Developing children’s understanding of

Angela ColvertRebecca KennedyPetula Bhojwani

The Reframing Literacy project, carried out in 2008/2009 aimed to begin mapping children’s response to film and identify the implications for curriculum and pedagogy.

The subsequent publication Beyond words: Developing children’s understanding of multimodal texts draws on findings from the research project and the QCDA Reading Assessment Focuses, describing

ContentsCD ROMBooklet• The Reframing Literacy research

project• Progression in reading, analysing

and responding to multimodal texts• Case studies• Resources and useful websites

Progression in reading, analysing and responding to

How the scale works – the scales will need to be augmented over years and brought into teacher assessments.

The descriptors suggest what might be expected of young readers/viewers as they develop expertise with multimodality in:

1. Engagement, understanding and response2. Inference and deduction3. Structure and organisation of texts4. Style and composition5. Purpose, viewpoint and effect of the text on the

audience6. Social, cultural and historical context.

Progression in reading, analysing and responding to

• Emergent/Early readers/viewers• Developing readers/viewers• Experienced readers/viewers• Expert readers/viewers

Using the scale in practice...

Three example case Year 2 working with comic strips‘It’s seriously comic’: Reading and making comic

strips

Year 4 responding to Internet footageResearching the Beatles using the internet

Year 6 using and making Alternative Reality GamesBringing a story to life: making an Alternate Reality

Game (ARG)

Each case study will illustrate the progression in children’s understanding of multimodal texts.

Case studies in the publicationEYFS: Responding to a non-mainstream filmYear 1: Reading websites: digital

understanding Year 2: ‘It’s seriously comic’: Reading and

makingcomic stripsYear 3: Guided Reading with a complex

picturebook:The Lost Happy Endings Year 4: Researching the Beatles using the

internet Year 5/6: A short film – El Caminante

Case study contributors• Christine Whitney, Lincolnshire LA • Sarah Abraham and Shamim Awan, Clifton primary

school Balsall Heath, Birmingham • Karen Byard, The Mount primary school, Newark,

Nottinghamshire• Angela Colvert, Rosendale primary school, Lambeth,

London • Jamie Grossmith, Belton Lane community primary

school, Grantham, Lincolnshire• Sarah Merchant, St Helen's primary school, Ipswich • Peter Winter, Moneteney primary school, Sheffield

Three case studies today

Year 2 ‘It’s seriously comic’: Reading and making comic strips• Clifton Primary School, Balsall Heath,

Birmingham• Year 2, high ability pupils• Limited exposure to a range of multimodal

texts as part of the school curriculum• Drawing on the children’s home reading

experiences

• How does multimodality work in comic strip formats?

The teaching sequence

• Familiarisation with the text type/ genre: reading, re-reading, investigating

• Capturing ideas: drama, book talk, writing in role

• Drafting the comic strip/ multimodal text

• Composing the comic strip/ multimodal text, presentation and

FamiliarisationQ. Why are some pictures dark or light?A. Light pictures show something happy; dark pictures show something sad.

Q. Why are the boxes different sizes?A. Something is happening slowly and something is happening fast.

Capturing ideas

Drafting

Composing the multimodal text

Developing readers/viewersAll children can comment on the effects of different elements of composition and how they interact.

Developing readers/viewersAll children can comment on the effects of different elements of composition and how they interact.

Engagement, understanding and responseEngagement, understanding and response

Emergent/ Early readers/viewersBeginning of the unitRefer to different elements of the text to explain meaning.

Developing readers/viewersEnd of unitAll children respond to and evaluate texts making explicit reference to the text.

Structure and organisation of textsStructure and organisation of texts

Emergent/Early readers/viewersBeginning of unitThe children begin to comment on the ways in which different elements of the text work together.

Developing readers/viewersEnd of unitSome are aware that animation in different text types can be serious as well as entertaining.

Style and compositionStyle and composition

Emergent/Early readers/viewersBeginning of unitBegin to understand the effects of different elements of the text to create humour.

Developing readers/viewersEnd of unitAll children can comment on the effects of different elements of composition and how they interact.

Year 4 responding to Internet footage• The Mount Primary School, Newark,

Nottinghamshire• Year 4, mixed ability pupils• School involved in LA multimodal

projects and courses• Drawing on the children’s wider on-

screen experiences

Familiarisation Key source…

British Pathé

Digital news archive. Covers news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896-1970. Still images and film footage.

http://www.britishpathe.com/

Beatles sources available from the British Pathé

BEATLES GET SHOW BIZ TOP AWARD 

THE BEATLES LEAVE FOR AUSTRALIA 

BEATLES CONQUER AUSSIES 

BEATLES LIKE HOME BEST 

BEATLES WELCOME HOME 

GUESS WHO 

REVIEW OF THE SIXTIES 

AND THE WORLD LISTENED

Selecting and working with film footage to understand text organisation and structure to convey messages to the viewer • Outside waiting to go

in• Inside waiting for The

Beatles to arrive on stage

• During the concert• End of the concert

• The children rein-acted the various stages and noted the chronological sequence.

Capturing ideasReading and interpreting modes to develop vocabulary

• Still images• Film footage• Sound

• Zones of relevance boards

crying

hotover heating

biting hands

tremendous

excitedhearts pounding

deafening

jumpin

noisy

happy

scream

loud

Multimodal progression focus

• Engagement, understanding and response

• Inference and deduction • Structure and organisation of texts • Social, cultural and historical

context

Engagement, understandin

g and response

Inference and deduction

Structure and organisation

of texts

Social, cultural and

historical context

Experienced readers/viewers

Evaluate texts critically by comparing how different text types treat the same information

Infer meaning with reference to different text types

Evaluate specific texts with reference to their type Identify features of different non-fiction text types text types in different media

Discuss the treatment of social or cultural themes over time

Expert readers/viewers

Draw on a range of sources to research a topic

Infer authorial /directorial perspective, commenting on the success and impact of messages, moods, feelings and attitudes were conveyed with reference to film and still image

Discuss different social, cultural and historical aspects of text

Reflection and evaluationThe children clearly enjoyed the work

I like working with different people as well as on my own.

It’s cushdy how we get to watch film clips and act before we write.

Year 6 playing and making Alternate Reality Games

• Rosendale Primary School, Lambeth, London

• Year 6 class, mixed ability pupils• Were all familiar with one or more of:

games, PowerPoint, television/films, MSN, text messages, email

How can ARGs be used in a primary school setting to develop the children’s understanding the communicative potential of modes and media?

Alternate Reality Gaming

• Ubiquitous communication technologies

• Incorporate a vast array of modes, media

• Problem-solving in both online and physical environments

• Require collaboration between participants

Jamie Kane Cathy’s

In this case study, Year 6 children created a game for the Year 5 children based on the story of the Mighty Fizz Chilla by Philip Ridley.

Stages of the Project

• Planning (familiarisation and capturing ideas)

• Making (capturing ideas)• Playing (reading response and evaluation)

Planning: Game Design

Planning: Book Talk

Planning: Games Talk

Planning: Online and Offline

The modes and media that were used when planning and making the game were also used during the playing stage.

Planning: Online and Offline

Multimodal Progression This part of the presentation will focus

on the work and learning of two children: Edward and Imogen, who are both Expert readers/viewers.

These children were responsible for re-constructing the character of Cressida from Philip Ridley’s novel across a range of modes and media.

Planning: Cressida Group’s Web of

Making: The Ocean Estate

Engagement, understanding and response

Inference and deduction

Structure and organisation of

texts

Expert readers/viewers

Articulate personal responses to a range of texts and text types identifying how and why the text effects the reader and commenting critically on own

Discuss nuances in character motivation and make considered judgements about the modality of texts

Compare different types of text and identify how their elements interact

Purpose, Viewpoint and

effect of text on the audience

Style and composition

Social, cultural and historical

context

Expert readers/viewers

Reflect on their authorial decisions and their intent in communicating with the audience considering the effectiveness of these decisions

Make judgements about the effectiveness of style and composition in texts and make considered judgements about the modality of texts

Explain the similarities between texts or versions

Playing: Using Message Boardshi ,cressida

we have watched your webcam and you found a a strange rock right. Me and rocky are wondering if you are realy blind the reason we are asking this is because one the video you " i found a rock" but you should of said "i trip on something and also we think you have something to do with the MFC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!from rocky

Beloved, of course i am blind! I can't see anything,because i'm blind but i am extreamily good at seeing what things are by using touch.If you have anything else to ask then you know where i am, i'll be utterly glad to awnser.also, i thought i ought to inform you that i know nothing of this glorious M.F.C.xx Cressida Bell

Engagement, understanding and response

Inference and deduction

Structure and organisation of

texts

Expert readers/viewers

Articulate personal responses to a range of texts and text types identifying how and why the text effects the reader and commenting critically on own

Discuss nuances in character motivation and make considered judgements about the modality of texts

Compare different types of text and identify how their elements interact

Purpose, Viewpoint and

effect of text on the audience

Style and composition

Social, cultural and historical

context

Expert readers/viewers

Reflect on their authorial decisions and their intent in communicating with the audience considering the effectiveness of these decisions

Make judgements about the effectiveness of style and composition in texts and make considered judgements about the modality of texts

Explain the similarities between texts or versions

Reflection and evaluation… honestly I don’t think they did get much from our character websites...I think the message boards was where they got most of their information from.

I think the character web pages helped them a lot because... if we hadn’t done the character web pages they wouldn’t know the...kind of outline of their personality in a way, so if we hadn’t had the character web pages they wouldn’t know that Cressida was wild, was really eccentric and exaggerated...They wouldn’t know all the extra little bits that put the...whole character together so without those little tiny pieces it wouldn’t really be whole.

What do these comments tell us about Edward’s

and Imogen’s understanding?… honestly I don’t think they did get much from our character websites...I think the message boards was where they got most of their information from.

I think the character web pages helped them a lot because... if we hadn’t done the character web pages they wouldn’t know the...kind of outline of their personality in a way, so if we hadn’t had the character web pages they wouldn’t know that Cressida was wild, was really eccentric and exaggerated...They wouldn’t know all the extra little bits that put the...whole character together so without those little tiny pieces it wouldn’t really be whole.

Examine these pieces of evidence from one of the case studies and, using the scale as a guide, consider what they reveal about the children’s understanding of multimodal texts.

Questions?