Sunday, 16 December 2012
The Great Gatsby comes to life with some journalistic licence!
One of the novels that some of our Higher English classes study is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald and students are encouraged to write short mock newspaper / magazine articles relating to issues within the text. This helps the authours and their peers to contextualise the various storylines woven throughout the book. Illustrated below are some examples of how the students have interpreted various themes and as can be seen quite clearly, the information is visual, informative, fun and acts as a helpful aide memoire throughout the academic year.
Reflective and participatory learning
The Communication and English teaching team are committed to reflective learning practices and one of the methods used in our teaching is to ask our learners to think about challenges ahead. Below are some posters made up from comments raised by our students on the Higher English stream. The posters are placed outside the classroom where they are familiar and are often seen looking at them prior to their weekly classes. A similar exercise is carried out at the mid and end point of the Programme.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Dragons fired up by student business plans
Following on from the great success of last year's Dragons' Den student projects, highlighted at the following link: http://www.candeatsce.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/students-impress-all-five-dragons-with.html, the 2012-13 Introduction to Business cohort arguably raised the bar further this year.
The students have been working closely with Mark Hetherington (Communication), Carole Paterson (Teaching Fellow and Marketing and Business) and John McLachlan (Numeracy and IT) since early September in a project based collaboration.
The success of the project lies with the lecturing staff being specialists in their areas, a willingness by lecturers and students to work harmoniously in addition to the delivery of a wide range of classroom activities. These factors are recognised fully by the students in their feedback.
This year eleven students presented on the day, on the unusual date of 12/12/12 with the lecturer feedback commencing at 12:12!
The premise of the project is for students to demonstrate what they have learned in the respective academic disciplines, such as Market Research, Marketing principles, oral presentation delivery, spreadsheet applications, critical analysis, evaluative and reflective commentary, advanced PowerPoint use amongst many other helpful skills besides.
The Business Plans constructed this year included diverse ideas such as 'Locks Around The Clock', a 24/7 locksmiths proposal, 'Wash While You Work', a company designed to look after client vehicles whilst at work, 'What 2 Wear', a personal shopping / consultancy to help a diverse range of shoppers select appropriate clothing and 'Car-a-Van', a vehicle rental company.
The three winning pitches selected by the Dragons on the day were a florist service called 'Magnolia', a retro music / entertainment company called 'Entertainment Central' and an innovative new bar concept called 'Bar Central.' Each pitch had the 'wow factor' and combined excellent business acumen, strong presentation skills, appreciation of figures as well as some exciting PowerPoint delivery.
The import of formality was addressed in the teaching of Communication and all students attended in appropriate dress on the day, as did the lecturing staff which the students particularly enjoyed.
In the feedback session each student was given the opportunity to say a few words. Fabio said "I was really happy to have been picked for the course and have learned so much and just want to thank the lecturing staff as well as the students in the class for making this an incredible experience." Magda followed on by saying "at first I was unsure about how the class would go for me as I didn't know anybody but I have really enjoyed studying on the Programme and hope to get onto the next course so that I can progress my learning." Finally Kyle noted "I have developed lots of skills doing the Dragons' Den project and the most obvious one has been my improved confidence."
The Dragons echoed the sentiments of the students and noted the industrious application shown by all class members, the cohesive nature of the group and the high standards of work shown across many subjects.
The all morning session was concluded with a short prizegiving ceremony and some drinks and nibbles. The photos and the slides from one of the winning pitches can be seen below. In the words of Duncan Bannatyne, "I'm owt!"
The students have been working closely with Mark Hetherington (Communication), Carole Paterson (Teaching Fellow and Marketing and Business) and John McLachlan (Numeracy and IT) since early September in a project based collaboration.
The success of the project lies with the lecturing staff being specialists in their areas, a willingness by lecturers and students to work harmoniously in addition to the delivery of a wide range of classroom activities. These factors are recognised fully by the students in their feedback.
This year eleven students presented on the day, on the unusual date of 12/12/12 with the lecturer feedback commencing at 12:12!
The premise of the project is for students to demonstrate what they have learned in the respective academic disciplines, such as Market Research, Marketing principles, oral presentation delivery, spreadsheet applications, critical analysis, evaluative and reflective commentary, advanced PowerPoint use amongst many other helpful skills besides.
The Business Plans constructed this year included diverse ideas such as 'Locks Around The Clock', a 24/7 locksmiths proposal, 'Wash While You Work', a company designed to look after client vehicles whilst at work, 'What 2 Wear', a personal shopping / consultancy to help a diverse range of shoppers select appropriate clothing and 'Car-a-Van', a vehicle rental company.
The three winning pitches selected by the Dragons on the day were a florist service called 'Magnolia', a retro music / entertainment company called 'Entertainment Central' and an innovative new bar concept called 'Bar Central.' Each pitch had the 'wow factor' and combined excellent business acumen, strong presentation skills, appreciation of figures as well as some exciting PowerPoint delivery.
The import of formality was addressed in the teaching of Communication and all students attended in appropriate dress on the day, as did the lecturing staff which the students particularly enjoyed.
In the feedback session each student was given the opportunity to say a few words. Fabio said "I was really happy to have been picked for the course and have learned so much and just want to thank the lecturing staff as well as the students in the class for making this an incredible experience." Magda followed on by saying "at first I was unsure about how the class would go for me as I didn't know anybody but I have really enjoyed studying on the Programme and hope to get onto the next course so that I can progress my learning." Finally Kyle noted "I have developed lots of skills doing the Dragons' Den project and the most obvious one has been my improved confidence."
The Dragons echoed the sentiments of the students and noted the industrious application shown by all class members, the cohesive nature of the group and the high standards of work shown across many subjects.
The all morning session was concluded with a short prizegiving ceremony and some drinks and nibbles. The photos and the slides from one of the winning pitches can be seen below. In the words of Duncan Bannatyne, "I'm owt!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)