Vygotsky TIPR

In the class that I'm observing in the teacher spent most of the lesson on media's influence on body image as the more knowledgeable other but at one point she admitted that another person would know better than her and showed a video of a model talking about body image. The lesson played into Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory very well because it addressed specifically how our culture impacts the students' personal development and beliefs on their body image. On the other hand the lesson addressed how certain social norms can be unlearned if enough social support can be built for the topic. Hand in  hand with applying the Sociocultural Theory the teacher also used cultural tools that the students could relate to like internet ads from popular social media sites, Tweets from celebrities, and popular music videos that address body image. The teacher discovered the students ZPDs and tapped into their existing funds of knowledge through a discussion at the beginning of class on their beliefs of body image and the media and the messages they think the media is trying to send them. She then used scaffolding by providing them with definitions and context that would help them analyze media messages. She then slowly removed those scaffolds first by having the class analyze an ad together, then in groups, then individually.

The students' needs in regards to body image were the ability to delineate between the message advertiser's wanted to send with the model and messages they were sending with the product. They also needed help setting goals for personal body image development. The teacher's goal for the lesson was for students to see past the marketing ploys and notice the true messages that advertiser's are trying to send them about not being good enough. She also wanted to equip students with the tools they would need to help their loved ones that are struggling with their body image and self worth. The teacher could have given the students more practice addressing their own body image and thinking about ways to improve their feelings about themselves and they could have probably used more practice discussion methods to support their loved ones that are struggling.

When I teach my mini lesson I want to be sure to give the students ample opportunity to practice the concepts I teach them. The information itself is very valuable but from what I observed most of the students learned best when they actually performed tasks that applied to the information. Knowing this about them I will plan application activities for my mini lessons to help them gain that experience. I also noticed how well the students responded to the cultural tools the teacher used in the lesson so I will be sure to gather some relevant cultural material that will support my lesson and the concepts I'm teaching.  

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