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Zart Extra Term 4 2010

Presentation of Work

Aranda Primary School

During April this year, 28 Aranda staff, were fortunate to be able to participate in a study tour of Melbourne. As part of the day spent at Zart, the afternoon session provided the teachers with many different and practical new ideas for the presentation of student work. Many different types of 3 dimensional displays were presented including an array of dioramas, folded booklets and pouches.  These new ideas were quickly put to good use as the teachers experimented with different materials to make their own display items back at Aranda Primary. One class as a result of this workshop presented their narratives in artist book format.

I have always had a strong emphasis on Visual Art in my classroom, using the lessons to allow the students to express themselves whilst learning new techniques. I find that Visual Art allows all students to succeed. Art is also an important part of my teaching because I believe that it creates a bright and engaging learning environment for the students.

While I had always taught Visual Art and integrated it into Inquiry Based Learning Units I haven’t applied it as well into other areas. At the ‘Presentation of Work’ workshop I saw how Art can be applied in areas such as Literacy and Numeracy.
My Year 5/6 class had worked hard in Term One writing narratives and I was trying to find a way to display their finished product so the class could enjoy them. I decided that the mini book idea I learnt at the Zart Education workshop would be a perfect way to display their writing.

The students selected the paper for the cover, gluing it on thick cardboard to create the covers. They folded A3 paper to create the inner pages.
Once they had finished publishing their narratives in Word I transferred it into another document to create the individual pages. The students illustrated their narratives and together we jointly constructed them.

I found that the students were more motivated to complete and write a narrative of a high standard as it was being published into a ‘book’. The mini books are the most sought after item to read during silent reading time. It gives the students great pleasure to see their writing being enjoyed by others.
The mini books were such a success that I decided to use the same technique to present their information report in our Inquiry Based Unit ‘Murder under the Microscope’. The students were given a choice of creating a mini book; publish a brochure or a PowerPoint presentation. The majority of the students chose to create a mini book as they had enjoyed the process earlier.

The students researched a victim from the Murder under the Microscope website and wrote an information report. Once this had been finished they began work on their mini books. As the students had previously made a book they worked on this task independently.
Once they had made the covers and pages they got onto designing the layout of the pages. This was first done on scrap paper. When they were happy with their design they began their finished product.
The students were encouraged to be creative and make their books bright, colourful and interactive. The students used pop-out pictures, folded maps, strips of paper to show length, café menus and envelopes to enhance their information.
We ended Term 2 with a successful ‘Book Fair’ between the other 5/6 classes in which the students proudly shared their quality work and enjoyed their peers work.

Tricia Butters
Year 5/6 Class Teacher
Aranda Primary School ACT

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