Quick Summary: Students are introduced to the role of photojournalism and are encouraged to be critical and analytical about its power to convey a message. Following some reflection on photojournalism, students are then encouraged to apply certain techniques and approaches with their own work. Students are scaffolded through this process by a series of viewing activities and questions. Students will the reflect on their individual approaches to the task of photojournalism or portraiture in order to share stories. This lesson provides an opportunity for students to develop greater familiarity with modes of visual storytelling and hone their photographic skill set.
Teachers can use these resources to teach literacy skills with the outcome being to enter the New Conversations Storytelling Competition. This competition is open to Australian students in Year 9 to 10. It encourages them to conduct conversations with people they find extraordinary and invites students to share their story and celebrate their heroic qualities through their submission. The competition aims to connect students to the power of storytelling, develop their communication skills and be reminded of the emotional value of face-to-face conversation.
- Students plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts,
- Selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas.
General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking.
Australian Curriculum content description:
English Year 9:
- Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts (ACELY1745)
- Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features (ACELY1746)
- Use a range of software, including word processing programs, flexibly and imaginatively to publish texts (ACELY1748)
English Year 10:
- Analyse and evaluate how people, cultures, places, events, objects and concepts are represented in texts, including media texts, through language, structural and/or visual choices (ACELY1749)
- Use a range of software, including word processing programs, confidently, flexibly and imaginatively to create, edit and publish texts, considering the identified purpose and the characteristics of the user(ACELY1776)
Syllabus outcomes: EN5-1A, EN5-2A.
Topic: New Conversations Storytelling Competition
Time required: 60 minutes
Resources required: Access to the internet, Students Planning worksheets, Photo taking equipment.
Digital technology opportunities: Digital sharing capabilities.
Keywords: Art, photography, journalism, writing.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.