Monday, February 22, 2021
Week 4 Term 1 - Preparing for Close Viewing (Level 3 English - 91480)
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Week 3 Term 1 - Again
It might make you happy it might make you sad
Sometimes yeah but I know
There is a reason for everything
(But I know)
That is why I keep believing
Whatever is meant to be it's going to be
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Week 2 Term 1 - The ART of CLOSE VIEWING
In recent years I have found myself becoming more critical around the quality of my student's assessments for NCEA Level 2 and Level 3 English. Prior to this, I became accustomed to teaching to the assessment criteria with a focus on the text (novel and/or film) as the main driver for learning. As a result I found myself guiding my students through a program where their knowledge of the text was more sufficient than the skill on how to write a text (essay) and provide a critical analysis.
This year one of my goals with my senior English classes (201ENG) and (301ENGLit) is to focus on the 'skill' on how to craft a text, how to express their critical opinion, how to identify the author or director's opinion and how to link this back to either their own experience, opinion or perception of society. Sounds ambitious? It is BUT I know that this is needed. I believe that focusing on the skill on 'how to' will have a positive impact on their learning. Skills can be transferable if used right, it can transform a student's experience in their learning journey.
I have started to apply this approach with both of my senior English classes for their Close Viewing assessment. Here is a little part of the journey that my 301ENGLit class have taken so far in the first two weeks of Term 1.
301ENGLit - Term 1 Assessment: Close Viewing Assessment (91480)
- Film techniques - what are they, what is their particular affect in the scene/film, why did the director use it and what is significant about this technique - targeting the key terms from the marking criteria 'significant, aspects, close reading'
- Director's purpose - What is the director trying to show the audience in this scene or through the use of this technique? A focus on understanding other's perspective is an important discussion and topic that I am going to dive into - targeting the key term from the marking criteria 'convincingly'
- Target audience - Who is the target audience of the film or scene? How do we know this - what elements in this film give us an impression of who the target audience is? An understanding of 'target audience' is another topic that will incorporate in my teaching of close viewing. This is such an important part as it helps the students to understand the 'why' and 'who' with film study. It will also help them understand there perspective as a viewer - targeting the key term from the marking criteria 'critically'
- Read through the text three times
- Class discussion around - what is the text about, writer's perspective, underlying messages
- Identifying language features - what has been used? why do you think the writer used this particular language feature? how affective is this language feature?
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Term 1 Week 1 - What does 'good' look like?
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