In the first week of term news broke that the print edition of Marie Claire magazine was to cease. This inspired obvious thoughts of how this is indicative of changes in media institutions that dominate the print market.
A long line of previous closures/move to digital of similar products over the past 12 months creates good learning opportunities to investigate the shifts in audience needs/demands for the print product, especially the women’s lifestyle magazines that are now following the earlier seismic culling of titles in the male lifestyle magazine market. In short, this is a good chance to introduce/review how Hesmondhalgh, Curran and Seaton and Shirky might be applied to real world media industry changes.
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Planning for the term ahead – refreshing the modules for the new cohorts in year 10 and year 11; refining last year’s modules to build in support the for the new year 11 or new year 13 and their now known individual strengths and weaknesses – but in looking back at the summer’s set of exam results and evaluating my own and my team’s performance; what did we get right, where did we stray off course?
NEA Let’s Get Down to The Briefs (Ah I Did Have One More)It’s more than reasonable to say, at this point, that individual teachers and centres have real responsibility when it comes to unpacking the core elements of the briefs the candidates can choose from.Warning Signs Part 1One Shot OnlyAs a prime marker this year, it was fairly obvious that a number of schools did not take enough time to systematically work through each of the opportunities on offer. At the most extreme end of this continuum were the centres who contrived to do completely the wrong brief.
Well hello, again pop pickers. I hope all is well and you’re all enjoying this delightful first half-term return to school, and are reading this, kicking back with a glass of Oranjeboom, some slices of Crackerbarrel and have just dropped a bit of Ted Sheeran on the radiogram.
A short 5 minute task enables each student to recall previous learning and then apply it to an unseen text (a skill we know they need for their exam). What’s more is that these tasks also tie in quite nicely with ‘cultural capital’. Any teacher I’m sure anywhere will be aware of its importance and focus within the new OFSTED framework, and Edusites manage to embed it throughout their tasks and lessons.
So often we are so proud of our students, we complete mini plenaries, AFL and targeted questions based on the content we have delivered, and they respond in detail, with accuracy and confidence. And then we ask them to write it down (the exam board won’t accept verbal answers after all), and sometimes that’s where it all goes to pot. The wave of emotion washes over us and can sometimes rid that feeling of pride and leave us feeling a little dispirited.
The book lying open on my lap, begging to be read with hours of content, is weighing on my leg, I open my eyes, and I’m back in classroom at 8am, just an hour before the room is filled with children, looking to me to restart their routine and be the familiar face they’ve known to associate with Media Studies.
