How do we remember John Lennon?

Transcription

1 How do we remember? About this unit This unit centres on the ife and reputation of. Whie some factua knowedge about him forms an essentia component, the main focus is on contrasting a favourabe website page about with detais of his ife it eaves out. This unit was originay taught in a day of schoo time but coud aso be taught across a sequence of essons. There is scope to adjust some of the teaching activities to take account of time constraints in different schoos. Expectations By the end of this unit Most pupis wi have: drawn concusions about by istening to his music; anaysed a web page on for specific features of its design that promote him favouraby e.g. anguage etc; contrasted this favourabe interpretation of with other evidentia information about him; produce their own interpretations of using ICT with given criteria. Some pupis wi not have made such progress and wi have: made some genera comments about by istening to his music; picked out a few detais from a web page on John that promote him favouraby; understood that this view of is contradicted by other evidentia information about him; produced their own, imited interpretation of using ICT but with ony passing reference to given criteria. Some pupis wi have progressed further and wi have: drawn nuanced concusions about John by istening to his music; thoroughy anaysed a web page on for a the specific features of its design that promote him favouraby; specificay contrasted this favourabe interpretation of with other particuar detais from other evidentia information about him; produced their own mature and refective interpretation of using ICT and fuy assuming the view point of the given criteria, even where this contrasts with their persona views. Prior Learning It is hepfu if pupis: Have studied aspects of ife in Britain since 1930 before competing this unit. Are famiiar with the idea that interpretations of historica figures can vary, depending on their purpose and audience e.g. wives of Henry VIII Resources Resources incude: Exampes of John s music. Extract from Evidentia information about. Images of.

2 Learning objectives Possibe teaching activities Learning outcomes Resources Pupis shoud earn: Pupis What makes someone a hero? To famiiarise pupis with the name. To think about what characteristics a person needs to be described as a hero. Te the cass the story of s assassination without mentioning his name. Describe the scene outside the hote in New York a few weeks before Christmas the man with a gun shots fired a man ying on the pavement, dead. Create a sense of interest in this man s death by eaborating on the assassin: he was a fan of the man ying dead on the pavement. fim cip 1 Foow this with the report on the front page of the Daiy Mirror (December 10, 1980). Read out to the cass the headine: Introduce the name to the cass and detais of his assassination. Introduce the idea that some peope have paced a great significance on his ife and work. Front page of the Daiy Mirror (10th December 1980) shot dead in New York Dec Death of a Hero. Ask the cass which part of this headine is fact and which is opinion. Throw out some rhetorica questions: What is famous for? Was he a hero? What makes someone a hero? As a songwriter, musician, singer What is it about that means he is sti remembered? How shoud he be remembered today?

3 Learning objectives Possibe teaching activities Learning outcomes Resources Pupis shoud earn: Pupis What can we te about from his music? To have thought about and discussed the different styes and characteristics of John s music. Dispay seven very different images of spanning his ife. Give out copies of the worksheet isted in the resources coumn. It contains seven bank boxes for writing in each box reating to one of the seven different images of on dispay. The question, What can we te about John from his music? shoud be prominenty written above the boxes. Pupis isten to a seection of seven of s songs (probaby no more than a minute of each track to keep the pace ivey). Be sure to find a broad seection of his music covering the eary years of The Beates, his Eastern reigious phase, as we as his ater years with Yoko Ono. This wi aow pupis a genuiney broad use of adjectives. Suggestions for songs: Love me do; I wanna hod your hand; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds; Sergeant Pepper s Loney Hearts Cub Band; Penny Lane; Imagine. Pupis to have istened to severa songs from John s career. Pupis shoud have a grasp that his music had widey different characteristics and they wi have seected adjective to describe these characteristics. Seven different images of John. Beates songs. Worksheet headed: What can we te about from his music? Resource 1 Dispay a word bank of adjectives that describe aspects of s music. e.g. oud, quiet, fast, sow, happy, sad etc. In the bank boxes on the worksheet pupis write down as many adjectives that best describe the song. They coud even be encouraged to think of a coour and shade the box: this coud be a usefu differentiating task for weaker pupis. Some wi aso have reaised that s work went through different stages. A discussion shoud foow about the adjectives pupis chose. This shoud not take too ong as pupis have aready competed the activity and you ony want pupis to articuate their thinking, not perform the activity again. Be pacey, direct and encourage weaker pupis to participate in this task. Encourage them to expain their thinking rather than simpy offer adjectives. When the discussion fees it is reaching an end, move pupis to think about organising the images of into chronoogica order. They can discuss this with their partner to vary the activity. This shoud aow them to expore the very different phases through which s ife moved. Foow this with one fina discussion around the question, What can we earn about from his music? Hopefuy pupis wi expore the idea that his music is extraordinariy varied, and he was a taented musician and songwriter. From what they have seen and heard, woud pupis describe as a hero? What information don t they know about him? What woud they need to know about his ife to concude that he was a hero?

4 Learning objectives Possibe teaching activities Learning outcomes Resources Pupis shoud earn: Pupis What does this website want us to think about? To examine a website about. To identify and highight the website s distinctive vocabuary that exempifies its support for him. To discuss what this vocabuary suggests about. To suggest why this website has used such vocabuary and what it can te us about the website s intended audience. wi take you to a page about written from a very favourabe perspective. Prepare a word tabe with two coumns containing: 1) the website s comments about ; 2) what this suggests about him. Pupis are to highight any words or phrases that give an impression of what was ike (e.g. his music, his taent, his personaity, his infuence on other musicians). These are to be pasted individuay into the first coumn of their word tabe. In the second coumn in the pupis own words they are to expain what this suggests about? What impression woud this information give someone who visited the website? e.g. we known songs, greatest figure in post-war popuar music and aways compassionate yrics. The task shoud be expained to pupis before they have ogged onto the computers to ensure they have an opportunity to ask questions and carify misconceptions. In particuar it is worth carifying the functions of cutting and pasting if pupis are not sure. If possibe the task shoud be modeed by the teacher on an interactive whiteboard or even drawn onto a reguar whiteboard. In particuar the idea of expaining in the second coumn what the website is suggesting about. An extension task foowing on from the tabe coud be used for pupis who compete the task quicky. Using their information in the tabe, can they suggest why the website has represented in this way? What reason might a website have for giving peope this view of? Pupis wi have produced a comprehensive examination of the website s vocabuary used to describe. Their tabe shoud incude phrases or words cut and pasted from the website s description of and added their own thinking to what these phrases / words suggest. Pupis wi have discussed what the website s vocabuary tes us about its purpose and intended audience. ICT suite Word tabe containing website s comments about. This ICT task shoud be foowed by a discussion of this extension task for a pupis. (The discussion shoud take pace with a pupis having come away from the computers; either chairs facing you, or sitting on the foor. This is important to encourage them to reca and process the information they have identified from the website rather than simpy reading the information they have cut and pasted). Encourage them to think of the anguage that was used, the phrases that were repeated about him, the parts of s ife the website chose to emphasise. Why does this website remember in this way? fim cip 2

5 Learning objectives Possibe teaching activities Learning outcomes Resources Pupis shoud earn: Pupis What doesn t the website te us about? To inform pupis about aspects of s ife not mentioned by the website. To expore reasons why these omissions have occurred. To think about why this interpretation of has been written. Downoad copies of secrets 1, 2 & 3 from the resources coumn. Pace copies around the room in foders of three different coours, each seaed with a abe that dispays in bod etters either SECERT 1, SECRET 2, SECERT 3. These three different secret foders are designed to arouse curiosity in pupis. You coud expain that there are three secrets about that the website did not mention. SECRET 1 This expains about The Beates receiving a great honour from the Queen in 1965 when they were awarded MBEs. returned his in 1969 in protest at British support for the US war in Vietnam. Many British peope thought he was being rude to the Queen. SECRET 2 s remark to a journaist that The Beates were more popuar than Jesus Christ sparked outrage among some Christians. In the USA some even burned Beates abums to show how angry they were. The band never again toured the US. SECRET 3 s we known drug habit cost him thousands of doars. He often spent days in bed and pigged out junk food. Ask each pair with a secret to read it without reveaing it another pair. They shoud then discuss it in their pair, thinking: 1) What this tes us about? 2) Whether they think it was an important part of his ife? 3) Why the website did not make any mention of it? Pupis shoud have famiiarised themseves with other information about that the website has not reveaed. They shoud have expored whether they think this to be a deiberate omission or simpy a coincidence that the information coud be seen to be damaging to his reputation. Pupis shoud aso have discussed why they think the website has not mentioned these facts about s ife. (i.e. thought about the purpose of the website). Secret 1 Secret 2 Secret 3 Resource 2 Resource 3 Resource 4 These discussions can then be fed back to the whoe cass. The discussion can now become bigger, in particuar exporing the omission of these three pieces of information from the website. fim cip 3

6 Learning objectives Possibe teaching activities Learning outcomes Resources Pupis shoud earn: Pupis How and why is remembered differenty? To think about the factors that make an interpretation. In this case it wi be an interpretation of their choice. To think about the purpose of the interpretation. To think about the intended audience of the interpretation. To think about how facts are used to create an interpretation. To seect information that does not fit with the interpretation and have expained why it woud not be appropriate to use it. Revisit the Daiy Mirror front page, Death of a Hero. Do the cass think was a hero? Why might someone have described him as a hero? Introduce the idea of a book about the ife of. Pupis, in pairs, are to design the dust cover using ICT (a Pubisher Document). However not a pupis have been asked to design the book by the same peope, e.g. 1. A fan of wants you to design his dust cover. 2. Airport in Liverpoo wants others to design their book cover. 3. A book advertising s music to a new generation of young peope around the word woud ike a book to accompany a CD of his best music. Pupis shoud choose which interpretation of s ife they choose. fim cip 4 On the front of the cover shoud be space for the tite of the book. This text box coud aso incude the author and photographer. These names shoud be the pupis. Aso incuded on the front cover is a picture or pictures from a bank of images that the teacher shoud have prepared. This image shoud be the most appropriate for the book s interpretation of him. On the back of the cover shoud be a space for the burb. This is where pupis describe what the book is about but from their particuar interpretat iion of. Pupis wi have produced a book dust cover that describes the ife and work of John. It wi have a cear interpretative focus based on the choice they made of its intended audience. They wi have expained their choice of photographs, tite, and facts. Most importanty they wi aso have expained why some information has not been incuded in the interpretation. A bank of images shoud incude a wide range of pictures representing as many phases of s ife as you can find. Be sure to abide by any copyright restrictions governing the use and reproduction of images. Finay a space for quotations. Normay these wi be favourabe, encouraging peope to buy the book. However in this case it shoud incude quotations from imaginary peope expaining why this book shoud not be competey trusted. It is unreiabe for two main reasons: 1. Expain what information about has not been incuded in the book. Why do you think it has not been mentioned? 2. Expain why the book has been written. Who is it aimed at? Does this make it more or ess reiabe? Why? Print out book dust cover. The most important part of the fina activity is the section of quotations. This is because it assesses whether or not pupis have understood why historica interpretations deveop.