Evaluating sources of information and Creating a graphic novel about Stonehenge. Updated.

Where is Stonehenge and what is it like slide share selected from David Rogers

Another post inspired by an excellent resource produced by Noel Jenkins. We’ve used Stonehenge as a Year 7 assessment for the past four years as the issues continue to be relevant. The issue also provides an opportunity for our classes to apply the skills learned throughout the ‘Amazing Places’ unit. We get students to create a graphic novel of a journey from Portsmouth to Stonehenge.

A graphic novel requires carefully developed literacy skills and the ability to select information from a story. As this YouTube clip found by Jo demonstrates:

I’ve put these resources here as the first lesson allows students to evaluate photographs (through a Flickr slideshow), OS maps, website information and other forms of digital mapping including Google Earth.

We consider this lesson to be one of the most important in the first term of Year 7 as it focuses on the crucial geographical skill of interpreting maps. Do your schemes of work and lessons provide opportunities for young people to critically evaluate their sources of information or do you present per-selected sources as ‘fact’?

Once the class have explored all of the available information, including the Google Earth resources available on Noel’s site, it’s time to create a graphic novel. The assessment task and level criteria are contained toward the end of the slideshare above (this only contains key slides from the lesson).

Writing a graphic novel from David Rogers

The slides above (thanks to Jo Debens) leads the students through the process. This task has been changed from a simple ‘Comic Strip’ as we found the work wasn’t of sufficient quality. Whether the shift of emphasis allows students to communicate with more depth will be seen in the next two weeks.

Essentially, once each student has selected the information they wish to use, they follow the process above. We set no limits on the method of creation, and find that many of the better examples over the past four years have been hand drawn. One lesson to remember though is that the students should create the story long-hand first, and select / create the images last.

Comments

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

Search This Blog