Sarah+C


 * __Between Session Tasks__**

My Year 5 class have been studying British culture and I have found that analysis of photos of people, sculptures, jewelery and other artifacts have been valuable and engaging learning experiences for the kids.
 * Workshop 2 - Body Language **

We did a really good lesson analysing the body language in Roman sculptures and discussed how the body language of the subject portrays cultural values and attitudes. We first looked at the sculpture of Britannia being defeated by the Emperor Claudius. The children analysed the sculpture using a 4-Square organiser on the whiteboards, and we made notes on the IWB. We then discussed how the theme of 'conquer or be conquered' features as a strong part of the British Identity.



The responses from the children surprised me because they made lots of connections within and between different parts of the image. I could see, from the vocabulary they used and the inferences they made, that the visual literacy activity was powerful in expanding their background knowledge about British culture and history. Yay!

We compared the image of Britannia being defeated to the image of a British soldier. We discussed and role played the body language used to portray an image of power, superiority and authority. We then compared this to the image and meanings behind the Britannia sculpture and have started to explore how the experiences and activities of the past have impacted on British identity and culture.

The children used their understandings gained from the sculpture as inspiration for a narrative.

**Workshop 1 - Animals as Symbols**

To follow on from above, we analysed the use of animals in Royal jewelery and emblems. After viewing a documentary, the children were given the opportunity to discuss pictures of real jewelery pieces from the 1500s. The responses during discussion surprised me as the kids immediately recognised the recurrence of animals such as snakes, eagles, and lions as symbols of power. We had some talks about why power and wealth were important attributes for people in power to flaunt.

The children then designed their own piece of jewelery that represented power and wealth. They came up with ornate designs for helmets, sword and shield sets, crowns, purses and brooches.

**Workshop 3 - Beauty, Attractiveness and Identity**

As part of a larger lesson sequence on Victorian Britain, the students were exposed to lots of images of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. The students were asked to draw a portrait of themselves and then completed a 4-Square analysis of one of the Queens' portraits. They reported back to peers about ideas about attractiveness or beauty that seemed to be reflected in the pictures (eg why was Queen Elizabeth always portrayed as youthful?). This formed part of a larger study about how beauty and attractiveness form part of the individual and collective identity. At the end of the lesson, we analysed the students' self portraits and discussed why they had included certain features (eg very fancy clothing, labels, perfectly manicured hair, high heels...). Discussion prevailed about 'ideals' and I discovered that the students were a little bewildered to think that society was subtly molding their image choices (//What do you mean not everybody thinks Nelly is cool? Those people must be nerds!//). I will definitely be following up on this topic!


 * Workshop 4 - Lighting and Colour**

**Workshop 5 - Sympathetic and Unsympathetic Characters**

Sticking with our Victorian England theme, we analysed the use of character in Alice in Wonderland. After some discussion about the meaning of 'sympathetic' and 'unsympathetic' characters, we set to work pulling apart the ways the Mad Hatter, Queen of Harts, Alice, and the Rabbit were portrayed in different versions of the story. We viewed movie clips for the Disney cartoon version and the recent 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland. After viewing each version of each character, I had the children brainstorm the //what// - what salient features the producer had given each character (eg big blue eyes, long golden hair, ripped and mismatched clothing, crooked facial expressions), the //why// - why was this done? What personality trait does the feature symbolise? and then //how// - how does it make you (the viewer) feel about the character? We compared each character and the students had a very clear idea about how they were positioned.

As a follow up activity, I asked the students to visualise characters and settings for their latest narrative about pirates. They were challenged to depict, in as much detail as they could, how they wished to position their audience to interpret their characters and setting. We have not yet finished this activity, but their pictures are ok - I will try to post some examples if I can get this thing working...