Year 12 Assessments
Assessment: Further Oral Activity (Part 2)
Description: The FOA is an internal assessment. It is an opportunity for students to deliver an oral presentation that:
Options (this list is on-going):
1. Deliver an oral presentation about memes that explores:
2. Deliver an oral presentation about blogs in which you pretend to be the webmasters and content developers behind a specific blog in the real world, and give us a "tour" of your website, discussing the purpose, affordances, and impact of this form of communication. (Jeffrey - at lunch on Friday, Sept 22; Ella - after school on Friday, Oct 6)
3. Deliver an oral presentation about blogs that addresses the matter of the professional journalism industry and mainstream media rapidly declining while the blogosphere's influence on society continues to grow at an outstanding pace. What are the affordances, drawbacks, and major impacts of this trend? (Charlotte, Cherrie, and Maggie - at lunch on Tuesday, Sept 26)
4. Identify the core stylistic features that make a speech effective, and use those techniques to write and deliver a speech about any topic of your choosing. Afterwards, provide a brief analysis of your speech by discussing particularly effective passages and their intended impact on listeners.
5. Deliver an oral presentation that discusses the purpose and value of selfies. Then, introduce guidelines for taking successful selfies and posting them on the Internet in a responsible way. Provide examples of what to do and what not to do. (James, Jerry, and Justin - at lunch on Friday, October 13; Ruby - after school on Friday, October 13)
6. Deliver an oral presentation that explores the way print advertisements and/or television commercials have shaped gender norms and encouraged sexist ideologies over the years. Analyze a handful of advertisements/commercials to support your points. (Ernie and Wai Lam - after school on Monday, October 16)
7. Deliver an oral presentation that explores the way Disney's princesses and male heroes have shaped gender norms and encouraged sexist ideologies over the years. Analyze a handful of Disney characters to support your points. (Athena, Jessica, and Michelle - at lunch on Tuesday, October 10)
Assessment Criteria: Reflection Form:
Description: The FOA is an internal assessment. It is an opportunity for students to deliver an oral presentation that:
- explores the relationship between language, meaning, and culture
- shares their own perspectives and opinions about the content studied in class
Options (this list is on-going):
1. Deliver an oral presentation about memes that explores:
- What makes a meme effective?
- Why do people like memes? How do memes impact us?
- What can memes do that other text types can't do, and why does this matter? (Nicholas, Yu Kiu, and Hei - after school on Friday, Sept 8)
2. Deliver an oral presentation about blogs in which you pretend to be the webmasters and content developers behind a specific blog in the real world, and give us a "tour" of your website, discussing the purpose, affordances, and impact of this form of communication. (Jeffrey - at lunch on Friday, Sept 22; Ella - after school on Friday, Oct 6)
3. Deliver an oral presentation about blogs that addresses the matter of the professional journalism industry and mainstream media rapidly declining while the blogosphere's influence on society continues to grow at an outstanding pace. What are the affordances, drawbacks, and major impacts of this trend? (Charlotte, Cherrie, and Maggie - at lunch on Tuesday, Sept 26)
4. Identify the core stylistic features that make a speech effective, and use those techniques to write and deliver a speech about any topic of your choosing. Afterwards, provide a brief analysis of your speech by discussing particularly effective passages and their intended impact on listeners.
5. Deliver an oral presentation that discusses the purpose and value of selfies. Then, introduce guidelines for taking successful selfies and posting them on the Internet in a responsible way. Provide examples of what to do and what not to do. (James, Jerry, and Justin - at lunch on Friday, October 13; Ruby - after school on Friday, October 13)
6. Deliver an oral presentation that explores the way print advertisements and/or television commercials have shaped gender norms and encouraged sexist ideologies over the years. Analyze a handful of advertisements/commercials to support your points. (Ernie and Wai Lam - after school on Monday, October 16)
7. Deliver an oral presentation that explores the way Disney's princesses and male heroes have shaped gender norms and encouraged sexist ideologies over the years. Analyze a handful of Disney characters to support your points. (Athena, Jessica, and Michelle - at lunch on Tuesday, October 10)
Assessment Criteria: Reflection Form:
|
|
Assessment: Written Task (Part 2)
Description: The written task gives each student an opportunity to demonstrate sound learning and understanding of the Part 2 topics by exploring one of the following learning outcomes in an appropriate text type of his or her choice:
Ideas:
1. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to make an effective meme (perhaps published on wikiHow).
2. An interview with a meme specialist discussing the ubiquity of memes in the 21st century and why they are an effective form of communication in the modern day (perhaps published in the News Generation blog).
3. A proposal letter written by the VSA Student Council to the school principal putting forward a scheme to use memes to highlight and start conversations about school-wide issues such as students turning up to their afternoon classes dripping in sweat from lunchtime athletics or students throwing away the cafeteria's silverware when they clean their trays after eating.
4. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to make an effective blog (perhaps published on wikiHow).
5. An email exchange between a public relations specialist and the owner of a small business in which the former advises the latter to create a blog in order to connect with others and to promote her products and services online.
6. A blog post, including readers' comments, that defends the existence of blogs while responding to Barack Obama’s concern that “if the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking . . . then what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding”.
7. A series of letters to the editor of Wellesley's local newspaper offering various responses to David McCullough's "You Are Not Special" commencement speech - in particular, criticizing:
8. A 1995 public speaking case study called “Five Public Speaking Takeaways From Hillary Clinton's "Remarks at the UN's Fourth Conference on Women”, including a focus on how mass media enable Clinton to exert her ideological influence over hundreds of people at the conference and millions of people around the world.
(Model text: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2016/07/23/five-public-speaking-takeaways-from-donald-trumps-rnc-speech/#770de99e48ff)
9. A “Dear Abby” advice column about a parent’s concern over her child’s addiction to digital technology, social media, and the Internet (published in the Chicago Sun-Times).
10. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to wean yourself off digital technology, social media, and the Internet, including a section that discusses the benefits of doing so (perhaps published on wikiHow or a mindfulness-themed blog).
11. A school-issued manifesto for “Device-Free Week” at VSA, declaring the virtues and aims of this program which seeks to decrease students' dependence on digital technology, social media, and the Internet.
12. A series of letters to the editor responding to Kate Bussmann’s article “How technology is changing our likes and loves” (published in The Telegraph in early January 2014).
13. A blog entry and reader’s comments about the proliferation of infographics in modern times, including a reflection on what it means to live in the “information age” and how this impacts various factors such as our attention span, the way we receive and process information, the quality of our critical thinking, etc.
14. An email exchange between a Yolocaust target (someone who has had dead Jews photoshopped into the distasteful selfie that she's taken at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial) and Shahak Shapira, the founder of Yolocaust, in which the former discusses her newfound understanding of the impact of using images in social media and the latter discusses the ideological influence of social media.
15. An interview with Michele Promaulayko, the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
16. An interview with Jean Francisco, the Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
17. An interview with Matt Bean, the Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
18. A series of letters or email exchanges between Yasmeen Hassan, the Global Executive Director of Equality Now, and Jean Kilbourne in which the two women discuss matters highlighted in Kilbourne’s TEDTalk, “The Dangerous Way Ads See Women”, and make plans for a symposium concerning the power of images in mass media and their impact on health and social issues like eating disorders and violence against women.
19. A blog entry called “Five Hidden Tricks Always Uses to Sell You Stuff” published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to select a specific Always advertisement to focus on.
(Model text: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/5-hidden-visual-tricks-advertisers-use-to-sell-you/)
20. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and praises the tactics used by the filmmakers of Always' "#LikeAGirl" videos to enhance the company’s brand image.
21. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and criticizes the tactics used by the filmmakers of Always' "#LikeAGirl" videos to enhance the company’s brand image.
22. A public relations case study centered on Always' #LikeAGirl campaign that is published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to speak generally about the campaign and to select one advertisement to focus on specifically.
(Model text: http://www.newsgeneration.com/2014/04/11/pr-case-study-dove-real-beauty/)
23. A women's empowerment case study centered on Always' #LikeAGirl campaign that is published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to speak generally about the campaign and to select one advertisement to focus on specifically.
(Model text: http://www.newsgeneration.com/2014/04/11/pr-case-study-dove-real-beauty/)
24. A collection of letters to the editor written and published in The Opinion Pages of The New York Times in 2013, when Always first launched its #LikeAGirl campaign. The letters are inspired by the #LikeAGirl videos, focusing on the ideological influence of those advertisements, thus containing both praise and criticism of them.
25. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and criticizes the tactics used by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and the filmmakers of “Syria Always Beautiful” to enhance the war-torn country’s image and invite visitors to take a holiday there.
26. A collection of letters to the editor written and published in The Opinion Pages of The New York Times in August 2016, immediately after the Syrian Ministry of Tourism has released the “Syria Always Beautiful” advertisement. The letters criticize the Ministry's unethical use of images in mass media to mask Syria's utter destruction and to trick innocent people into taking a holiday in a war-torn country.
Assessment Criteria:
Description: The written task gives each student an opportunity to demonstrate sound learning and understanding of the Part 2 topics by exploring one of the following learning outcomes in an appropriate text type of his or her choice:
- Examine different forms of communication within the media.
- Show an awareness of the potential for educational, political, or ideological influence of the media.
- Show the way mass media use language and image to inform, persuade, and/or entertain.
Ideas:
1. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to make an effective meme (perhaps published on wikiHow).
2. An interview with a meme specialist discussing the ubiquity of memes in the 21st century and why they are an effective form of communication in the modern day (perhaps published in the News Generation blog).
3. A proposal letter written by the VSA Student Council to the school principal putting forward a scheme to use memes to highlight and start conversations about school-wide issues such as students turning up to their afternoon classes dripping in sweat from lunchtime athletics or students throwing away the cafeteria's silverware when they clean their trays after eating.
4. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to make an effective blog (perhaps published on wikiHow).
5. An email exchange between a public relations specialist and the owner of a small business in which the former advises the latter to create a blog in order to connect with others and to promote her products and services online.
6. A blog post, including readers' comments, that defends the existence of blogs while responding to Barack Obama’s concern that “if the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking . . . then what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding”.
7. A series of letters to the editor of Wellesley's local newspaper offering various responses to David McCullough's "You Are Not Special" commencement speech - in particular, criticizing:
- his recklessness in espousing such a negative message to an audience of hundreds of people
- his abuse of power (using a graduation ceremony to promote his personal outlook in an attempt to exert ideological influence over a mass of people).
8. A 1995 public speaking case study called “Five Public Speaking Takeaways From Hillary Clinton's "Remarks at the UN's Fourth Conference on Women”, including a focus on how mass media enable Clinton to exert her ideological influence over hundreds of people at the conference and millions of people around the world.
(Model text: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2016/07/23/five-public-speaking-takeaways-from-donald-trumps-rnc-speech/#770de99e48ff)
9. A “Dear Abby” advice column about a parent’s concern over her child’s addiction to digital technology, social media, and the Internet (published in the Chicago Sun-Times).
10. A how-to guide that provides instructions on how to wean yourself off digital technology, social media, and the Internet, including a section that discusses the benefits of doing so (perhaps published on wikiHow or a mindfulness-themed blog).
11. A school-issued manifesto for “Device-Free Week” at VSA, declaring the virtues and aims of this program which seeks to decrease students' dependence on digital technology, social media, and the Internet.
12. A series of letters to the editor responding to Kate Bussmann’s article “How technology is changing our likes and loves” (published in The Telegraph in early January 2014).
13. A blog entry and reader’s comments about the proliferation of infographics in modern times, including a reflection on what it means to live in the “information age” and how this impacts various factors such as our attention span, the way we receive and process information, the quality of our critical thinking, etc.
14. An email exchange between a Yolocaust target (someone who has had dead Jews photoshopped into the distasteful selfie that she's taken at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial) and Shahak Shapira, the founder of Yolocaust, in which the former discusses her newfound understanding of the impact of using images in social media and the latter discusses the ideological influence of social media.
15. An interview with Michele Promaulayko, the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
- all the factors that her team must consider in order to design each month’s magazine cover
- the way her team uses language and image to inform and entertain readers
- the magazine’s potential for ideological influence.
16. An interview with Jean Francisco, the Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
- all the factors that her team must consider in order to design each month’s magazine cover;
- the way her team uses language and image to inform and entertain readers; and
- the magazine’s potential for ideological influence.
17. An interview with Matt Bean, the Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health, published in [insert name of a real and suitable blog or magazine]. The interview explores:
- all the factors that his team must consider in order to design each month’s magazine cover;
- the way his team uses language and image to inform and entertain readers; and
- the magazine’s potential for ideological influence.
18. A series of letters or email exchanges between Yasmeen Hassan, the Global Executive Director of Equality Now, and Jean Kilbourne in which the two women discuss matters highlighted in Kilbourne’s TEDTalk, “The Dangerous Way Ads See Women”, and make plans for a symposium concerning the power of images in mass media and their impact on health and social issues like eating disorders and violence against women.
19. A blog entry called “Five Hidden Tricks Always Uses to Sell You Stuff” published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to select a specific Always advertisement to focus on.
(Model text: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/5-hidden-visual-tricks-advertisers-use-to-sell-you/)
20. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and praises the tactics used by the filmmakers of Always' "#LikeAGirl" videos to enhance the company’s brand image.
21. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and criticizes the tactics used by the filmmakers of Always' "#LikeAGirl" videos to enhance the company’s brand image.
22. A public relations case study centered on Always' #LikeAGirl campaign that is published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to speak generally about the campaign and to select one advertisement to focus on specifically.
(Model text: http://www.newsgeneration.com/2014/04/11/pr-case-study-dove-real-beauty/)
23. A women's empowerment case study centered on Always' #LikeAGirl campaign that is published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog]. This task requires you to speak generally about the campaign and to select one advertisement to focus on specifically.
(Model text: http://www.newsgeneration.com/2014/04/11/pr-case-study-dove-real-beauty/)
24. A collection of letters to the editor written and published in The Opinion Pages of The New York Times in 2013, when Always first launched its #LikeAGirl campaign. The letters are inspired by the #LikeAGirl videos, focusing on the ideological influence of those advertisements, thus containing both praise and criticism of them.
25. A blog entry published in [insert name of a popular advertising blog] that identifies and criticizes the tactics used by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and the filmmakers of “Syria Always Beautiful” to enhance the war-torn country’s image and invite visitors to take a holiday there.
26. A collection of letters to the editor written and published in The Opinion Pages of The New York Times in August 2016, immediately after the Syrian Ministry of Tourism has released the “Syria Always Beautiful” advertisement. The letters criticize the Ministry's unethical use of images in mass media to mask Syria's utter destruction and to trick innocent people into taking a holiday in a war-torn country.
Assessment Criteria:
Written Task Assessment Criteria.pdf |