AIM and RATIONALE: This WebQuest was designed to enhance a middle school Media class where students explore visual literacy.
As we prepare our students to become effective thinkers, students should be encouraged to determine implications and consequences of findings, provide opportunities for independent and group learning to promote depth in content understanding, and incorporate meaningful tasks to apply and transfer learning. Innovative classroom technology assists this process, along with working across disciplines.
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) made the following statement in 2003:
“Today our students are living in a world that is increasingly non-printcentric. New media such as the Internet, MP3 files, and video are transforming the communication experiences of young people outside of school. Young people are composing in nonprint media that can include any combination of visual art, motion (video and film), graphics, text, and sound – all of which are frequently written and read in a nonlinear fashion….The now standard computer applications for desktop video editing, for example, incorporate visuals, text, motion, graphics, and sound. Computer-based nonlinear video production alone provides a grand new palette for students and teachers….”
In the 21st century and in this digital age, it is not enough for students to only study literature. They live in a visual world. Another aspect of literacy is the ability of the student to “read” film at the literary, dramatic, and cinematic levels and work collaboratively to become more effective visual communicators. Increasing literacy in both written and visual texts, improving collaboration skills, building confidence and motivation, and providing opportunities for higher level thinking is the basis for a lesson such as this.
SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES and relationship with Maryland State Curriculum Standards: 1. After watching five different silent film clips, students will be able to detect the four types of literary conflict in the scenes they watched.
Maryland State Curriculum: Reading Standard 6.0 (Listening): Apply and demonstrate listening skills appropriately in a variety of settings and for a variety of purposes. Reading Standard 3.0 (Comprehension of Literary Text): analyze elements of narrative text to facilitate understanding and interpretation; analyze conflict and the events of the plot. 2. Students will be able to create a storyboard for one type of literary conflict.
Maryland State Curriculum: Writing Standard 4.0: Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade; compose to express personal ideas by experimenting with a variety of forms and techniques suited to topic, audience, and purpose to develop an awareness of voice and tone.
3. Using a video camera and (optional) tripod and microphone, students will be able to shoot a “silent film" using one of the types of literary conflict.
Maryland State Curriculum: Writing Standard 4.0: Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade; compose to express personal ideas by experimenting with a variety of forms and techniques suited to topic, audience, and purpose to develop an awareness of voice and tone. 4. Using iMOVIE, students will edit their conflict scenes into video, no more than 90 seconds in length. Students will add titles, music, and a "silent film" visual effect to their video.
Maryland State Curriculum: Reading Standard 2.0, Comprehension of Informational Text; identify and use text features to facilitate understanding of informational texts; use graphics aids such as illustrations and pictures, photographs, drawings, sketches, cartoons, graphs, charts/tables, and diagrams and other aids encountered in informational texts.
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