Category Archives: Languages

CPD, Languages, Literacy, Primary, Secondary

Authors Live (Scottish Book Trust)

September 21, 2010 User deactivated Leave a comment

ABOUT

The Authors Live programme exploits cutting-edge technology to bring the best children’s authors to children, young people and their parents across the UK. The project broadcasts children’s author events live over the internet, in conjunction with the BBC. The events are also recorded and available to watch and download from the Scottish Book Trust website.

The project successfully engages parents in sharing the same high-quality arts activity their children take part in at school. Video recordings of the events are available to watch and download from the Scottish Book Trust website.

The Scottish Book Trust provides teachers resources for each event suitable for the age group and stage of that particular event before-hand. The resource features activities for preparation for the event, links to the actual event and suggestions for activities to follow the event up. Each resource also clearly signposts links with Curriculum for Excellence and covers experiences and outcomes across all appropriate levels and in a wide range of curriculum areas. You can visit the Scottish Book Trust Events Glow group to watch our events through Glow Meet.

There are links to the live events and more at the foot of this page.

PURPOSE

Scottish Book Trust’s main objectives for the Meet Our Authors programme are:

– to meet soaring demand for the best children’s author events
– to allow as many children as possible to participate, no matter where they live or what their economic circumstances are
– allow teachers to access transformational events from the comfort of their UK classroom, at no cost to the child or school

The aim is to introduce pupils to the great quality literature that is available and for them to understand the connection between the books they enjoy and the person who wrote them. A further aim is to support pupils to understand the benefits and pleasures of discussing books with their peers, parents and teachers, and build up a relationship with their favourite authors.

To date the programme has featured a wide range of top authors, including Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen, David Walliams, David Almond and many more. Two further events are planned with Polly Dunbar and Tony Robinson: schools who register to watch will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five class sets of the author’s books for each event.

Accessing the author events were:

– 32 local authorities
– c. 105,000 children and young people (Michael Rosen)
– c. 82,000 children (Julia Donaldson)

IMPACTS

Feedback from events:

– “Great to involve children directly. My children felt very special to be spoken to by Julia herself!” (Teacher, Niddrie Mill Primary School)
– “We really enjoyed the event and all the children loved the song and the visit from the Gruffalo. We had used the ideas from the teacher resources and had been focussing on Julia’s books for a few weeks before the event so it made a great climax to our work.” (Teacher, Burravoe Primary School)
– “It was wonderful to be able to provide an event for World Book Day without breaking the budget.” (Teacher, Coleraine High School)

The events have provided a stimulus for some fabulous teaching practice. Whether you just want to dip in and do one activity, or you want to do an extended project, Scottish Book Trust have resources and case studies to help you. Visit the ‘Get the Most Out of Our Programmes’ section of Scottish Book Trust’s site for more information.

OTHER

Partners:

– Scottish Book Trust
– BBC
– Schools, nurseries and parents across the UK

Levels and stages:

– First, second, third and fourth levels (Michael Rosen)
– Early and first levels (Julia Donaldson)
– P1 – S3

Funding:

– National Lottery Inspiring Communities Fund
– Scottish Friendly Assurance

For more information contact:

Jasmine Fassl, Children’s Programme Manager (Scottish Book Trust) on 0131 524 0160 or email jasmine.fassl@scottishbooktrust.com

Links:

Authors Live page on Scottish Book Trust website: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/meet-our-authors/childrens-authors-live

Below are three previous events which should give you a flavour of the programme:

Authors Live Poetry Slam (S1 to S6)

Full-length event: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/podcasts/video/authors-live-poetry-slam

Highlights from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011pfsx

Resources: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/poetry-slam-resources

A great blog by Peter Kelly from Holy Cross High School about his use of the event: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/2013/01/authors-live-preparing-for-a-word-war

A teaching resource designed by Helen McKenzie from Lanark Grammar School: www.scottishbooktrust.com/discursive-writing-activities-to-prepare-for-a-rap-battle

Authors Live with Oliver Jeffers (Nursery to P3)

Full length event: www.scottishbooktrust.com/podcasts/video/authors-live-oliver-jeffers-full-broadcast

Highlights from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tjp0r

Resources: www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teaching-resources/author-resources/oliver-jeffers

Authors Live with David Walliams (P4 to S2)

Full length event: www.scottishbooktrust.com/podcasts/video/authors-live-david-walliams-full-broadcast

Highlights from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00t1pj2

Resources: www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teaching-resources/upper-primary/author-resources/david-walliams

A blog from Mairi Livingstone at Easdale Primary about using the event to inspire her pupils in writing: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/learning/2012/08/dear-mr-walliams

Meet Our Authors Online Hub links:

http://www.facebook.com/meetourauthors

http://twitter.com/meetourauthors

http://www.youtube.com/meetourauthors

Languages, Literacy, Secondary

The Book I will Never Forget (Scottish Book Trust)

September 21, 2010 User deactivated Leave a comment

ABOUT

The Scottish Book Trust worked with Bishopbriggs Academy to adapt the ‘Book That Changed my Life’ campaign for use in a schools context. The pupils at Bishopbriggs adapted the project to The Book I Will Never Forget and spent a week collecting stories, interviews and writing their own personal response to the project. Collectively, they developed a series of podcasts sharing a range of stories around the topic.

The project developed support materials for the project, following planning meetings with the Principle teacher of English, which clearly linked the project with Curriculum for Excellence – particularly the Literacy and English outcomes and Experiences. Because the project was implemented in Bishopbriggs as part of Determind to Succeed, the approach also focussed on skills for life, and included interviewing techniques, collaborative planning and working, team work and problem solving.

PURPOSE

The project was developed as part of the school’s enterprise approach with the aim of building a sustainable relationship with an organisation (Scottish Book Trust.) SBT was interested in developing methodologies for schools to engage with The Book That Changed My Life. Supporting pupils at Bishopbriggs to develop their own version of the project offered an excellent opportunity to understand the impact of this campaign within the context of Curriculum for Excellence.

Scottish Book Trust wanted pupils to understand the impact and meaning that books can have upon individuals’ lives and to apply that understanding to their own reading. It was the intention that pupils would develop knowledge of how to design and conduct an interview to gather desired information, and use that information to make podcasts to share the findings of the project. By the end of the project pupils were able to share the story of the book they would never forget, make podcasts of interviews they had collected from the school population and its community.

IMPACTS

Evaluation with the participating pupils at the end of the project demonstrated that a majority of pupils agreed that this project had helped them to develop their talking and listening skills, and that the activity had made a positive impact on their attitude to reading. Further to this, a large majority of pupils agreed that they had enjoyed this approach to learning and would like to do more activities like this in English.

Some feedback from pupils:

– the main aims of the project were made clear at the start of the project and they were set clear achievable targets
– felt they had successfully overcame a particular problem
– agreed that they were set a challenging task
– agreed the project helped them develop their talking and listening skills and that they enjoyed this approach to learning
– felt that the project had made a positive impact on their approach to reading

Bishopbriggs has been shortlisted for a Determind to Succeed award and this project formed a key part of their presentation to the prize committee.

OTHER

Partners:

– Scottish Book trust
– Bishopbriggs Academy
– Members of the community

Levels and stages:

– Third and fourth levels
– All S1 pupils

Funding:

– Scottish Book Trust staff time

For more information contact:

Philippa Cochrane, Learning Manager (Scottish Book Trust) on 0131 524 0160 or email philippa.cochrane@scottishbooktrust.com

Or visit:

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning

Expressive Arts, Languages, Secondary

Everyone’s A Critic – Scottish Chamber Orchestra

September 21, 2010 User deactivated Leave a comment

ABOUT

SCO Connect worked with staff and S5 and S6 pupils in Firrhill High School and Forrester High School in Edinburgh. Everyone’s a Critic takes a look at what it means to write about music and examines the ideas underpinning critical writing about the arts.

Over 3 months, students worked with a professional music critic and were given opportunities to attend concerts and write their own reviews with professional advice and feedback.

The project looked at the following ideas:

– critical analysis of the experience of attending a concert, not the music
– developing critical skills – listening and writing
– experience of live concerts
– engaging with the expressive arts and literacy experiences and outcomes

Everyone’s a Critic was not seeking to work through a deep and detailed musical analysis, rather, the project was about exploring the skills of writing about the experience of attending a live music concert.

Students attended an SCO concerts and wrote practice reviews. These reviews were read by a journalist who then provided each student with suggestions for improvement before they wrote a final review of a different concert.

The project introduced students to a specialist type of journalism, stressing the importance of working to tight deadlines. This gave students an opportunity to access the expertise of professional journalists and learn from the experience.

Click here to read Firrhill High School Students’ reviews

Click here to read Forrester High School students’ reviews

PURPOSE

The project was developed to encourage Higher Music and English students to listen critically to music, and develop the skills to write about a specialised subject. The design of the project was intended that the critical writing skills developed in response to listening to music and attending live concerts should be transferrable to other artforms and situations. The project also brought students to a series of concerts around Edinburgh featuring different repertoire and in different venues.

The project involved:

– 20 Higher Music and English students
– 3 teachers (2 x music and 1 x English)
– 1 workshop leader and full orchestra
– 1 professional journalist

Everyone’s A Critic was designed to link to the following Experiences and Outcomes:

– EXA 3-91a, EXA 4-19a
– LIT 3-02a, LIT 4-02a, LIT 3-05a/LIT 4-05a
– ENG 3-27a/ENG 4-27a
– LIT 3-28a, LIT 4-28a

NEXT STEPS

Scottish Chamber Orchestra plans to develop a resource for teachers on how to write critically about music. This resource will be available from the SCO Connect website. The resource should enable a wider audience to benefit from the aims of Everyone’s A Critic, not just those in the Edinburgh area.

SCO Connect is also investigating the possibility of any school in Scotland entering reviews of concerts to be submitted on the SCO website with possible feedback from a journalist giving suggestions for improvement.

SCO Connect is also exploring the possibility of offering Everyone’s A Critic through Glow.

OTHER

Partners:

– SCO Connect
– City of Edinburgh Council

Levels and stages:

– Senior Phase
– S5 and S6

Funding:

– SCO Connect Core budget
– City of Edinburgh Council

For more information contact:

Lucy Lowe, SCO Connect Director on 0131 478 8355 or email lucy.lowe@sco.org.uk

Links:

http://www.sco.org.uk/education-home