Visual Literacy Project

Debbie Philpott

Hercules – from Zero to HeroApollo 13 – Houston, we have

a problem.

The Setting

❑ Gilbertstone Primary School – Yardley❑ Two form entry❑ Issues with achievement❑ Year 5 class with the whole range of ability

from just level 2 through to level 5❑ Some behaviour issues – a challenging

class!

The Cast

❑ Morad – been on the SEN register, English not spoken at home, very talkative and lacking in focus, before the project was a 2c writer.

The Cast

❑ Jake – a 3c writer, social life (girls) has the priority over work, has the basics in position but having problems making progress beyond this.

The Cast

❑ George – has been on the SEN register, having difficulties making the transition from level 2 to 3, doesn't enjoy writing and doesn't think he's any good at it.

The Cast

❑ Alex – bright boy but this is the first year for a while that he's actually worked (according to mum), very slow writer, is a sound level 3 but has potential to be a level 4 this year.

The Cast

❑ Tom – the drama lover! Has behaviour issues which have a negative impact on work, finds it very difficult to work with others, lazy, started as a 3b but could easily be a 4.

The Cast

❑ Danny – accident prone, quiet boy, bright but lacks confidence in self, 3b writer but could be a level 4.

The first unit – Hercules – From Zero to Hero

❑ Disney film very loosely based on the Labours of Hercules (they get a brief mention).

❑ Very few children had seen the film but it includes all the features typical of a Disney film.

❑ Linked with Unit of Work on Myths and Legends.

Activities

❑ Watched the entire film to begin with.❑ Created a story map.❑ Developed an understanding of film

metalanguage.❑ Looked at how the film portrayed heroes and

villains.❑ Described characters and explored

antonyms to look at heroes and villains.❑ Looked at oral story telling by playing a

pass-it-on game.❑ Compared the film with the original myth.

Activities continued

❑ Role played Hercules describing how he killed the Hydra.

❑ Wrote a description of Hercules killing the Hydra.

❑ Used 'show not tell' techniques to describe characters and develop the use of figurative language.

❑ Watched an episode from a Channel 4 series about Odysseus to compare different forms of cartooning and look at stories within stories.

Activities Continued

❑ Brainstormed solutions to how Hercules could succeed in the Labours that he was given.

❑ Acted out Hercules performing his Labours.❑ Interviewed one another (with one role

playing Hercules) about the tasks (interviewer recorded good examples of vocabulary used by interviewee).

❑ Wrote, edited, improved and published the Labours to make a class book.

Evaluation

❑ The book of The Labours of Hercules is great – contains really high quality of work.

❑ In the middle of one of the lessons my most SEN boy asked when we were going to start work because this was just fun.

❑ The use of descriptive and figurative language continued into other written work.

❑ We spent almost an entire FRIDAY afternoon in silence as children completed their Labours – blind down, aquarium on the screen, quiet classical music, lit candles, orange squash and biscuits helped too!

Some examples

❑ Alex: It all started when Meg explained to me that 2 small children got trapped under a massive boalder. Suddenly a Hydra came out. It was Ginormous. Every step it took caused a earth-quak. It snapped at me with its teeth of daggar's. Then with it's tongue of slime it snached me.

❑ Jake: His eyes went blue, his breath stunk like sea food – yuk.

❑ Danny: Then I ran to get my sword I got it but its tongue stretched like elastic and got me. It swallowed me it was gooey inside I had to cut through its neck it was tough but I done it.

The second unit – Apollo 13 – Houston, we have a problem

or 'a successful failure'❑ Apollo 13 is based on the real events of April 1970

when a mission to the moon nearly ended in disaster.

❑ It's an action adventure film – not an animation.❑ The unit of work was Note-making and Explanation

– previous experience showed that children find explanation writing difficult so I wanted a 'true-life' film in which things were explained.

❑ Another reason for choosing this film was because our science topic for the term is Earth and Space so I wanted a space based film that wasn't Science Fiction.

Activities

❑ Before watching the film we familiarised ourselves with a rocket.

❑ We didn't complete watching the film until the end of the second week so activities were done without the children knowing the outcome of the mission.

❑ Listened to a dream sequence without pictures so children could really gain information from sounds and music plus practice note-taking.

❑ Read related texts.

Activities continued

❑ Brainstormed words to go with stills from a scene.

❑ Wrote scenes from a character's point of view.

❑ Prepared questions to ask the astronauts at a press conference and took notes.

❑ Used thought, feeling and speech bubbles to explore conflicting emotions during a scene.

❑ Created a visual map to explain what went wrong on the mission.

❑ Looked at related websites.

Activities continued

❑ Read explanation texts.❑ Watched an explanation of day and night

from a Revisewise video and compared with a Blue Peter report that included an explanation of diving safety.

❑ In pairs created visual maps of processes that they wanted to explain.

❑ These were used as a basis for writing notes to support an oral explanation.

❑ Connectives activities.

Activities continued

❑ Children were videoed doing their oral explanations – some used more drama than others, most included visual props.

❑ The rest of the class evaluated performances.

❑ The oral presentations were turned into written explanations.

Evaluation

❑ The unit of work was rather disrupted due to arts week, trip, illness and a teacher day.

❑ The film was a little too long.❑ We used the first two weeks to work on

descriptive writing – with positive results.❑ The final pieces of explanation writing are

disappointing, the text type has not been fully understood and the children felt they had finished the work with the oral presentation.

Evaluation

❑ The children did enjoy the film – one boy thanked me for showing it and said that it was the best film he had ever seen.

❑ The classes' (and my) understanding of rockets, space, the moon etc. has grown enormously.

Film Reviews

❑ Sophie's review: Apollo 13 will have you glued from beginning to end! It is a truly amazing movie.

❑ Chloe's review: The tension caused by the events kept me really interested.

❑ Jasmine's review: Overall, it was one of my best movies I've ever seen.

❑ Alex's review: Will they get back? Will they ever go back to their families? Watch the worrying, adventure, tense, exciting and wonderous Apollo 13 to find out.

Impact

❑ All 6 boys have produced pieces of writing at levels higher than their pre-project assessments.

❑ Greatest improvement seen in Morad who went from a 2c pre-project to 3c in our mid term assessment.

❑ Long term impact will be clearer during next term.

❑ I haven't yet re-assessed reading but am confident that there will be progress here too.

Impact

❑ Danny – now believes he is good at writing and attendance has improved.

❑ Alex – now enjoys reading and is beginning to believe that he is a good writer.

❑ Jake – still doesn't believe he is a good reader and no longer enjoys writing.

❑ George – now enjoys writing and now believes he is good at it and reading.

❑ Tom – no longer enjoys writing and doesn't think he's any good at it.

❑ Morad – now enjoys writing and believes that he is good at it.

Impact

❑ Katie: 'I think its [literacy] been better because we watched films to help us.'

❑ Lilley: 'I would like to watch more films because you learn about different settings and comparing different films.'

❑ Jacob: 'I think I've got better writing skills by watching films.'

❑ Sophie: 'I would like to use more films in my writing because you can explore different languages when writing about something you have seen.'

❑ Jasmine: 'I especially like writing all the descriptive pieces. I liked watching the films and writing about them. I think the films are a good idea for creative writing. We should do more of it because it will give us more to write about everyday.'