In the Footsteps of Mulan Raising Boys’ Achievement in Writing St. Peter’s School Year 5
How it was Before Individuals not confident Write a little as fast as you can Writing is soooooo boring!! Writing stories takes forever How do I know what a girl thinks?? I don’t write so fast as the rest I don’t know enough wow words
Why Mulan? Exciting A good yarn Heroine/hero Fable from different tradition Varied cinematography Narrative poem Visually beautiful Dilemmas Opportunity to explore website
Making a Difference
What we Did Explored narrative poetry Using many small activities Working in pairs Focus on ‘excerpts’ Focus on narrative structure Able to ‘see’ detail Encouraged an interest in Chinese culture Transposing poem to film Hot seating Conscience alley Storyboards Concentrated on cohesion
More of what we did…….and how we did it Mulan : Disney Film Excerpts Stills Whole Film Original Chinese Folk Poem : The Ballad of Mulan: Exploring Narrative Teacher scribing Scaffolding Modelling Hot seating Conscience Alley Script writing Applying techniques to Narrative Poem in English tradition: The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God. Drama : Script : Film
The Motivation When we ask children to write, are we saying: - Sing me a Chinese folk song Paint me a cherry blossom tree Climb the Great Wall of China ?
Perceptions It is like being a film director Writing is ‘OK’ Girls are not always the best writers I understand what is happening more I think I can write better now From the Writing Perceptions Sheet
What now? Use Visual Literacy as Key Strategy in Year 5 Roll out interventions In Year 3 Plan for each class have visual Literacy experience Resource and develop planning and assessment Share ideas and encourage colleagues to experiment Continue with Target Group