It’s not the right word, but I’m having a mental block. Settling, acceptance, being too focused on just getting coursework in on time and getting the exam classes prepared. Between that and feeling guilty for not completing my iMedia writeups here has kept me from posting for far too long. (Edit: Re-reading that it makes no sense, but hopefully you can figure out what I meant)
I feel a bit of reflection would be pretty useful at the minute. I’m starting to worry that I’ve lost that drive to self-evaluate every lesson in order to improve and started going through the motions of teaching a lesson and just moving on. I suppose it’s inevitable that a bit of that young, enthusiastic edge would wear down (young, fnaar) but I’m determined not to lose it entirely so self reflection begins again in earnest.
What have I found out during the hiatus?
- Edexcel Applied ICT Unit 10 (multimedia - done in Flash) is hard work and we really need to get Flash going a lot earlier in the school. I need to get a Y7 unit put together for next year. (DJ Phillips - formerly of GCSEICT.com has a fantastic resource here)
- Scratch is great. I’ve had classes making simple ‘dodge the ball’ games, car racing games, helicopter games - I’m going to get my iMedia group to make a version of Pong if I get time.
- You can lead a Y10 class to enlightenment, but when you stick a video camera in their hands they’ll stick act like prats, forget the meaning of the word ‘continuity’ and somehow ‘forget’ to record half of their script (and that’s if they remember to take their script with them!).
It’s been hard work, but fun (the best way to be IMHO) and I was promoted to Asst. HoD last month (which means I’m either doing something right or I’m hiding it well). We’re also interviewing for a new colleague on Monday, should be fun!
Will write again soon, promise.
I’m still here and I haven’t forgotten my promise to write up the iMedia units. Unfortunately I was ill for a large chunk of last week and am on half term this week - and left all of my notes at school. Tsk. I’ll have to do some marking now instead.
Incidentally - I had the ‘experience’ of a whole day’s PD day on the new ICT curriculum. The one interesting part of the day was comparing our current Y7 Scheme of Work to the new learning outcomes. And we’re already meeting or exceeding each one.
I had been looking at HoD jobs in the area, but if I have to sit through a number of those days as a result then I wonder if any amount of money can really be worth it…
OK, so following up from my training, here is my abridged tutor handbook for Level 2, Unit 1. Expect the other 7 in due course. I’ve included the key notes from what I was given plus notes I made myself during the day. Any inaccuracies are my own fault and if in doubt - check with Alison!!! (more…)
I know I said I was going to write-up comments for each unit over the weekend. Well, it’s still on the list of things to do, it’s just that other things have temporarily taken over.
I’m sat here with a rare 15 minutes spare and I’m contemplating what to do next with my iMedia group. The project brief I gave them, to create an advert for a local business, allows sufficient depth to meet the assessment criteria - a minimum of 3 edits with different tools. So basic cutting, adding titles, transitions and/or video effects ought to be fine. I’m still not sure they’ve got enough theory under their belts though, and I’m not sure they’re all good enough for my liking.
I’m trying to think of an alternative project brief for next time and, inspired by the montage sequence in Team America: World Police I was going to get them to make a trailer for a film. Of course they need to capture the footage for themselves and the more I think about it, the greater the gulf between professional trailers and our low-timescale, low-budget attempts seems.
Another thought was a music video, but I’m not entirely convinced that this will lead to anything other than messing around for a couple of weeks. So what else? An interview? A documentary? An advert for the school? The course? A chosen GCSE subject? Do I give them all the same script? (I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to as that’s not part of the assessment criteria - although storyboarding is).
It needs to be a project that will allow them to film with a minimum of props and other equipment, and in a short space of time. Being able to film people without needing a change of clothing is useful, and the ability to add effects, transitions and edits without it looking too ‘primary school’ is key.
Feel free to offer suggestions. I’ll let you know what we decide…
NB: I’ve added an iMedia category to the blog but have not (as yet) retrospectively tagged previous posts. I won’t make any promises but Multimedia should provide similarly themed posts in the archive.
