Maui's Dolphins - It's been a long time!

Quick catch up on all the things that have been happening with Maui's Dolphins over the past two weeks:

Year 9s

They have started a research project which culminated in a presentation of some kind. They were given the have-to-dos (formal writing and creative writing) and the other want-to-dos as options. My poor year 9s got so confused with this. They took two full lessons to get their heads around the mode of submission. I didn't think it was that difficult - and they'd had a go at it before with the Learning to Learn project so I was surprised. Eventually they managed to get themselves off the ground and started moving forward. I think once they've had a go at this, they will get idea and get on with it more easily. It's taken a huge amount of energy and impoetus from me though to keep it going. Almost enough to be off-putting, so I'm going to have to really look at what happened and what I do in the future.

Year 10s

They have finished their research and it has produced some stellar pieces of work. Really impressed with them. They are now onto the film analysis and identifying how the issues that faced the Maui's Dolphins can be seen in Gorillas in the Mist. I started the film analysis section off with an "I see, I think, I wonder" session with film stills, Maui's Dolphins clips, and postits. The students really enjoyed it. Now we're doing the slow process of analysing the film and I think there must be a better way. I have some ideas, but because I can't guarantee safety with copyright issues, they have to go on the back burner for now. This is the one frustrating bit about film study - without multiple copies of the text it's hard to engage all the students. I'm sure there's a way - and I'm sure some of you reading will leave me some ideas! There's always room for playdough, right?