Week 4 Term 1 - Teacher Practice: Pre Viewing Exercise - NCEA Level 1 English (February 20 - 24 )

Over the course of the year for NCEA Level 1 English, a number of literature studies are taken. One of the literature text studies that we explore is film study or the study of a visual text. For our kaiako, studying a visual text is a literature study that we enjoy teaching to our akonga. Our akonga enjoy learning about film techniques, how and why they are used and how it impacts their overall experience of the film. 

Our visual text study films for NCEA Level 1 ENG (Edward Scissorhands) NCEA Level 2 ENG (The Dark Horse) and NCEA Level 3 ENG (A Beautiful Mind) 

I have created a pre-viewing exercise for my NCEA Level 1 English class. I wanted to spend time exploring other elements of film (other than film techniques) before we watched the film in the hope that it would it help influence how my akonga view and experience the text. There are three areas that we look at are Genre (exploring the film's genre), Director's background/style (understanding who the director) and Social Context/Setting (exploring the film's social context and setting). The text that we are focusing is Tim Burton's 'Edward Scissorhands'. Before we watched the film, I got the students to go through each section (Genre/Director's background/Social Context) read through different articles and then answer questions for each section. Each section had a reading attached that the students had to read (in pairs, individually or as a group). They then spent time discussing what they had read and this discussion was guided through a series of questions that I had for each reading. I will outline below the article and questions that I provided for each section. 

Genre: 

• Reading: Fantasy Romance Characteristics
• Define genre: What is ‘genre?’
• In your own summarize what the Fantasy Romance genre is.
• What are the main characteristics (elements) of the Fantasy Romance genre?

Director's background/style: 

• Reading: Tim Burton: How was Edward Scissorhands a metaphor for Tm Burton's own life
• Why did Tim Burton make this film?
• What was his intention in telling Edward’s story?
• What are other films directed by Tim Burton?
• What are the typical features of Tim Burton’s style?

Social Context + Setting: 

• Reading: Edward Scissorhands Setting
• When and where was the film set?
• What is ‘suburbia?’ Why did he choose this as the setting?

We had a class discussion around each section and students wanted to share their answers on the board. I wrote general questions (similar to the pre-viewing exercise) on the board and during the lesson the students wrote their answers on the board. They enjoyed the freedom and safety in sharing the new learnings that they experienced through the pre viewing exercise. 

Pre Viewing exercise - student answers/feedback during class discussion

The students responded well to the pre-viewing exercise. Notable highlights from this exercise was their response to genre and social context/setting. They were particularly interested in the characteristics of 'fantasy genre' and made connections to the texts that they have seen. We went off track a little bit and discussed other genres and what makes them unique. We spoke about 'suburbia' and what it means in the context of this film. The pre-viewing exercise did exactly what I wanted it to do and that was widen the lens of my students before they watched the film. I wanted them to experience the film knowing something substantial about the genre, director's purpose and the setting. I am hopeful that the students can use this 'pre viewing exercise' and apply it to the assessments that will follow the film study which is Close Viewing and Formal Writing. I want to encourage my students to use this information - what they know about genre and social context specifically - and integrate it into their close viewing responses as it will help elevate their argument and make connections beyond the text.