Visual Literacy

Love teaching this topic and digital media in general! The students pick it up so quickly and gain the confidence to deconstruct how iconography and basic techniques can shape our impressions. Working out how posters and advertisements work really helps develop analysis skills.
The students enjoyed the following RSPCA advertisement and the way it engages an emotional response.

Goodbye StannersCircle ning

Well it was good while it lasted but the new Ning costing structure makes it non-viable to maintain my HSC resource site. Since the end of July is the deadline, I suggest that you visit as many nings as you can to see if there is anything of value. A brilliant extension site created by P.Heggaty is available on Romanticism. My site is more varied but has far less on it.

http://www.romanticism.ning.com/

http://www.stannerscircle.ning.com/

Preparing for my upcoming 'Hamlet' and 'Crime Writing' workshops beginning in Week 6. We are expected to get through so much in these demanding courses and then there is the development of student writing skills. A huge array of material is out there but it needs to be sifted and refined to fit the syllabus criteria. Here are a couple of sites that might be of use with 'Hamlet'.

http://www.pathguy.com/hamlet.htm#revengeplays
https://hamletrg.wikispaces.com/ShakespeareanTragedy
http://hamletcommentary.weebly.com/

As the Trials close in, good luck to everyone trying to get through the last sections of the course before the marking sets in.

Barbara

New Software to share!
Have discovered a useful site mentioned by a friend. Had got sidetracked with other things but finally visited it today while looking for some useful images for 'Exploring Genre 'War'.

http://bighugelabs.com/

It is very easy to use and has a wide range of visualisation options that students would enjoy playing around with it.

While many visit this blog, I still have the same 6 members I started with nearly a year ago and as yet, almost no members on my HSC ning. Apparently they are going to begin charging to host nings in January and so it will die a natural death. If you teach HSC English, I have put up some resources for a few of the courses now running. Have a look and use any resources of use before it all folds in a few months time.

http://stannerscircle.ning.com/

Animoto is another software that could be useful although it costs money to get more than the free 30 second version I coddled together below.

Catch Up!

It has been a long time between posts. Have changed units for this term and finally got around to putting some new resources on my class wikispace. These include some useful glogsters for my War Poetry topic with Year 9. Collage snapshots help establish contextual understanding and highlight some of the focus concerns of the poets of the Great War. Year 10 is also drawing to a close with study focussed on the post nuclear attack play, 'Adam's Ark'. I have posted some clips relating to Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident to date.

'Goodnight Mr. Tom' continues to be one of the most popular search tags for those who end up on my sites, testimony to the fact that the most enduring stories are those that deal with human endurance of one kind or another.
Try this site - http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/living_blitz/ - with eyewitness accounts on.
Design WW2 campaign posters and slogans. You could also use Glogster for this. Have a look at this site for lots of lesson ideas about using the campaign posters - http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/wwii-posters/

'V for Vendetta'

Students seem to be really enjoying this dystopic unit. 'V for Vendetta' is well pitched both conceptually and in terms of film and representational techniques. Revamped the introductory ppt to clarify genre conventions and to strengthen the cautionary underpinnings of this type of text. Have attached the simple viewing response sheet given out to students as well. With discussion and teacher commentary where warranted, it took about 70 minutes to cover properly.

By the end, students were comfortable with highlighting visual techniques used to reinforce things such as the avenger's flamboyance and the 'revenge tragedy' genre's tendency for melodrama and theatrics. Comparing film posters from around the world also proved effective for it made students aware of how visual representation could shape viewer response and interpretation. Some emphasised 'V' while others foregrounded Evie. Colour imagery and symbolism also varied from poster to poster but in all, there tended to be the massed mask populace as a motif.

Examination of key scenes from the film script will be the focus of the second viewing which will be a deconstruction of the film rather than the straight through/no commentary initial viewing for first impressions.

http://stanners.wikispaces.com/

For all those teaching 'Goodnight Mr Tom'

So many of my visitors seem to be teaching 'Goodnight Mr Tom'. Since I have moved onto another unit and my class wiki resources have been removed, I thought I would put as many of my effective resources for this novel/changing worlds unit onto my general wiki. Hope you find them useful.

I found it a fantastic novel to teach-accessible but moving. As one boy said after we finished the unit by watching the film, 'That was the best film I have ever, ever seen'. Given that he was 13 years old, I think that says a great deal.

http:stannersenglishmatters.wikisipaces.com

'V for Vendetta'

If you are teaching 'V for Vendetta', you must take a look at these two mini documentary clips that offer a brilliant analysis of the contextual underpinning of the film. They include film clips and interviews with the cast that also highlight the film's use of symbolism and dystopic conventions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzLZsY1oJd4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfKCqpbG9S8&feature=related

Following the link to Chum Media education, you reach the following website which has a wonderful range of useful media literacy resources. If you scroll down to the bottom, you will come across a Thai Pantene Advertisement which is well worth a look. Works as an effective 'belonging' text.
http://www.edselect.com/media.htm