, pause the video and make a few notes.

Fantastic.

And it was really interesting to hear that you had very, very different ideas, but also that you listen to each other so respectfully.

So what we're gonna do now is explore how attitudes about teenagers have changed or remains stable since the term was invented.

Now what we have here are some article titles about teenagers from the last six decades.

I'm going to read them out to you.

And then I want you to think about and discuss which ones do you think are recent and which ones are older.

So these are the article titles, "Beauty on a Budget: The Teenage Makeup Boom," "Climate Anxiety: The Weight of the World on British Teenagers", "Teenage Angst: A New Epidemic?", "The Teenage Bedroom: A Shrine to Pop Culture," "Why Do Teenagers love Rock 'n' Roll?", and "The Pressure to Be Perfect: Teenagers and Body Image." So pause the video and see if you can put them in chronological order.

Off you go.

Well done, great discussion.

It was really interesting to hear how you justified what order you thought it should go in.

You were really homing in on the words used and what that might indicate to you about when these articles were written.

So here they are in chronological order.

So the first one is from Melody Maker, a music magazine, that's 1957.

You might have got that from the reference to rock and roll.

And then "Teenage Angst: A New Epidemic?" that was in The Observer in 1968.

Almost 10 years later.

And then "Beauty on a Budget, The Teenage Makeup Boom," the Daily Mirror, 1975.

I suppose you can see there the idea of teenagers as consumers.

"The Teenage Bedroom: A Shrine to Pop Culture," that's 1987.

And "The Pressure to Be Perfect: Teenagers and Body Image," The Daily Telegraph, 2005.

And then the most up-to-date one, "Climate Anxiety: The Weight of the World on British Teenagers." And that was The Guardian in 2021.

So I'd like you to have another discussion and look at those titles in chronological order and decide on this, discuss this, how has the media portrayal of teenagers changed over the last six decades? If you are working by yourself, you can still do this activity.

You just need to pause the video and make a few notes.

Off you go.

And one last thought about these titles.

We've looked at change, but do you see any similarities? Because you might have noticed things like angst and anxiety.

Well, angst is a short word for anxiety.

So both at the beginning and the end of this time period, they seem to be suggesting that anxiety is part of this period in a person's life.

I don't know, do you agree with that? Let's have a check for understanding.

Is it true to say that there are no similarities between the media portrayal of modern teenagers and the portrayal of teenage life throughout the 20th century? True or false? It's false.

Why is it false? What might you say to support the idea that that statement is false? Have a think.

Well you might say that teenagers of today and 1960 are both depicted as suffering from anxiety or struggling mentally.

The word angst is a short version of anxiety.

Really interesting thinking there.

Well done.

Let's move on.

So now is your opportunity to show your understanding of attitudes to teenagers over time in a little bit more detail.

There are four questions here that I would like you to discuss.

I'm gonna read them to you.

So question one is how is the role of a teenager different from the role of a child or an adult? And number two is how has the role of a teenager changed over time? And number three is what issues or topics do you think concerned teenagers decades ago compared to now? And I think you're gonna like this one.

Teenagers are the most important group within society.

To what extent do you agree? So pause the video while you have that discussion.

Or as I've said before, if you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes in response to those questions.

Off you go.

Welcome back.

What a great discussion.

Now what I would like to do is share some ideas that you may have mentioned.

You may have said different things and that's absolutely fine.

I just think it's really useful to share ideas so that you can compare yours with these.

So you might have said that a teenager has more responsibility than a child but not as much experience as an adult, and that makes it a unique role.

And you might have said that decades ago, teenagers did not have to battle with the issues of the online world.

And whereas decades ago, teenagers may have been forced to work at a young age, there is now more emphasis on a teenager's education.

And interesting this one.

Teenagers are arguably the most important group in shaping trends, that leaders and businesses need to appeal to teenagers.

You are the trend shapers and you are the future.

Really interesting thinking.

Now, if you want to add anything to your ideas, please do that now.

And then when you're ready, we will move on to the second half of the lesson.

So you've used the titles of articles really effectively to explore attitudes to teenagers over time.

And now you're going to have a go at writing article titles.

So now we are going to compare article titles and think about their effectiveness.

So on the left, I think there's an engaging title, "Climate Anxiety: The Weight of the World on British Teenagers." That's the most recent one that we looked at from 2021.

And then we have two others on the right.

Climate change: the biggest burden for our teens.

And number two, why are our teens so upset about global warming? And I think those two are less engaging than the one on the left.

So what I would like you to do is to discuss the differences between them.

Pause the video while you have that discussion or while you just make a few notes.

Off you go.

Now I'm sure you've been told before that it's really, really important that writers craft titles to be engaging.

It's their first opportunity to attract the reader's attention.

And they have to be drawn into the article in order to continue reading it.

So let's look again at this article title and how this initial phrase, climate anxiety builds intrigue.

It presents a problem.

We want to know what that anxiety is.

And then there's colon to show this, to clarify, that there is going to be further ideas to follow.

And then the second part of the sentence, the weight of the world on British teenagers, that reveals more about the article topic and it reveals more about the stance.

And all those things add up to make that article title more engaging.

Now it is also engaging because of the word play it uses.

The weight of the world is an idiom used to convey that someone has a huge responsibility.

And here it is used to convey that the huge responsibility placed on teenagers is in fact literally the world which is suffering due to climate change.

So it is something metaphorical an idiom that actually relates to a real life situation, the world.

And idioms, particularly if you play with them and turn them around a bit, can help your article title be more memorable, vivid or amusing.

Now we're going to get creative and think about our own article titles.

So discuss these two things.

What issues, topics are at the forefront of teenage culture right now? You're the experts on this, so let your imaginations go wild.

What are you preoccupied by right now? And then I want you to think about how does the media portray these issues? You might think that the media consistently gets it wrong, or you might think that some media are really, really good at portraying it, or you might think that they've all got the right ideas.

But I would really like there to be a range of thinking about this.

How does the media portray these issues that you are concerned with? So please pause the video while you have that discussion or pause the video and make a few notes.

Off you go.

So great discussion.

So many things to think about.

And your opinions about the media and how things are portrayed are fascinating to hear.

So let me share some ideas with you that you can use to compare your ideas with.

You don't have to agree with them.

You don't have to contradict them.

They are there for you to kind of bounce your ideas off.

So Laura said that the rise of influencing is very topical at the moment.

And Sofia said that the media tends to portray the worrisome nature of our social media use.

You may have had similar ideas.

So now I want you to think about and talk about this.

How could you craft an article title that conveys the perspective that teenagers use of social media is worrying? Remember the format.

The phrase to build intrigue, then a colon, and then a statement that begins to explain the topic or the stance of the article.

And if it's appropriate, use some word play.

Maybe find an idiom that works.

So pause the video and think about crafting that article title.

So here's a couple I'd like to share with you.

Teen idols: young sensations have more influence than you think.

Teens behind screens: internet idols are raising our next generation.

I wonder if yours were similar.

I'm also really interested to know what do you think of those two examples? Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these is the most engaging article title? Is it teenagers are too obsessed with social media, you no longer have the biggest influence over your kids, teens behind screens: internet idols are raising our next generation.

Which one would you pick? That's right.

That's the one that intrigues with a phrase and then gives you further information.

Let's move on.

So now it's time to put what you've learned into practise.

Number one, I want you to think about a topic or an issue surrounding teenage life at the moment.

I know you've got tonnes of ideas.

And then I want you to consider your own stance on this topic or the stance you feel the media might take.

And then I would like you to craft a magazine article title that builds intrigue and introduces your reader to the topic and stance of the article.

You're going to need to pause the video while you do that.

So gather up all your thoughts and ideas and notes.

Pause the video and off you go.

So welcome back.

Let me share Jacob's with you.

This is what his article title was.

It was about self-esteem in teenagers.

Flawless filter, colon, how social media is fueling teenagers' perfectionism.

And Jacob has annotated it to show how he crafted it to be engaging.

Flawless filter, the alliterative phrase referencing current trends that's there to build intrigue and alliteration is quite catchy as well.

And then there's the colon, followed by an explanation of the article topic and stance.

So what I'd like you to do now is to annotate the parts of your article title that make it engaging.

Pause the video while you do that and then please rejoin me for the end of the lesson.

So before we say goodbye, I would like to summarise what you have been learning today.

You have been learning that the role of the teenager was first established around the 1940s.

And the term, the term teenager, has gradually evolved over time.

And you've also been learning that the media can give us insight into issues and topics concerning teenagers across different decades.

And that article titles give us a snapshot of an issue, an insight into the stance of a writer.

And you've also been learning and you have been practising that article titles should be crafted in an engaging way to hook the reader.

So once again, thank you for coming to the lesson.

It's been a real pleasure to introduce this new unit to you.

I hope you enjoy the lesson.

I really look forward to seeing you again in another lesson about non-fiction teenage kicks.

Have a great rest of the day and bye for now.