Barrie Day (below) finds it increasingly useful to employ animation. He says: “I have just been using a Wallace and Gromit sequence to teach story structure with Year 9. It is difficult to find a good book that appeals to the whole range of abilities and maturities. Persuasive writing and communication is another area of the curriculum where you can use animation rather than narrative. When we do the unit in spring, I am going to ask students to make some commercials.”
Students are also working on a cross-curricular project that will forge links with primary school children. “Key stage 1 children have to do an island project, and Mairi Hedderwick’s beautifully illustrated Katie Morag stories are recommended. Some of our Year 10 students are using the stories to create stage sets and characters in their design and technology lessons.
We are going to film a story and take it to an infant department to show children an animated version of what they are already doing, with the hope that they could then take up animation, even at that level.”
He also plans a spring festival that will showcase all of his students’
work. Some examples are on the web: www.cleo.net.uk