TERM 1: OUR VOICES & OUR STORIES (through Film)
In 2023, the English Department redesigned our NCEA Level 1 English curriculum to align with the Curriculum Refresh (Te Mataiaho). This was documented in my blog and it was enjoyable learning experience. You can see how the journey through our redesign of our English curriculum went here:
The kaupapa behind our new curriculum is 'Our Stories, Our Histories and Our Voices'. This term for our NCEA Level 1 English students, the focus is 'Our Stories and Our Histories (through Film).' We have spent the first 7 weeks watching, unpacking and digging deeper into our primary text - James Napier's 'The Dark Horse.' Typically we spent 2 - 3 weeks watching the film and the teaching and learning is centered around the assessment. With the new curriculum refresh, we have decided to take the time to explore the 'story' behind the text and 'history' beyond the text.
Te Mataiaho calls for teachers and students to treasure these stories and texts as taonga (treasure) and to engage with it in level where the student's can really embrace and understand the context around the story and the purpose behind the creator's choices that they have made in the crafting of the text. In this post I will outline what I have done with my Level 1 students with 'Our Stories and Our Histories (through Film)' for Term 1.
UNDERSTANDING + UNPACKING FILM ASPECTS
We spent 2 weeks going through our first two viewings of the film. We had a few class discussions around characterization within the film - mainly looking at who are the characters and what are traits are made obvious in the film. From here we went through different film aspects (techniques) analyzing the techniques and understanding how it works and why it is used.
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Film Technique Activity for NCEA L1 English |
This was set up as a Do Now activity at the beginning of the lesson and we spent time talking about the film aspect, to see what they know and then exploring it more by asking them how does this film technique influence or deepen their understanding of the film and character. We were able to cover and focus on 7 film techniques altogether. From here we spent time doing close analysis on a few scenes and talking about the film techniques that were used, with many of the students identifying the techniques that we discussed. The student's were able to apply what we discussed in the close viewing analysis that we did as a whole class. Taking the time to go through the film aspects, how they work together and what meaning they create - has been an enjoyable part of our new curriculum. We are making time to go through each one thoroughly and to talk about what meaning they create and how they influence how we see the film, characters and understand the director's purpose.
BEYOND THE TEXT: DIGGING DEEPER
Looking beyond the text has been the latest venture in 'Our Stories and Our Histories (through Film).' As a class we spoke about the big issues, messages and themes that we have discovered or uncovered from the text. The two main ideas, issues and themes that the students found from 'The Dark Horse' were gang culture in Aotearoa and the impact it has on youth particularly Maori and Pacific Island youth. They also felt that mental illness and how it is viewed and treated in Aotearoa as whole and also within the Maori community, as another significant theme and issue.
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Articles for Level 1 English |
After we discussed the issues, we spoke about the issues are reflected in our community. There was gems where the students were talking about mental illness and how the current government are proposing to make people with mental illness work without benefits. This became a springboard for the students to start seeing how vulnerable people and communities can be marginalized in society. From here I shared two articles for the students to choose from to read. The articles are inspired from the two issues/themes that they identified from the film. The articles that I chose were -
Story: Gangs (Te Ara) and
Experience of mental illness (Te Ara) - I got the students to choose ONE article to read and then they had to write a statement on what the main issue or idea is from the article. This is the base for their persuasive writing.
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Persuasive Writing outline |
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Persuasive Writing task |
The students are currently writing their persuasive writing (500 words). The purpose behind this part of the program is to get the students to look at the context surrounding the film as an 'aspect' - not just the film techniques. Even more so, this encourages the students to think about this text - any text - but especially local texts like 'The Dark Horse' are a mirror to 'our stories' and 'our histories'. In preparation for our Term 1 assessment - 91925 - the students will be working on a final activity where they will pull all of the learning from the last 7 weeks and they will do their own:
- Close Viewing Activity
- Character Study
- Complete their Persuasive Writing
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The Dark Horse Prac Close Viewing Final |
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The Dark Horse Character Study |
The learning from Week 1 - 7 will act as a strong foundation when they launch into the new assessment 91925 in Week 8. Understanding the key film aspects, character analysis and understanding the context around the text as a key aspect - are all key elements that the students should take into the assessment when they start. I look forward to documenting the second leg of our Term 1 journey through 'Our Stories and Our Histories (through Film)'.
Next steps: - Review the 500 word persuasive writing
- Marry teaching from Week 1 - 7 to the assessment 91925 (Term 1 Assessment)