North Harford Middle School

Home of the Hawks

Congratulations!  You are the living the lifestyle you've always dreamed of!  You are a member of the most popular rock band in the United States . . . and you're only 13 years old!  You were discovered at an early age by your music teacher who is married to a music agent.  You are so talented with the guitar that you were asked to be in the band.  You and your band have been asked to play at the MTV Music Awards.  At one of the practices before the show, your drummer tells you he's been calling you from behind and you didn't even hear him!  You've also noticed that you have a ringing in your left ear that will not go away!  You haven't told anybody about this because it's really not that big of a deal.  Your hearing is fine . . . isn't it?

You get so scared that you go to get your hearing tested and find out you really do have a permanent hearing loss!  You decide to find out more about how this happened to you.

is to research the effects of noise on the hearing of teenagers and develop a commercial that will be presented to the school during the Friday morning T.V. announcements.  Your job is to persuade teenagers to "turn it down" for their health.

You will be using resources from the World Wide Web as well as the school nurse.

1.  First, form a production team with 3-4 people.  Your teacher may assign you to a team.  Each person will be responsible for a speaking part in the commercial. 

2. Next, research the following topics and take notes on paper or word processor as you go:

Ø   What is hearing loss?

Ø   Hearing impairments

Ø   Prevalence and incidence of hearing loss in teenagers

Ø   Teenagers and hearing loss

Ø   The effects of noise on hearing.  Read the following links to determine the facts you want to include in your public service announcement:  Children and noise, Noise is difficult to define,How loud is too loud?, The music industry and hearing loss,hearing protection.

Ø    Take the self-test

3. You are now ready to synthesize!  Sort through your notes and decide, as a team, what is most important for you to have in your commercial.

4. Decide how you are going to make your commercial.  Ask yourselves these questions:  Who is my audience?  What will the characters in the commercial be doing?  What is the message we want to send?  How will we make it interesting or attention-getting?  You must have an interesting attention-getter.  Need ideas, go back through the blue links you did your research from.

BONUS IDEA:  Make an appointment with the school nurse to learn what happens on the other side of a hearing screening.

Your project will be evaluated in four areas.  One will be the way in which you work with your group.  Each person must have a speaking part in the commercial.  Next, you will be graded on the information you present.  You will also be graded on your efforts to have an attention getter. 

Congratulations!  You have just learned how to do many tasks!  You have learned how to research information on the World Wide Web.  You have also learned more about protecting your hearing and how teenagers are also susceptible to hearing loss.  You have accomplished sending an important message to a large audience.  I encourage you to spread the word and help others.  When you hear your friend's loud headphones, don't be afraid to say, "TURN IT DOWN!"