The Lighthouse

One of the reasons I choose my inquiry to be based around picture books and media is because I am a big fan of them. I also feel as teachers, we need to be exposing students to books and media to help develop their writing ideas and skills.

This week I used the Lighthouse off the Literacy Shed. I am a big fan of the Literacy Shed ( and the Mathematics Shed)and love the range of animations in each shed. There are a number of different sheds to choose from and I have explored all of these sheds and never once been disappointed.

I didn't have a real reason why I decided on The Lighthouse ,it was more I have always liked this animation and I have wanted to use it with a class for a very long time.

This week has been quite difficult as I have been out of class all week and haven't actually taken my writing groups.
I have had to rely on feedback from the teachers taking my groups and photographic evidence. Below is what I had put in place for those who were covering my class.

One of the main concerns I had for my chosen four was the fact they lacked ideas to help get them started to write. Left to their own devices nearly all of them would sit there not knowing what to write. Which showed in the unaided writing task I gave them.

By using picture books or media, I hope to help develop their ideas. This week the plan was to deconstruct the film and develop a story map and word bank for students to use.

I am someone who believes that when you are writing you need to have material all around the room to help aide students to develop and create their own ideas. It can be very daunting (even for adults) to be asked to write about something without any help or guidance.

At the start of the week I gave them screen shots (Courtesy of Tom Silver) from the animation and the students had to discuss a plausible narrative for what might be happening. Talking is also a big thing I am into when it comes to writing. My theory is 'if they can't talk it they can't write it'. I have been a big fan of Talk for Writing which was the developed by Pie Corbett and supported by Julia Strong and incorporate a lot of his ideas into my own lessons.

After this, the students then watched the animation stopping at vital points so that I could ask them a few questions and we could discuss  and make predictions as to what they thought. ( I did take ideas  that were shared on the Literacy Shed site).

Children also brainstormed language to describe the setting using nouns, adjectives and adverbs.

We discussed possible outcomes as we neared the end of the animation as well.

I then allowed them to watch the animation all over again with interrupting them. After that we discussed anything new we could add to our working wall of vocabulary, ideas and thoughts.

Next students worked in mixed ability groups and using the screen shots story mapped each scene using phrase, vocabulary etc. Students also created speech bubbles (where appropriate) to write down the Lighthouse keeper's thoughts and utterances.

I modelled this for students by creating a mini guided writing of the first scene and then as a group we did a shared writing of the second screen shot. Although not quite shared writing as we were only adding in vocabulary, phrases similes, alliteration etc.  By doing this I wanted to understand the task but also to model an expectation I had on them for vocabulary choices.

Below is the first screen shot and the vocabulary and phrases I modelled for them. This would be used later in the week when they started to write their opening to the animation. I would do a shared writing with them and use a lot of the vocabulary I had collected. I would then expect them to 'magpie' at least three of my words or phrases.

 

Modelled Vocabulary.

 

Sea crashing against the rocks

Bright yellow lights that goes on for miles

Light that beckons the ships to safety

Jagged rocks standing to attention

Clouds tip toed across the black night

Illumination of the silver moon

Solitude lighthouse standing alone on the edge of a cliff.

Full moon

As with most planning, I tend to plan the first two days and see where we get. All the above took the whole week to complete. Next week I will continue to use this animation and begin to develop some writing.