[I can't find all the latest versions of various presentations - Problems with ICT meant saving different versions all over the place.]
First lesson was spent exploring a classic narrative structure with key vocabulary (Departmental lesson plan); I won't go into any detail but questioning was key at all levels.
Straight forward matching exercise after "brainstorming" common stages of narrative and their different labels.
Students handed envelope with vocabulary and bits of the narrative to match and plot against the graph below (whole thing on A3 paper).
Feedback and discussion/clarification - annotate/justify/explain all around. Stick down.
Some students had already moved on to addressing the questions on the board, 5 in total, with the last ones meant to stretch the more able students (Can't quite remember what I came up with but it was pretty challenging in terms of narrative expectations/tension and character types) - Answers as notes around the graph again.
(A pity I still can't find the pics but I know I've saved them somewhere!)
For the next few lessons, the objective was the same: TO LEARN ABOUT GENRE AND NARRATIVE
Next lesson: What genre? What generic conventions? What type of narrative?
First 6 slides of PPT below. Quite straight forward. Students were deconstructing, questioning, annotating a still from the film then the film poster. This created a rich discussion with many of their questions already fully or partially answered by the end of the activity. We spent time exploring symbolism, narrative expectations and other possible generic features.
We watched a trailer for the film and a short extract to confirm our predictions and observations and to add to our notes.
We used a straight forward progression sheet to track the learning.
The last row was a bit patchy as we were rushing a bit at the end, particularly the last 2 boxes. So... I asked them to think carefully about what they'd learnt and to complete it for the following lesson. I asked them to focus on the character of Ofelia in particular and her possible role in the narrative.
Next lesson: Focus on Ofelia - What type of character is she?
Lovely lesson in which we deconstructed stills from the film (some of the slides / stills used are randomly placed in the embedded PPT below)
We also watched the opening of the film. Students wrote down questions and comments (shared via paired sharing before feeding back at first) and we had a lovely discussion about how atypical a character she is.
Home-learning was to create a character study with evidence from the film so far - Spider-diagram welcome with lots of points and much evidence (We thought of a few points to include together, including initial impressions and how these change, and the types of relationships Ofelia has and how these might propel the narrative etc)
Next lesson: Genre and Character Types (simplified Propp's theory)
ALSO, AS IT TURNED OUT, AN OBSERVED LESSON FOR THE DEPARTMENT REVIEW.
I will discuss this further in part b)...
I over-prepared this one because it was Review Week and Friday by then, and I still hadn't been seen (could have been any lesson from Wednesday to Friday).
The lesson went well...
... But as ever, I lost my common sense... Anyway, more on that in part b). It worked well until the last activity which was one too many and students still wanted to write about character roles etc. The irony is that THEY WERE DEMONSTRATING LEARNING RIGHT THERE, using the terminology and everything... AND I MOVED THEM ON! WHY? I just do stupid things when I'm being observed, particularly by staff I admire.
The lesson was a Good overall with a lot of "Outstanding" features but it was felt that a few of my students did not make outstanding progress. (I had 9 on SEN list, 7 for Behavioural issues, one a very recent managed move... So really, I'm fairly happy with the result)
Here's the outline of the lesson - and on the PPT below, it's from slide 10 to 24 (with a few extra slides about Ofelia which belong to the previous lesson).
Progression Sheet Pans Genrenarrative
(I had added the SOLO symbols)
I couldn't find post-its for the Exit Ticket plenary before the lesson but a colleague had some heart-shaped ones (how very Gothic!):
Next: More on Genre - Hybrid features
Preparing to write an essay-type response about the genre of the film.
I won't go into detail as it is fairly obvious. We brainstormed generic features of Fantasy and Gothic, then students added to their lists using the Wordle below.
The Venn diagram was used to decide which features applied to the film. I'm not sure it was needed actually. It seems a bit superfluous.
Students worked well however and started gathering plenty of evidence from the film. We managed to watch another short extract as well.
Genre Conventions End of Unit Progression Sheet(It's gone a bit funny-looking in the process)
The students started their essay at home and completed it in the next lesson. But we decided that we could do much better so spent one more lesson self-assessing after listening to some examples of work at different levels of success. The students thought they needed the whole of the rest of the lesson to redraft and improve.
Finally, the last lesson before half-term arrived (last lesson on the Thursday). We watched the end of the film, stopping here and there to discuss narrative developments. All students asked to stay behind to watch and discuss the ending! I relented, knowing I would need to apologise to their tutor for their 15min' lateness. But they simply needed to talk!!!
So altogether a not unsuccessful string of lessons. The essays were good and the students begged to watch an extraordinary film which is in Spanish with English subtitles!
So altogether a not unsuccessful string of lessons. The essays were good and the students begged to watch an extraordinary film which is in Spanish with English subtitles!
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