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)
Respond critically to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.
This is an achievement standard for NCEA Level 3 English. The assessment criteria is as follows.
Achievement:
Respond critically to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.
Merit:
Respond critically and convincingly to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.
Excellence:
Respond critically and perceptively to significant aspects of visual and/oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.
The key words from the marking criteria are critically, convincingly, significant, aspects and close reading. These terms indicate the level in which the student needs to respond in order to achieve the standard.
Action:
What am I going to do to help my students understand the skill involved in close viewing?
Usually I would start with a film study when we start this Close Viewing assessment. Sounds about right huh? This is true - in English, whether it is Junior or Senior English, we associate close viewing with film study. We watch a film, analyze specific scenes, discuss film techniques used in the scene and explain why we think that the director used and what is the overall effect and purpose. Yes, this is a typical and totally acceptable practice with Close Viewing. However I have found that this approach limits the potential for my students to close view and analyze critically, convincingly and unpacking what the significant aspects are in the film.
I trialed this new approach last year and the results were great. This year I have decided to continue with this but build on it. To start off with:
I have had a discussion around 'What is close viewing?' - I want to see what their understanding of close viewing is. In this discussion the students have shared what they think it is and what I have discovered is that they have associated film study with close viewing - which is good. In these discussions I have shared with the students that close viewing is more than just a film study, it is a skill. It is a skill that is focused on how we as a viewer can identify:
- 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'
Following this discussion the students undertake their first task. The task is a close reading activity. My students were confused at first as they thought that close viewing was something that we only did with film. This highlighted how conditioned they have become. It is not their fault. It is no one's fault. There is no blame in this for me, it only highlights our collective understanding on what is REALLY important with these assessments. Yes the credit achievement is the ultimate goal but HOW you achieve and WHAT you learn and gain from it as a result is most important for me.
I explained to my students that close viewing/reading is a SKILL that we can use with any text - whether is close viewing/reading a novel, poem, film, conversation, relationship - it is about understanding how to unpack a text - anything - identifying the key elements that make up the text, identifying the purpose behind each element and the effect of these elements. The thing is that the SKILL on close reading/viewing is one that we can learn from and apply to anything.
This is a great exercise, it is an opportunity for students to revisit some of the staple language features used in all forms of written text (Emma Harris "On being lost for words"). We spent time discussing what they are (in length). From here we read through a prose and until recently just finished unpacking the text. We have done the following:
- 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?
What I am planning to do from here is discuss who the target audience is for this text - based on the writer's perspective and the language features used. This should be interesting. What I have found so far is that this new approach - whether this has a great impact on the final results for the actual assessment - I am enjoying the process. I think the students are to. I think that for the first time in a while, the process to learning and understanding the art and skill of close viewing is becoming the priority. The results will happen. For me it is HOW the students get there and what they GAIN in their learning which is more of a priority for me. It is a priority because I trust what I am doing.
I believe that the ART of learning can often get lost in the machine that is NCEA. I believe that we as teachers have an opportunity to impact our learners in way that we probably were limited to in our days in secondary school. I look forward to seeing how this goes but for now, I am enjoying the journey.
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