Pre-planning
T-Shirt cut outs.
Barbara looked at the previous year and expanded the possibilities of the programme of learning. She changed the focus to areas that she felt were of the most interest to the students and that would address important academic criteria.
"This year we really worked on developing the project brief and specifications. There was quite a big focus on teaching students how to develop their brief as a springboard to the requirements at next year's NCEA level," says Barbara.
Developing a brief and specifications
Barbara wanted to see a progression from the previous year with the skills acquired in that programme of learning implemented in new ways. She decided students would each choose their own cause and research the most appropriate way to promote it on their T-shirt.
The new brief changed the impetus of the programme of learning. Students had to spend far more time determining the cause they wanted to support then researching that cause to find the best possible way to get their chosen message across. This meant that the investigation stage had far more prominence than the previous year.
Student working.
Worksheets to guide student progress
In the previous year, Barbara had created a number of carefully structured worksheets with questions and brainstorming ideas. These helped create a structure of natural progression and influence the creative process. Barbara updated the worksheets taking into account the different challenges that the new brief would offer the students.
The worksheets helped to break up a large and daunting project into manageable tasks for year 10 students says Barbara. "It makes it more achievable, and all the little bits help the students with the project management so they can keep on top of things."
Barbara was keen to stress that it was "not all templating" – the worksheets functioned as a guide to the students to progress through the different stages, leaving plenty of room for student initiative, rather than them simply "filling in boxes".
"As a teacher you do create things that kids will fill in, but that's just a starting point for them to go on and do the practical stuff and their own individual work," she says.
See Delivery for how the new programme of learning went with the students.