We have almost come to the end of the first unit of the new GCSE and I want to help the students revise some of the topic and create a wall display that is more than decorative. My first plan of attack was to use the pictures/graphics from the excellent Schools History Project book ‘Essential Germany’ to illustrate change through the use of representative characters in 1933 and then their position in 1939. However, I thought this would be too passive and students would move into ‘cutting and sticking’ mode and not really reflect on the process of change. Dale Banham, one of the authors of the textbook, was kind enough to send me his presentation from the Schools History Project conference in 2009 and in it he had photos of students representing different stages of medical development through time aided by props and clothing to help identify the period/technology. Normally,  this would be an excellent idea to represent change but in the context of Nazi Germany, I wanted the students to take the subject seriously and also think carefully about how the lives of different groups (women, workers, children, Jewish Germans) were affected during this period.

To help them really think about the topic, I decided to change the focus slightly by asking the students to create/bring in items that represent the lives of the people in 1933/1939 and photograph them. Text boxes (like the ones titled in the graphic above) would still explain the changes between two dates but the information in them would build on the image rather than just explain it. As great as this sounds in terms of the learning, it does not make for a particularly effective display and this is where Comic Life comes in. This great piece of software on the Mac (and now on the PC) allows you to create stunning comic/graphic novel pages easily. By placing the images and text within this format, my students will be able to take away something visually appealing, reflective and creative. Their understanding will be demonstrated not only by what they write but also the images they choose to represent change and after each group has created their page, I will be able to combine them into one graphic novel/revision booklet on changing everyday life in Nazi Germany. I hope to publish some of their work within the next week and would appreciate comments as this may be one of the things we look at as an Apple RTC…

This post is tagged Apple, Comic Life, Dale Banham, RTC, SHP