Media Literacy

A school principal discusses dealing with the media in bad times

How should a school handle bad news? The London Academy in Edgware faced a crisis when a pupil was killed outside its gates. Principal Phil Hearne talks about the lessons from his experience of the media. Kiyan Prince was a popular pupil at the school, and its community was devastated when he was stabbed and killed outside the school gates. The circumstances of his death became a huge national news story and the school was swamped by the media. Hearne meets with public relations expert Mark Leech to talk through how the school handled the media pressure. He talks about how pupils were offered money, followed and harassed, and his attempts to control the media interest and help the school face the crisis. Together they hope to help schools nationwide handle the effect of bad news and move on.

Bad News

How blogging is giving pupils self-confidence and fulfilment

Blogging is now a worldwide phenomenon with weblogs reaching a potential audience of hundreds of millions. Blogs have been described as the ultimate in publishing for the people and have been used to challenge governments and the press. Steve O'Hear, one of Britain's digital evangelists, explores how blogs can be used in schools. Steve finds some enthusiastic primary age bloggers and sees how it helps in literacy, ICT skills and a range of other subjects. He finds many of the benefits extend beyond the curriculum. Blogging can help pupils: Develop confidence Improve their self expression Get a real sense of fulfilment from publishing their work In West Blatchington School in Hove, blogging is practised by everyone from the head down. Steve visits the school's after-school blogging club, a special bloggers' assembly and sees weblogs being used in the school's autistic unit.

Blogosphere

How wikis and blogs can be put to use in the classroom

The use of blogs and online collaboration in education is explored as teachers discover how and why they should make good use of them. Head of geography at Bury Church Secondary, Sally Sumner, uses blogs as a resource in the classroom and as a revision tool, having overcome her initial doubts about her ICT skills. MFL teacher Janet McCann finds blogging invaluable for motivating the boys in her class, and discusses why the pupils find this technology so engaging. At Priestsic Primary School, Nottinghamshire, ICT co-ordinator Tom Barrett uses online collaboration tools for peer assessment, developing the pupil's literacy skills. Collaborative online educational games are also shown, providing a safe environment on the web for pupils to improve their numeracy skills.

Blogs/Wikis

How digital media is working in schools for students and staff

Professor David Hargreaves looks at how digital media is working in schools, for both pupils and staff, and argues that Generation Y, those born in the digital age, should become school leaders. Young teachers' knowledge of new technology allows them to incorporate interactive technology into classroom learning. Ringwood School in Hampshire, Bethnal Green Technology College, and Dunraven School in London, demonstrate how they have embraced the digital age. Headteachers talk about how they have changed their management structures to reflect the less hierarchical preferences of Generation Y. And teachers at Swanlea School in Tower Hamlets, and Connaught School in Waltham Forest show how they have included YouTube and Web 2.0 into their lessons.

Generation Y: Young School Leaders

How a school newspaper can benefit the teaching of citizenship

In this programme, we see how one school has made their long-running newspaper a vehicle for citizenship teaching. Fair Oak Junior School in Southampton has published its newspaper annually since 1996, with each class in the school responsible for writing an article. Headteacher Jinty Williamson believes this participation helps the children take responsibility for their own learning and enables them to have a role in shaping their community. This year, 3CM decided to write an article on the school's Tsunami Disaster fundraising day. Class 5TH meanwhile focused on a charity project supporting schools in the slums of Nairobi. We see the latest of the edition of the newspaper and learn how the project benefits the children in their citizenship learning.

KS1/2 Citizenship - News Hounds

How making use of news can help to engage children

In this programme, we take a look at how making use of news can help to engage pupils with a range of citizenship themes. Each morning, Karen Thomson's Year 6 class at Cockington Primary in Torquay begin their day by watching the news. News websites are projected onto the class whiteboard whilst the children study bulletins, discuss the issues and consider the world around them. This personalised approach to learning seems to help motivate and inspire the children, who often go home and talk about the news with their parents. Behind the approach is Karen's strong belief in the importance of making abstract notions real, and in encouraging children to take responsibility for their own learning.

KS1/2 Citizenship - Using News

Using a short animation film to develop film literacy

In this programme, we see how a short animation film can be used to develop film literacy. Peta Higgs, a teacher at Cranmer School in South London, shows a film entitled The Monk and the Fish to her Year 6 pupils. Set in an abbey, the story follows the increasingly frantic efforts of a monk trying to catch a fish. The film has a sound track of classical music but no dialogue and only a few sound effects. Peta begins her lesson by getting the pupils to listen to the soundtrack on its own and to practice their skills of inference and deduction. They then develop their ideas about the monk's character by using the drama technique called Sculptor and Sculpted. Peta believes that visually rehearsing their ideas in this way helps the children structure their writing. In the second half of the lesson Peta introduces film language. The pupils practise doing different camera shots and begin to critique parts of the film. By the end of the lesson the class predicts how the story might end, and reacts to what actually happens.

KS1/2 English - Reading Film: The Lesson

A chance to see the short animation film The Monk and the Fish

This programme provides an opportunity to view the short animation film, The Monk and the Fish. Director Michael Dudok de Wit reveals how both the story and animation evolved, and explains how he considered many possibilities for the monk's shape before deciding on a nice, simple, triangular blob. He used ink and paint to give his drawings a strong individual style before developing the storyboard and painting a simple watercolour for the background. Michael explains how some animation tricks convey emotion and movement, how he worked closely with the composer, and how he animated the monk's movement to the timing of the music. For Michael this work is magical and great fun despite the fact he might end up making fifty final drawings for each second of animated film.

KS1/2 English - Reading Film: The Monk and the Fish

Phil Traill explains the making of Dangle, his short film

An opportunity to view the short, live-action film Dangle, and to find out from writer/director Phil Traill about the making of the film. Phil reveals where the idea for the film came from, and how the script evolved. He also describes the process of creating a storyboard and the decisions behind the use of different camera shots, such as close-ups, mid-shots and wide shots. Sound plays a very important role in Dangle, though there is no dialogue and no music. The film also features some clever special effects; notably, making it look as though the sun can be turned on and off via a rope hanging down from the sky.

KS1/2 Literacy - Reading Film at KS1: Dangle

Using film to inspire Year 2 pupils in a writing lesson

Tanya Redhead, a teacher at Dulwich Village C of E Infants School, inspires a Year 2 writing session with the short film, Dangle. The lesson begins with a surprise for the pupils: a rope suspended from the classroom ceiling; mirroring the beginning of the film when the character discovers a rope hanging down from the sky. The class draws on this experience to write the first part of a three-part story plan. They then act out different rope-pulling scenarios, and imagine how they would feel after pulling the rope. Tanya and the class also take time to develop their film vocabulary and analyse how elements such as camera angles, sound and special effects helps them to understand the story better.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

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