Middle school media studies resources

A series of resources in one presentation to teach the narrative theories of Todorov, Propp, and Barthes so that pupils can understand structure in texts. Theories are illustrated with specific examples of writing that embody Todorov's theory of equilibrium, Propp's eight character roles, and Barthes' concept of enigma. Particularly suited to English and English Language GCSE, but I have also used for GCSE Media Studies, and taught this to KS3 classes for Key Skill Communication final assessment in writing.

This Study Pack supports students in their preparation for Paper 2 of the WJEC GCSE Film Studies: Exploring Film Outside Hollywood. The Workbook and Revision Guide promotes independent research into the historical context of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as well as an exploration of the non-Hollywood film industry. There are also grids to complete relating to character, themes and settings as well as close studies of two key scenes. The accompanying PowerPoint augments the workbook and includes questions and prompts. I have found this resource to be invaluable and is especially helpful in guiding less able students in effective and relevant research as well as giving the more able an opportunity to work independently.

A Lesson designed around exploring materials animation. Students will explore the work of Jan Svankmajer and then go onto use the knowledge learnt to explore creating they're own animations with deeper meaning. The resource contains three handouts and a presentation. Recommended centre equipment: Junk Store Objects Plastercine/Modelling Clay Cameras Tripods Editing Software (HitFilm is free)

A revision activity pack with differentiated tasks, home learning and extension activities. Focus on gender perspectives in representation and theory. Suitable for the new AQA GCSE Media specification.

A work pack to take students through differentiated tasks to revise representation, focusing on the concepts of news values, agenda setting and social, cultural and political contexts. Includes home learning. Suitable for the new AQA GCSE Media specification.

This ties in to unit 4 of the Level 3 Edexcel creative digital media production course and gets the students thinking about the rationale behind pre-production.

This lesson is part of a complete suite of resources for the Eduqas specification, but can easily be adapted to fit other exam boards (OCR, AQA, WJEC, Edexcel). Lesson 1 engages students with a ‘what era is this from?’ quiz before going on to define historical, social and cultural contexts in turn. Students then undertake written tasks involving the application of key contextual information to an analysis of the 1954 Quality Street set text. SET TEXTS REFERRED TO THIS LESSON: Quality Street The ‘Contexts’ SoW this lesson is part of explores all of the contexts identified for study in the Eduqas specification (1950s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and contemporary). There is continual reference to a number of set texts that are expected to be covered as part of the reformed 9-1 GCSE in Media Studies, with a primary focus on advertising. As well as examining historical, social, cultural and political contexts, by undertaking this scheme students will develop their understanding of the key concept of ideology and how to identify messages embedded within a variety of media products. 987media resources are clear, consistent and scaffolded to give learners the best opportunity to achieve highly in their GCSE Media Studies course.

A theory based scheme of work that introduces students to the key concept of Audience. Based on the subject content of all the main GCSE exam boards, including AQA and EDUQAS, it takes students through the theoretical aspects of audience and uses practical tasks to enable them to apply their knowledge. Lesson plans cover content such as: Audience theories (including reception theory, Uses and Gratifications, hypodermic syringe, cultivation, two step flow etc) Segmentation (including demographics and psychographics) Audience research methods Methods used to measure audiences Marketing (including viral and guerrilla marketing) This scheme of work is an ideal introduction to GCSE or used as a pre-GCSE foundation course (eg. in Year 9). It links to my other schemes of work introducing the other key concepts of Media Language, Institutions and Representation. It can easily be extended by the addition of simple practical design tasks according to the ability of our group.

This bundle contains everything you will need to start, teach and complete the third Topic of the GCSE Controlled Assessment worth 45 Marks out of the overall 90 marks on offer. I have taught this unit to this structure for the last 4 years and it has always yielded fantastic content from the students/ high marks from the examiner. I chose Magazines as it allows a broad exploration of print platforms and offers the ability . The pack contains: -3 Double lessons that teach students all about magazines, designing a front cover, contents page and double page spread and all of the theory needed for the 12 pages of research and planning. -A printed coursework tracker for folders/books to help students and teachers track their grades. -Resources that support each lesson and tasks within them. -A Lesson 1-2 resource to be laminated for student interactivity. Students label the magazine or poster with key A* terms that they have not learnt yet at the start of the course (Discovery Learning).

Controlled Assessment 3 (Magazines unit)Coursework Tracker (AQA Legacy Media: This tracker allows students to assess and track where they are against the AQA marking criteria as well as serving as a quick reference for teachers wanting to track marks etc. The tracker breaks down a set list of tasks for the 12 pages of Research and planning, the three aspects of practical work (front page, contents and double-page spreads) and the 800 word evaluation as well as the mark breakdown.

Lesson 5-6, Contents and Double Page Spreads (AQA Legacy Media): This lesson explores the key technical layout and A* terminology behind magazine double-page spreads and contents pages. Terminology such as Pull Quotes, By-Lines and Drop Caps are explored. Lesson includes two resource sheets for tasks in class. NOTE: This is a Unit that can also be bought as part of Bundle that includes the entirety of the unit (6 lessons) and includes all resource sheets and a printed coursework tracker. It covers the last Year of AQA Media studies

Lesson 3-4, Embedding RAIL into CA (AQA Legacy Media): This lesson explores how students can apply RAIL (Representation, Audience, Institution and Media Language) to all of their Research and planning, Practical work and 800 Word Evaluation. The focus of this lesson is on A* theory in an effort to stretch students. The double lesson explores theories such as: -Uses and Gratifications theory -Demographics -Institutional terms such as conglomerates, Oligopolies etc. -Progressive and Regressive representations -Course of the eye. NOTE: This is a Unit that can also be bought as part of Bundle that includes the entirety of the unit (6 lessons) and includes all resource sheets and a printed coursework tracker. It covers the last Year of AQA Media studies