Media & moving image

English

Secondary

Examiners from the BBFC give an insight into film classification

Using clips from a range of films including Borat and Casino Royale, film examiners from the British Board of Film Classification explain how they take difficult decisions about which certificate to award a film. The examiners say they reflect public opinion and, as public opinion changes, they respond with new guidelines. One of the trickiest decisions for the examiners is whether a film should be a 12A or a 15. They look closely at the content of every scene. Four main issues determine the final classification - violence, sex and nudity, taste and decency, and bad language.

Behind the Scenes at the BBFC - Classifying Films

 We go behind the scenes as students present the news at ITN 

This programme documents a pioneering media studies project that culminated in a student team producing its own news bulletin at ITN. Fourteen pupils from nine schools around the country followed a specially devised online course about television news. Two pupils from each school then spent time at ITN producing their final "Breaking the News" bulletin. We track pupils from one of the schools, The Grays School Media Arts College in Essex, as they audition for the role of presenter, film a local news story (about an art deco cinema in Grays) and master the skills of scripting and editing. Watch as the final "Breaking the News" team become confident presenters and news journalists, crafting their Newsday bulletin with a little advice from Channel 4 staff, including newsreader Jon Snow. In addition to providing a valuable insight into news production, this programme demonstrates how media studies teachers can organise a successful Newsday in their own schools.

Breaking the News

A look at the benefits of using new technology in the classroom

New technologies are second nature to most young people. This programme seeks to explore how they can help and encourage learning in the classroom - particularly in an English lesson. Teenagers discuss their experiences of blogging, MySpace, YouTube, podcasting and more, whilst a panel of experts offer their opinions on these fascinating modern phenomenons. Dr Andrew Burn from the University of London, Apple Distinguished Educator David Baugh, Acton High School's head of media Toby Newton, and Andy Black from BECTA, are amongst those providing professional insight into new technologies. Elsewhere, Martin Owen from Futurelab - along with a group of young students - explains how mobile telephone technology can actually benefit learning, despite the fact that many schools have banned mobile phones from the classroom. This programme aims to help teachers overcome any technophobia they may have, and demonstrates how embracing technology can benefit both students and teachers alike.

Inspiration for using blogging, video conferencing and more

Learn how blogging, video conferencing and computer technology can be used simply and effectively as teaching and learning aids in the classroom. In this programme, students from Acton High School in west London are motivated into journalistic action as they create the Newszine blog for the enjoyment of their peers. Ealing City Learning Centre facilitates the students' use of cutting edge technology to drive understanding of subject matter, independent learning and critical thinking.

KS3/4 English and Media - Building Blogs

A look at how computer games can be used in the classroom

What makes computer games different from other media and how can they be applied to the learning of English and media? In this programme, we take a look at how English and media teachers can use computer games in the classroom. Parkside Community College in Cambridge trial a computer authoring tool that enables Year 8 students to design their own game in a media/English scheme of work. Meanwhile the school's Year 10 students are introduced to a poem through the software. The staff and students share their experience of the experiment.

KS3/4 English and Media - Computer Games: Playing to Learn

 Analysing a Levi's advert to explore intertextuality 

Highgate Woods is a large comprehensive in north London with specialist status in performing arts. In this programme Deborah Hegan, English and media teacher at the school, works with a Year 10 class analysing the Levi's Midsummer advert, which sets words from A Midsummer Night's Dream on the streets of contemporary Los Angeles. First, the class discusses some of the decisions behind the choice of language and setting and how the ad sells to its audience. Deborah then introduces "intertextuality", the idea of texts from different media referring to each other. She also encourages the class to develop the skills of higher order questioning by promoting "Why?" and "How?"

KS3/4 English and Media - Teaching Media: Analysing an Advert

Experts make the case for media literacy in education

What are the benefits, opportunities and pitfalls of the digital explosion for education, and how does media literacy fit in? Ofcom define media literacy as "the ability to access, understand and create communication in a variety of contexts", but what does this really mean? In this programme, a group of educationalists and agenda-setters analyse some of the current thinking about media literacy in a round table discussion. Robin Blake, head of media literacy at Ofcom; Cary Bazalgette, media literacy consultant; Sonia Livingstone, professor of social psychology at LSE; Adrian Hall, director of mobile learning, Steljes; and David Hassell, director of learning, teaching and inclusion at Becta, make the case for media literacy as a vital knowledge-age skill. Discover how teachers can harness this digital aptitude for learning, what a media strategy should look like, and the benefits it brings.

Media Literacy - The Experts

KS4 students discuss their experience of digital technology

KS4 students from Parkside Community College in Cambridge share their interests and experience of the internet, social networking, gaming, music, films, TV and culture. Parkside has been a media specialist college for the last 15 years. The school's students share their cultural understanding, creative progression and critical understanding, explaining how they use digital technology both at home and in school. How does media literacy fit in to a society that is increasingly dependent on technology and the internet? What are the benefits, opportunities and pitfalls of these technologies for education?

Media Literacy - The Teenagers

Children from four schools get to grips with Macbeth

In this series, we document the results as schools around the country respond to a BBC challenge to create a 60-second version of Shakespeare. This programme focuses on three Year 9 classes and a special school dance club as they grapple with performing and shooting their own photo-story. After learning to script, storyboard and edit, the children use free downloaded software and divide into groups, each working on key scenes from Macbeth. The results are dramatic; the Bard as never seen before!

Pupils Plotting

Novelist and journalist Rachel Johnson takes on the challenge

Novelist and columnist Rachel Johnson, sister of London Mayor Boris Johnson, takes up the teaching challenge by leading a lesson in journalism at her local school. Rachel enters her local comprehensive, Holland Park School, for the first time, and is surprised and impressed by the high standard of literacy and knowledge, with the students engaging in a lively debate about newspapers and magazines. For the students, it is an eye opening experience to hear how their feelings can be manipulated by the media through their choice of words and pictures. Rachel also brings out two scrap books containing all her published work as well as her rejection letters, and gives the students a realistic picture of how competitive a career in journalism can be.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Subjects

> Secondary English

> Media & moving image