Techlink :: Classroom Practice :: Digital Technology

Menu titles from the movie

Reference: CP910
Classroom Practice: Year 7
Title: Media Technology
Duration: Three weeks
Overview: Year 7 students in the Media Studies class at Havelock North Intermediate School worked on a filmmaking unit which was taught in conjunction with the Technology curriculum. Media Studies, one of seven programmes in the Technology department, had previously been aligned with the Arts curriculum but teacher Peter Cottrell integrated both in this 2009 unit.
Focus Points:

The media room

Havelock North Intermediate is a decile 8 school with a 2009 roll of 624 students. Seven programmes come under the Technology umbrella: Food Technology, Electronics, Biotechnology, Materials Technology, Art and Graphics, Media Technology and ICT. Each Technology cycle runs for approximately three weeks, during which time students have ten lessons of one and a half hours duration.

Although the Media Studies programme is part of the Technology department at present, it had been taught under the Arts curriculum rather than Technology. Students in the Media class examine the role of the media in society, learn about film production and a range of pre-production tasks, and work on the TV5 network. This in-school television studio is run by the students who report, edit and produce news items which are presented 'live' on the network.

Media Studies teacher Peter Cottrell joined Havelock North Intermediate in mid 2008. Peter trained as a primary teacher in Australia and taught lower and upper primary students, during which time he utilised his interest and experience in amateur film-making to make films with his classes. Eight years later, Peter resigned and trained as an actor and toured with professional theatre companies.

Peter and Doug talk over the brainstormed plan

He then took up a position in a TAFE (Training and Further Education) institution, working as a drama/performance/television production teacher with 17 and 18 year-olds. After 19 years there, Peter moved to New Zealand and his current position at Havelock North Intermediate.

At this time there was recognition within the school that the Technology department needed support to move forwards, in terms of fully delivering the Technology curriculum. Doug Sutherland, previously co-HOD at Havelock North High School, was appointed as Technology implementation coordinator for the intermediate in 2008. His arrival coincided with Technology adviser Heather Bell's approach to the school and her proposal that the Technology department participate in professional development through the Technological Practice Project. Doug took up the offer and the staff supported this move by using their teacher-release time for the three-hour workshops.

Heather started working with the Technology team in late 2008 and through 2009, running workshops once or twice a term on implementation of the Technology curriculum at Year 7. Doug supported this work and continued it between visits.

Screenshot from the movie

When Peter took up the position of Media Studies teacher at Havelock North Intermediate in mid-2008, he continued to run the programme under the Arts curriculum. However, when Technology implementation coordinator Doug Sutherland saw what Peter was doing with the Year 7 students he could see a natural link to the Technology curriculum. "A lot of the processes he was working through were similar to what I was working through in developing an outcome".

Doug approached Peter in term 4 and suggested that he might like to be involved in the forthcoming PD sessions on incorporating the Technology curriculum into teaching programmes. Participants were at different stages in teaching Technology – some instigating the change to Technology, others developing their programme, and Doug was adjusting from teaching full-year programmes in a secondary school (Year 9 to Year 13 Scholarship) to three-week Year 7/8 programmes.

Peter says that he didn't know anything about the Technology curriculum, or how Media Studies might fit into it, but was interested in being part of that development process. He attended the first meeting as an observer, unsure as to whether he could fit what he was doing into the Technology curriculum. He realised that it wasn't difficult to understand and that concepts such as brief development could fit into his unit, and decided that he would give it a go and see how it worked.

The movie set

Peter discussed his programme with Heather who pointed out that some of what he was doing already worked with the Technology curriculum. She explained that his students already did planning and storyboarding, which directly matched with Technology and that although they didn't develop the brief in terms of a conceptual statement they already worked on identifying the key attributes a good video would have. Heather says that Peter's students were mocking-up and modelling aspects of their work, trialling things, getting feedback and then redoing aspects, so that his programme fitted nicely into the Technology curriculum and required very little tweaking.

A key aim of the PD was to develop a seamless progression in Years 7-13 Technology, and during the early stages the whole team, with Heather, had visited the Technology team at Havelock North High School to gain an understanding of how Technology was delivered and assessed from Year 9 to Year 13. (The majority of the high school students come from the intermediate). From this visit the team was able to develop a strategic plan to develop programmes that would allow for progression from Year 8 to Year 9 while also meeting the needs of the new curriculum.

Throughout the year, as Peter delivered his course to consecutive Year 7 classes in 2009 and attended the workshops, he discussed his unit with Heather and how well it was fitting with Technology. She had suggested that, although there was already a lot of oral discussion as his students developed their video, Peter also needed to gather more permanent evidence of this aspect of their work.

The interviewees

An interview from the movie

The Media Technology unit was delivered to all 19 Year 7 classes in 2009. Time is always an issue for teachers trying to deliver a Technology programme within limited hours, especially for those working within a Technology rotation cycle in which they might teach a class for one cycle during the year. With only three weeks to deliver the unit, Peter simplified things so that students were still being exposed to the knowledge and skills of film-making. Students worked as a class to make the film and experienced the different components it involves such as filming, directing, acting, working the clapper board, and editing.

Throughout the unit Peter uses the same language students have had, or will have, in other Technology cycles, so that the Technology process is reinforced throughout the year. "They've talked about mocking-up in other classes so I'll ask them 'how we would mock-up or create this shot? What would the film look like?' So we're addressing those aspects as we go along. I'll say, 'You're doing the same sort of thing that you do in Food or Plastics but our product is the film that we're making'. So they start to understand that transfer, how it relates to other subjects they're doing in the Technology process"

Peter also taught the class to use 'tools' they would encounter in other Technology classes, such as a Gantt chart

Due to the relatively short time period available, the class plunged straight into work on their project. Peter gave the students a brief - to work as a class to make a film based on The Bully Asleep, a poem by John Walsh. In Lesson One, the students examined the poem, devised some scene images, discussed the characters/roles and, in groups of four, started writing scripts for scenes about Billy's life.
In the second lesson the class looked at storyboarding and how to set out a three-column script. Peter explained what a treatment

A scene from the filmed segment of 'The Bully Asleep' poem

During Lesson Three, the students filmed the story about Billy based on the three-column script, and worked on editing it in the following lesson. They then filmed the poem and edited that during the fifth lesson.

In Lessons Six to Nine, the students worked in smaller groups to develop vignettes

During the final lesson the students evaluated and assessed their work, one part being consideration of "I can apply technological skills to develop an outcome". The teacher-assessment criteria included "Demonstrates understanding of technological practice in developing a solution".

The bully demands money

The girls look scared and sad

Screenshots from a bullying in the playground scene

Peter says that the students enjoyed every part of the whole programme, and that because everything happens so quickly there was never a dull moment. Students were even asking to come in at lunchtimes to do more editing. He says that the quality of the film they made was good, and that in the editing process students could put more individual touches on it. He adds that making the little vignettes allowed students to apply the skills they'd learnt as a whole class, working in smaller groups.

Peter has been concerned that students in his class don't have the opportunity to design, trial and produce an individual outcome, but says the unit does have a take-home element. Each student receives a DVD containing the movie, vignettes and TV5 broadcasts that their class developed, and he notes that they're very proud of what they have achieved.

Peter says that refining his approach to Media Technology is an ongoing process, but that by mid-year he was feeling much more comfortable with it.

"I feel that what the kids are doing is relevant and useful, and they are applying those skills in Technology to it. I think it's a good combination, the blend of Arts and Technology curriculums, and I guess I'm quite proud of how well that has worked.

"I'm becoming more confident with what it is that they're doing and more assured that yes, this does fit and it's not simply paying lip service to Technology."

Parent feedback on the Media Studies cycle has been positive but Peter notes that although parents are fascinated in what the students were doing, he doesn't know how interested they were in knowing that it was part of Technology. However, on the school open night a Technology cycle flow chart was hanging up in every Technology room so they were exposed to the idea.

Peter says that senior management was very encouraging about the curriculum development work teachers did with Heather and the team, and that the Technology department planning has since been used as an 'exemplar' for other departments within the school to follow.

Another outcome from the planning development work has been an increased cohesiveness within the team, as a result of attending a lot of meetings and workshops together and working towards a common goal. Peter says that there was a real sense of collegiality within the team after they had shared their experience and ideas, and worked through the PD together.

Peter remarks that it's important that there is consistency for the students and that the technological process is constantly reinforced as they go through. He notes that when you're used to working on your own it can be a bit daunting going along to meetings/workshops and sharing your work, but that he found it really affirming to have the support of a team. He appreciated his Technology colleagues coming along to look at what he was doing – providing positive feedback to reinforce what he was doing and offering suggestions.

Cameras on the set

Doug comments that, with Media Studies being so different to all the other areas, it is exciting having it integrated with Technology. He adds that it made for a very good team approach to curriculum delivery – Technology teachers all working together under the same curriculum document with assessment linked between areas. He says that the whole Technology programme can now be viewed as a two-year package which scaffolds the students' move through to secondary school.

Heather is enthusiastic about Peter's programme and the pedagogy he has brought into it, noting that he engaged the students through activities such as brainstorming – when he traced around a student on the floor and the class filled in the outline with their ideas about bullying. She says that working with Peter was mutually beneficial – it provided an opportunity for her to work with an "ICT-type" teacher actively teaching Technology and she can now show other teachers an example of what can be done in this learning area.

Peter looking over the brainstormed plan

In mid-2009 Peter said that he was 80% happy with how his programme was fitting with the Technology curriculum, noting that lack of time was a major factor. Film-making is very much a group activity but he would like his students to be able to develop their own products as they do in other courses such as Materials Technology. Ideally he would like to use the film as a "these are the skills" type exercise, so that students could then use their three-column script to develop their own film – but without cameras and computers for each student this isn't likely to happen soon.

The Year 8s do a different programme – they run the TV5 studio and do all the morning/afternoon broadcasts which go out to the school, and also work on developing a short three-minute film. Peter has been looking at what the Year 7s have done and the level they're at in terms of Media Technology, and how they could take on something more challenging next year based on the skills they have developed.

The Year 7 programme has been successful and although Peter notes that it's still early stages with him, he thinks other Media Studies teachers, especially those already linked with a Technology team, might also be interested in integrating their subject with Technology.

After observing how the Media Technology course worked so successfully, the Art teacher also came along to the planning workshops and is looking at integrating aspects of Technology into her programme as well, possibly "rejigging" some of what she does and starting to use the Technology process and terminology.

The commitment to providing quality Technology education at the intermediate should start flowing on to secondary school. Peter says that the future looks exciting and promising as teachers equip students with the technological literacy, knowledge and skills to progress through the achievement levels and which will allow for a seamless progression into Year 9 Technology at Havelock North High School.