Lesson plan for 'visual literacy'
THURSDAY Introduce the new task which will be from a new picture (5 mins) The Disclosure Model - Whole class - Using 'Experiment on a bird in an airpump' by Joseph Wright of Derby Focus - Verbal response to the picture and prediction.
Use strips / flaps of card to mask the majority of the picture. Leave a small area of the picture uncovered such as the face of the little girl. Arrange flaps so that you can uncover small amounts of the picture at a time. These should act as clues to what is happening. You can number the flaps so that you know in which order they are lifted to uncover the evidence. Get children to discuss what the girl might be feeling, what else might be happening in the part of the picture that we cannot see. Open another flap such as the scientist's face, the bird or the moon. What do they think is happening now. It is highly unlikely that the children will know what is hapening even when they can see the whole picture, but it will be a catalyst for very interesting discussion. The scientist is pumping the air out of the jar to make a vacuum, the bird is being experimented upon and will probably be killed. Discussion can be led into the children's views on experimenting on animals. Discuss the feelings of the onlookers, how does each person feel about the experiment. (30 mins)
The Writing Model - Individually Focus - extended writing in response to a stimulus.
Use the picture as a stimulus for extended individual writing. The children will write a story about the experiment from the viewpoint of either the upset young girl or the boy winching up the bird cage by the window. Have a colour copy of the picture on each table. You may wish to spend the first five minutes generating a word bank for the children to use. The amount of adult support for the writing will be at discretion of the teacher. (25 mins)