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February is Black History Month. A significant subject which the Grade 5-6 students learned about, and deeply reflected upon. They explored the history (i.e. slavery, Underground Railroad), and discussed various recent events (i.e. Black Lives Matter). They expanded their knowledge as they discussed: why February is the month dedicated to Black History; how this initiative to celebrate and learn about Black History and culture by Dr. Carter Woodson went from being a week to a month; how the community has greatly contributed to Canadian community throughout the centuries; who composes the community in Canada (i.e. 45% and more in Quebec are of Haitian origin); and the various inventions invented by the community (i.e. sanitary pad, gas mask). Additionally, each year I select a specific subject to focus upon with the students. This year, it was hair. The students were baffled and angered by how people’s hair can be a target of and for discrimination. They learned how hair is a form of communication of status, family, emotions, and more. Moreover, how the slaves were forced to shave their heads bare. The students thought it ingenious how people would hide gold and rice in their hair as a preventative measure. Through various passionate discussions and viewing of informative videos and reports, the students learn the complex nexus that is the topic of hair. To conclude Black History Month, the students selected an individual of the community to research and create a collage biographic portrait.
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Over the holidays, the students selected a French novel to read. Applying their Media knowledge, they also prepared a Netflix page to share with the class upon the return to school. They had to summarize chapters as episodes, select an image as the clickbait for a trailer, list the characters, describe the genres, and more. They all did a fantastic job! I give full credit to the many teachers online and social media for the fantastic idea. 😊 Throughout the unit on Media the Grade 5-6 students have demonstrated their growing understanding of its advantages and disadvantages, and are now capable of navigating it safely due to their developing media literacy. To conclude the unit, they explored the influence of social media, fake news and propaganda. They viewed, critically analyzed and discussed various informative videos on the topics, including the documentary below by ONF, and their influence on individuals and society. They also participated in several activities on being able to identify fake news and propaganda, and their attention grabbing techniques. For instance, they dissected Canadian world war propaganda posters, created their own propaganda posters for the school, and identified the elements of fake news (i.e. clickbait strategies) via online games. https://www.onf.ca/film/mes_reseaux_sociaux_et_moi/ Since this unit, they have been writing unpublished blog posts and a newspaper based on beliefs and celebrations around the world for their culminating IB PYP project, EXPO. As the summative project for the Media Unit, the Grade 5-6 class created a cereal company, designed a cereal and its box, then shot a commercial. To successfully complete this project, the students needed to apply their media knowledge at each stage of the project. For instance, they applied their knowledge of: logos, slogans and names to create their company; colours, marketing strategies (i.e. mascots, games), and target audience for their cereal box; commercial techniques (i.e. Endorsement, Exclusivity, Appeal to Emotion) for writing their script; camera angles and shots for their commercials. Below are some examples of their work in progress. Linking the topics of media and Remembrance Day the students learned the history, significance and power of graffiti. Moreover, how as a form of media - thus communication - graffiti has been and is used to convey all sorts of messages, opinions, emotions and stories since antiquity. Specific to the context of war, the students learned about the WW2 graffiti of Mr. Kilroy.  To reflect upon and remember the sacrifices made by all the people, the students made gorgeous graffiti pieces of the word “Peace” in diverse languages of the world. They give thanks to everyone and everything that have made living a healthy, peaceful life possible. Through a fun activity of watching and critically discussing commercials and Public Service Announcements (PSA), the students were to list keywords for the function of each. They also began identifying techniques, tools and elements used to convey the information and/or emotions for the message or product. Commercials: to persuade, for profit, sale of products, entertainments, PSA: to inform, for non-profit, a message, often serious The students inadvertently made their teacher feel old 👵🏻 as many of the videos such as the Polar Bear Coca-Cola commercials and the No-texting PSA were ones they had never seen before. Nevertheless, a good transition into learning the concept of “target audience”. They were given different scenarios and products where they needed to determine the target audience. Thus, they pondered:
 During their unit on Media, students sought to find out and define "What is Media?". Through their exploration, they learned about the different types of media and their variety of functions, techniques, tools, and impacts. The students were tasked in identifying the media they encounter consciously and unconsciously in their daily lives. Now critically aware, they began to see how media is all around them, in different formats, influencing people's ideas, thoughts, and decisions to various degrees.   Prior to starting their new unit on Media, the students were given an emoji to colour and make their own using “pop art”. They were prompted to reflect upon what is “Media”, and how this activity could be linked to the subject. They were informed of the meaning behind “emojis” being “picture characters” in Japanese as “e” means “picture” and “moji” means “character”. Also of the history of Pop Art, and how it is a large artistic movement of the late 20th century which uses images from popular culture. |
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To conclude the Eras unit, the students were challenged in building their own catapults or trebuchets. With one weekend to research ideas, collect materials and build they were highly motivated. They came up with some awesome machines!
Through such activity they learned how the end of the Medieval Era came with the expanding trade routes (I.e. Silk Road), and thus, the sharing of knowledge and resources. Gunpowder being particularly noteworthy in influencing this time in history.
Here are the students waging war on their fort castle with their catapults and trebuchets.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from erbephoto
