Isles of Mull and Iona Film CPD – Creative Scotland Funded Project – Summer Term 2019
A few months ago I delivered the Isles of Mull and Iona Film CPD Project. Funded by Creative Scotland this was a project that delivered customised continuing professional development film education sessions for teachers in Mull and Iona.
Each session was crafted around the needs of that school and its teachers.
There were 5 sessions:
- Traditional after school film CPD session – establishing the framework, common language and approaches.
- An in class session using the techniques explored in session 1, with me, as practitioner, leading the majority of the session.
- After school CPD review session where we talked about how the session worked, followed by input for the teachers to plan and lead the next session themselves.
- Practical in class session lead by the teachers
- After school CPD review session – assessing the session, the teacher and pupils needs, identifying pathways for future development.
I was very pleased with how the sessions were recieved.
I learnt so much about current teaching practice and specific areas of focus.
It seems that the emotional literacy sphere, which is addressed in the curricular area of Health in Well Being has great potential for exploration through film. There’s a very obvious link there that I will be looking to develop into a project in the coming months.
If you’re interested in the project and the approaches I took, I wrote a detailed report on it, which can be found here.
One of the most pleasing things I discovered about the project was the confirmation of the continued importance of early cinema to young audiences. I used short films from the work of Georges Méliès, R W Paul and the Lumiere Brothers in the delivery of the project. With a little bit of framing around their presentation, such as looking at stills first, or making predictions about what may happen, the children totally invested themselves in watching the films. They got them. The timeless connection of relating to someone else through their imagination resonates with people to this day.
I will be looking to employ the model of the project in other locations in the coming months, so if you’re interested do feel free to send me a message and I’ll happily chat through how it works in more detail.
