Textual Analysis of Secondary Teachers Magazine

Analysis of the Magazine Secondary Teachers

The magazine I am going to be analyzing is the “Secondary Teachers” magazine. The actual cover stretches from the front page to the back page, which is unusual for a front cover of a magazine.
Denotation
The cover stretches right across to give the impression of a school classroom environment of how the pupils are sat, and how they learn. This is all linked to the question on the cover “Do boys and girls learn differently?” The cover needed to link to the question, so you can see the comparisons going on.

The boy and girl are sat differently, this is to point out one of the differences. In this case the school boy is sat with his arm stretched out in the air, eager to answer a question. It is strange how the arm of the boy covers part of the title; this could mean that the magazine is well known within the education world. The girl sat next to him on the same table, ready to write looks amused at the school boy. This is comparing the two school pupils, on how boys act in the classroom and how girls act in the classroom.

The text is arranged around the picture rather on top of the picture. The reason the text is arranged in this fashion is so the picture is not covered with writing, but the readers eye is drawn in on the picture. On the actual cover, the main text which catches the readers eye is the question “Do boys and Girls learn differently?” On the front page, of the boy it is in Blue, whereas, on the back cover of the picture of the girl it is in Pink. This is to empathize what the main issue is being tackled within the magazine, the picture of the boy and girl represents this question. The question “Do boys and girls learn differently?" is however, on the left hand side of the page, and still does not take the eye off the picture. All the text is around the actual picture. The plugs are at the top, again the text is colored which allows the reader to know what the magazine is going to contain.
There is a picture of a voting pad, which is being invented at the moment, and this is the only picture a part from the big picture of the school boy and girl.
Connotation
The connotation of the magazine is trying to communicate with the reader, that in the classroom the students do learn differently. The picture is trying to relate to the question “Do Boys and Girls learn differently?” The picture shows the main differences between the two school students in the picture. Firstly, there is a boy and a girl, which relates to the question and also gender. It is trying to communicate to the reader that boys and girls do learn differently. The boy is being used to communicate that boys are more used to being active rather than sitting still and writing, and the girl is being used to communicate that girls can sit still and write. That there is the difference how boys and girls learn, and their is a difference in the attention span boys and girls have.
The color Maroon is used, because the students stand out of the background and do not blend in, as we want to be able to see the students and how they are sitting, and what there emotions are. The actors have been used because in society today, particularly in school, there is a mixed cultural society, so on the magazine it will look good if there is a mixed cultural boy, this represents how society is in the real world, it does not matter what color you are or gender, so long as you are working hard that is the main point. But it is also trying to show that mixed cultural children and English children can work together in the classroom. The young girl has been used because she looks young and hard working.
The layout of the magazine is very unusual. The layout is trying to portray a classroom situation, and what it is like in a classroom. Also it is trying to show the difference between genders in the classroom, such as the concentration levels. The boy is sat and looks like he isn’t concentrating, whereas, the girl looks focused, this side by side image shows the comparison between the genders in the classroom. The young boy on the front looks like he is hyperactive and ready to learn, but it does portray that his concentration level is low, whereas, the young girl is looking across to him, as if she is sat near him in the classroom she looks bemused by him, and the actions of waving his hand in the air, as if trying t o get the attention of the reader.

The Language-The visual presentation in this case is the classroom situation in which it seems a table with two school students, each different genders, one representing the boys and the other the girls, this is the only the picture. The desk is littered with books and pens to make the scene look more authentic. There is no other pictures, accept a small picture which illustrates one of the stories in the magazine. The font style is very plain, it is all the same font style throughout. What does differ though is the color and the size. For example the main headline which is being looked into more is the question which is “Do boys and girls learn differently?” The main headline is in the color Blue for the boys and Pink for the girls. All the other text is colored in Black, Red, Maroon or Pink, this is so they can be told that they are different stories from the headline. All the text is positioned around the main picture which stretches from the front page to the back page, but the text on the front is exactly the same as the text on the back, it seems like there are two front covers.

Institution-The magazine is produced for teachers at Secondary schools, the magazines contain articles which interest teachers, issues such as; if boys and girls learn differently. This allows the teachers to gain more knowledge on their students and how their minds work. This particular magazine gives professional advice from doctors, and how to spot dyslexia before it is too late. It also gives generalized information on issues which are going on in the world of education.

Ideology-The magazine is going to be based on the education world, and the values of the magazine such as how teachers can make the education at their school better.

Audience- The main audience of this magazine is aimed for is the world of Secondary School education, so in this case the teachers in Secondary Schools.

Representation-The “Secondary Teachers” magazine is aimed at the teachers at Secondary schools, so the pictures needed to represent the world of secondary school education. The main picture needed to look like a classroom, to give a clue to what the article is going to be about, a boy and girl needed to be in the picture as it was comparing the two different genders. The question asked needed to be related to the actual image.