Quite often in the teaching and learning process, we become focussed on the end result. I’m not a hug fan of assessment that simply “tests” a student’s ability to retain knowledge and thankfully, we are moving away from that towards providing students with more authentic opportunities to apply what they know. Surely, that is the real purpose of C21 learning?
Year 9 and 10 provide great opportunities to step away from “end of unit tests” and review students’ learning in a range of contexts.
While English students still need to know who to write a visual text essay, I’ve added a group based assignment that allows junior students to apply their knowledge of a visual text (film!) at the end of the unit of work. The finished product then becomes a revision resource containing engaging, multi-media material they can apply to essay writing.
It is fascinating to observe how the group dynamics unfold. With some classes, I’m needed more for communication support than technical help! It’s also a great task for developing resilience – one of me, many of you I’m fond of saying! Who else can you ask for help? Have you tried trouble shooting via the online prompts????!!!!
We used PowerPoint online and the Office Mix add in. I allowed the students to work in groups of 3-4 and provided a range of activities to include in their Power Point. These were designed to cater for a range of learning styles. There was an extension activity as well for those requring extra challenges. In 2016, a class of higher ability learners completed this task for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and last year, a mixed ability class worked together to complete presentations for Shane Acker’s fantastic film, 9.
Students can collaborate on their presentation and work on their slide at home. The steps to creating a collaborative PowerPoint are as follows:
- Choose the PowerPoint icon in the Microsoft splash (to access online version)
- Get one member to set up a basic presentation adding title pages and a presentation title so everyone is clear who is doing what
- Share with other groups members using the share function (make sure to assign edit rights)
- To open students either click the link sent to them in an email OR select share with me in their class notebook
- They can use the desktop version of PPT if they wish and changes made will still save into the online version
I allowed three class lessons and homework time to complete. Some of the slides required audio recordings so they had to leave the classroom and find a quiet space. Their instructions were to create a presentation that included:
- Character trait analysis – matching characters to proverbs and explaining why a proverb applied to a character (more able students)
- Setting analysis – sketch the setting and label key locations (great for visual learners)
- Film techniques – label and explain techniques used via a still shot/screen grab (analytical)
- SEXY para – write a SEXY Para persuading me WHY Year 9 students should watch the film (writers)
- *extension – explain why the film would fit the requirements of a coming of age film. Draw a Venn Diagram connecting 9 to other coming of age text(s) you have read or watched. Include links to those other texts on the page and an audio recording of your explanation.
- Include a bibliography acknowledging third party sources
OfficeMix will soon be included as a feature in PowerPoint so it won’t need to be downloaded as an add on. As such the online repository for office mixes is migrating to Office Stream by May 1 this year. If you have a gallery of several mixes online, it would pay to ensure you migrate them over to Stream.
Here are links to three of 9TD’s presentations from last year…
9 Character, Theme, Technique Analysis
The film trailer for 9. It works on so many levels – environmental and historical links, philosophical questions re use of technology, rife with symbolism. Can’t recommend it enough for Year 9:
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