Download the activity sheet (pdf, 70 kB)
Lights, Camera, Action…
Aim: To recognise the range of activities available at university.
Objectives: To identify the aspects of life they already enjoy or might like to pursue in the future. To develop awareness of what a university campus offers from academic pursuits to leisure activities and interests. To investigate what is important to personal well being and happiness. To consider university as a possible part of their personal pathway.
Timing: 30-60 minutes (or longer in extended version)
Notes:
Activity Three is designed to use the information students have amassed about themselves and their interests and aspirations through the previous activities. Using the distancing medium of film, students use the storyboard to outline the way they see their lives unfolding over the next ten years. Only 12 frames are included, but more pages could be photocopied so that more detail could be included.
Students use the top part of each frame to sketch the various scenes. They use the lower part of each frame to add notes about setting, camera angles, music and costumes.
Questions for students to consider:
- Where would I need to be when I begin my journey?
- Where would I like to be in the final slide?
- What would be the significant milestones on my journey over the next ten years? (Do I need more slides to accomplish these?)
- What will be the location/s for the various stages of the journey?
- What music, lighting and camera angles/filters would I need for each slide?
- Who will be in my supporting cast? What will their roles be?
- Who else will be needed to make your film a Box Office winner? How can they contribute?
While this activity asks students to focus on their personal objectives, it might be easier and more useful for them to work in groups with those who have similar aspirations, discussing possible pathways and pooling their respective talents. This more ‘indirect’ approach could have a number of positive outcomes including the building of greater confidence in confronting less familiar or more challenging choices.
Extension:
Once a storyboard has been constructed, students could either work in their original groups, or be re-grouped to reflect common subject, course or career interests. Together, students convert their planning to a presentation on film or powerpoint in order to present their ideas to the whole class.
Outcomes:
This activity has the obvious advantage of increasing student knowledge of the pathways available to them and the steps involved in achieving these. Extending the original activity into a presentation for the rest of the class, gives a contemporary feel and sense of immediacy to the task. Sharing information and valuing individual skills and expertise in this way could increase the climate of learning that will in turn lead to more informed responses and an associated interest and curiosity.