Appendix Seven - Review with Students

The classes of English and Geography students who participated in the project completed a short questionnaire as they approached the end, evaluating how it had gone and what they had learned from it.

Q1 - Can you describe how your Geography/English lessons have been different recently?

I have noticed we have been using media more often, particularly newspaper reports and films to research blood diamonds.

Because there not all just about geography we have to use different skills as well.

We have been discussing different media projects and how they relate to Blood Diamonds.

We have been discussing different media projects and how they relate to blood diamonds.

Our lessons have been different recently because we have been using iPads and computers to create media products.

We have been using technology more.

We have been using multiple sources and it's made the work more interesting.

English has more complex lessons and have become more challenging.

Yes, we learnt the new skittles technique and these past lessons have been more challenging.

We been using the iPads more and been looking a film.

We have been learning about different media texts alongside the book. It's been great.

We have been looking at different types of media and comparing them where as we usually just use one piece an concentrate on that piece only.

We have been using media studies to discuss the difference between book and film. Bridging the gap between media and English.

Lessons have been more about speaking and filming and also the lessons have been about films and newspapers as well as just having the book.

Been more about media things like camera angles and been using iPads more.

We have been doing English media with some English Literature and Language.

They are more interesting.

We have used iPads more and have been watching the film.

They have been kind of more fun.

We have been using iPads and devices and other technology.

They've been harder then usual and I have had to think about it more but I get it done eventually.

We have done more interacting sessions and group work.

Different, using more technology and fun.

English has been different because we have been part reading and part watching a film.

We have studied a lot more media based subjects.

They have been more fun.

More focused on media than normal lessons.

We've been looking at the media alongside the book.

Q2 - How have you found them?

I have found them particularly interesting as it allowed us to look at others perspectives on the subject, allowing us to avoid being biased in our written work.

Good because I learnt new things.

Better than normal geography lessons.

Quite fun and interesting.

I have found them interesting.

I have found them easier because I already know how the technology works. 

Really interesting.

English has become more interesting to me and has encouraged me to learn more outside of school as well as within school.

Fun.

Really cool!

They have been more fun because we go out and do stuff instead of just sitting down in a seat.

They have been more logical, more practical and more fun!

I really liked watching the film since i enjoy watching films.

Extremely fun.

I have found them harder.

They have been better and more fun.

Good, interesting, slightly different than what I'm used to.

Different and really interesting. We've learnt new things we wouldn't have had chance to.

Q3 - What have you learned?

That these are diamonds discovered in a warzone, particularly Sierra Leone's war in 1991.

How different media types can be bias.

Not all media texts are very reliable and you have to not rely on one piece of media.

How much destruction blood diamonds caused in Sierra Leone.

How to link media texts to subjects.

How film directors have to interpret a story.

All media texts have different ways of engaging their audiences.

The purpose of newspapers and book reviews means that can make things seem more dramatic.

About how diamonds are mined dangerously.

They all have different characteristic and some interpret questions or other stuff in different ways, making media a diverse subject.

How you can build tension in books, newspaper articles, trailers and in films.

About slavery and punishments.

We have learnt about different types of media texts along with reading an autobiography; 'Touching the void' written by Joe Simpson.

We studied lots of different non fiction texts (e.g. Newspapers, reviews and biographies).

We have learnt how different types of media show tension and other things.

We looked at lots of different non-fiction texts.

That a group of men (RUF) wanted to overthrow the government in Sierra Leone.

We only have looked at a newspaper but it was very useful to learn about as the article was about the book we were reading also we watched a film about the book and it teaches us about tension.

We have learned about films and a little bit about newspapers also a non fiction book.

Q4 - In what ways might learning about the media help you in your life outside of school?

It should hopefully inspire children to not only use media for entertainment but also to see what is happening in the world and how it affects people.

It helps us learn things about people from other countries.

We will need to use the media as we grow up and get jobs so it can prepare us.

It means we don't just watch YouTube and Geordie Shore!

It's what we are interested in so we might take it in more.

You might be more interested in learning more out of school and you may use more sources while doing research and making notes.

You can understand that what the media is saying isn't always true and may be biased.

If you go into the film industry it can help you create a more successful film and if you become an author it will also help you.

Using the internet properly by using the right website.

If you go into film making or photography it would be great help.

It can help me read newspapers differently.

It has made me think more about the content of media like documentaries and what they are saying.

It can help you outside of school as when you watch the news you can identify the different techniques of media.

Because media is becoming a very big part of the modern world, since we are one of the upcoming generations it would be more beneficial for us to have an easier interaction with any media things we may come across.

To understand how media can effect the way we think about certain things.

Knowing what to trust and what to ignore.

It can help us to make films and think about how we use media.

Q5 - Would you like to use a wider range of media texts across all of your school subjects?

Interview with Geography Students – 30.11.16

 Interviewer: How have your recent Geography lessons been different?

Student 1: We’ve been using the iPads a lot more and scanning QR codes and things. We’ve been online more and looked at newspapers, reports and articles and thinking about where they come from and who created them.

Student 2: There’s loads of content and we are focusing on the evidence we use to support our ideas. We are questioning it more to see if it’s reliable and which is most useful. We’ve done that before but not with articles, adverts or songs; they are new to us and make it more fun. We use websites and newspaper articles a lot but the other stuff is new. It’s good because we’ve learnt that certain texts might be bias towards one side whereas other content sources might give a wider view of things.

Student 3: I’ve really enjoyed using the iPads to do things and the fact that we’ve been working in groups. We didn’t all agree about things so that made us talk and discuss our ideas more.

Student 4: It’s definitely been more fun. I’m not good at Geography but the music videos and film clips and stuff have made it fun and I’ve really tried. I’ve liked it. You get to work together and with the iPads you can re-watch things so if you haven’t noticed things the first time, you can keep trying.

Interviewer: How have you found the lessons?

Student 2: Yeah, they’ve been interesting because you have something new every lesson and things to watch. It’s not just listening to a teacher and writing it down; we do more and I can remember it better. It’s definitely better.

Student 1: It’s definitely better to watch. I’ve really enjoyed the videos and the song lyrics stuff. We printed out a rap song and we had to highlight bits and explain it. It’s a more modern way of learning and it’s related to what we are doing, but it’s not just a website with facts. It was like a puzzle; we had to search for the information and work things out.

Student 2: Instead of just reading a massive workbook or anything like that, it’s what we would listen to at home so we enjoy it and could be listening rather than just reading.

Student 4: They’ve definitely been more fun and interesting. I’ve done my homework because I found it interesting and could give my opinions instead of it being facts.

Interviewer: What have you learned?

Student 2: We get different people’s opinions. So we got the opinion of the people who sell the diamonds and then did something else and thought about the opinion of the people who work for them. We learnt about all the people who are enslaved to mine for diamonds and the rebel groups – we didn’t know about that before.

Student 1: Yeah we learnt about how the media can hide things from audiences if they won’t sell papers and how diamond companies don’t show how diamonds are mined. We learnt a lot about bias as well and how the media twist things to show one point of view.

Student 2: We learnt that the media don’t tell the whole truth. It’s been helpful because in the future if I’m researching, I won’t just Google something; I’ll look at videos and songs and adverts as well. I’ll be able to work out which ones are reliable or bias.

Student 3: We’ve learnt about how the diamond trade affects people, not just countries. It’s been nice to think about people and not just countries and economies. That was helped by the media aspect because we watched documentaries with eye-witness accounts. That makes it feel more real and more factual because it gives a different perspective. It’s also allowed us to see that when you are researching, you need to avoid certain sources because they aren’t reliable.

Student 4: Yeah – I know that not all films are about true life and stories are changed to be more exciting so that people watch them.

Interviewer: Why do you think we tried this?

Student 4: Some students learn differently so it might help students to learn more. Some prefer videos and seeing things rather than writing so the media stuff would help them.

Student 3: Yeah – it definitely helps to vary the learning styles. It should also help in the future. Depending what job you do, you’re never going to only use one media type or one research tool so it helps you look at things from different perspectives and angles and that’s an important skill. If you look at things differently to everyone else, you’re going to have an advantage when it comes to getting a job.

Student 2: It’s more engaging and more fun. It refers to the rest of the world and takes us away from textbooks. It’s more about the real world.

Student 1: We can get more out of sources and can support answers with evidence from different places. In other lessons we can think more widely. We have been thinking about the bigger picture so we might be able to use what we have learnt in geography about the media to develop our research in other subjects.

Student 4: I use the media a lot outside of school, particularly social media. This project will help me to think about that. We’ve been taught to look out for things and try to understand them to really get to the bottom of a text. I don’t do that at home but now I can.

Student 3: It also helps students look deeper. Rather than just using social media as a communication tool it will make people more curious about why people are using it and what that tells us. Curiosity will help us inside school and out. I suppose this project has encouraged us to ask questions. That’s what it’s all about; not taking things at face value and always asking yourself ‘why’ so that you understand it more deeply.

Interviewer: How do you think this style of teaching would benefit you in school and in your wider life?

Student 1: Lots of people go on their phones and devices outside of school. Literally everyone I know owns a phone so it’s what we are used to and it makes it easier for us.

Student 2: We lose sheets we are given so it’s easier to have digital devices to research. I like watching the videos and take it in more. It makes it more engaging and fun.

Student 1: It would make me think about the media I use outside of school. I’d pay attention now and think about what it was telling me instead of scanning over things or not really thinking about it.

Student 2: Yeah – I’d be able to pick out the different points of view. I’d think about what a text or phrase could mean and the different interpretations. It’d make me think about who wrote it or made it and how this changes what is in it.

Interviewer: Is there anything that could be improved?

Student 1: we can’t use the QR codes because YouTube is blocked. That was annoying. We couldn’t watch them on iPads so we had to put them on the board.

Student 2: I think it would be better if we did this sort of stuff in all lessons because I’ve definitely been more engaged. It hasn’t been boring at all.

Student 1: Some of the sheets have been quite big so they could be smaller. But, I’ll definitely remember this stuff more than other lessons where we just look at one newspaper article or one textbook or one website.

Student 4: Yeah – I’d definitely like to do more of this in other subjects. We do media things in English a bit but not recently and not in other subjects. Students who like things visualised rather than being told things would find this useful. So in maths, watching clips on how to do things would be good. We could watch them more than once so rather than one teacher explaining things to thirty students, we could help ourselves. Having to wait for the teacher to help slows us down.

Student 3: That was going to be my example as well. We could make our own revision videos as well so rather than just using what’s out there on YouTube, we could make our own. That would really help me. Some people think maths is pointless and that it won’t help them in real life so if we were to use media texts to learn it and to see how it applies, people would be more willing to try because they could see that it is useful. I think the main reason that students don’t try is because they don’t think it’s relevant so using the media would help them to see that it is, and then they would try.

Also, I think when looking at how to improve it, rather than just looking at different examples of media texts, I think we should be given a bit more freedom to choose our own and maybe do a bit of a project on it. I’ve found it interesting so would like to know more and a project would mean I could do more research into different areas.

Creativity is what inspires students so I’m looking forward to making some of my own media texts in Geography in the next few weeks. I like making movies and that would be a useful skill in all my subjects so I can’t wait to have a go and practice.

 

Interview with English Students – 30.11.16

 Interviewer: How have your recent English lessons been different?

Student 1: We’ve looked at the same text but in lots of different forms. It’s good to do a comparison and I’ve enjoyed comparing how they do things. It’s been interesting to see how the book describes a moment in the story and then how it’s portrayed in the film.

Student 2: We’ve been watching bits from the film and reading the book at the same time. We would usually read the book, write about it and then watch the film as a treat but never comment on it. We’ve never used the film as a text before, certainly not like a book anyway. That’s been really interesting; I hadn’t thought of films being like books and something that you could or should analyse before but they are.

Student 1: Yeah – watching the film in little sections as we read the book makes much more sense because we can compare how the author wrote it and the director directed it and think about those decisions.

Student 3: I think it’s a good way of teaching – books are easy to forget but I won’t forget the film. We’ve done lots of different things recently and that makes it more interesting.

Student 4: I agree. Sometimes, reading a book for 6 weeks and writing about it can get boring. So reading the book, reading newspaper articles, reading book reviews, reading diaries and watching films has kept it really interesting. It’s also showed us a different side to the story.

Interviewer: How have you found the lessons?

Student 4: I find them fun.  

Student 1: They’ve been really interesting.

Student 4: Yeah interesting too. We get to work with our partner or in groups more often and that’s fun. We can compare our ideas and work together to improve them.

Student 2: We’ve had a lot more freedom which has been fun. Even in finding quotations, we choose them from lots of different sources so we all come up with something different and then talk about it. I’ll look at my partner’s and think about why they made those choices and it helps me learn about my own.

Student 4: I have really liked them. It makes English seem like a real subject; something that relates to the world outside school. So, outside, we might not read lots of books but we are surrounded by newspapers and films and stuff like that so using them in the classroom to learn about English or the book we are reading makes it feel real.

Student 1: the storyboarding has been interesting. Its means you can express things in different ways. The video diaries were good too – it’s easier to talk to a camera sometimes than writing things down as you don’t have to worry about how to put things. It’s much more personal.

Student 2: I really didn’t like the video diaries as I didn’t like being on camera but I liked the storyboard. Because you had images to go with it, you could put your point across differently and it made us think about what a director would say.

Student 3: I liked both because I enjoy making films and have done projects outside of school to film things so that was great. It sort of brought it to life a bit.

Interviewer: What have you learned?

Student 1: I’ve learned that it’s easier to put your point of view across in different ways. Before I would have thought ‘I’m in English so I have to write it down’ but now I know there are lots of other things I can do to record my thoughts. It’s more interesting in that way.

Student 1: It made us think about audiences. Some people might prefer newspaper articles whilst others like the film. It also made us think about the limitations of each type of thing. So in books it can be hard to describe things and in films it’s difficult to show the character’s emotions so there are pros and cons with each.

Student 4: In the book you can just look up a description but in the film we could see it. Because it was about mountaineering, we couldn’t picture things so the film helped.

Student 3: It also made us think about who writes or makes things and how this affects the content. So because the book was an autobiography, we decided it was quite reliable. But then he wants to sell books so he might have exaggerated a bit. The film was made by someone else so might not be completely true, but he was interviewed so those bits should be. We just started to think about who makes things and whether they are trustworthy.

Interviewer: Why do you think we tried this?

Student 2: To see different perspectives and different media texts.

Student 1: In real life there are so many different types of text that we need to be used to using all of them. Studying the same things across different formats has widened our horizons.

Student 4: I use the media a lot so studying it has made me think about it more.

Interviewer: How do you think this style of teaching would benefit you in school and in your wider life?

Student 3: It will make me think about things more. If I were to watch a film now, I would be tempted to read some reviews to see what other people thought of it. Or if I read a news article from a broadsheet paper, I might compare it to a tabloid to see what else I could learn.

Interviewer: Is there anything that could be improved?

Student 1: Not really. I just want to do more of it.

Student 2: Yeah – in History and Geography we sometimes just use textbooks and it can get a bit boring. I’d like to do more of this in those subjects. It would be more interesting.

Student 2: Sometimes in some subjects, teachers just want to feed us information but some people learn differently and some of us want more and different things. We could use media texts as an extension to see what other people think or feel.

Student 1: This type of learning is good for different learning styles. If you learn from pictures then a film is better but if you like reading then you should use newspapers or textbooks. There’s something for everyone so we should use it in all of our subjects.