Year 6
The Arts Support Materials
Assessment Principle 5
Assessment should lead to informative reporting
Media Arts snapshot: News Broadcast Analysis
The Arts/Media Arts/Making/Ideas; Responding
| Content Description |
|---|
Exploration of stories and ideas from different viewpoints
Responses that involve describing how the codes, conventions and story principles communicate meaning, using media terminology |
Nature of the assessment
Written analysis
Purposes of the assessment
Summative assessment at the end of the unit of work
Stage in the Teaching sequence
End of teaching sequence – summative assessment
Assessment task
Students watched a professional news story told from a specific viewpoint. They were required to describe how the codes and conventions of media had been used to convey meaning and enhance the message.
The teacher provided the following questions and an answer sheet:
- What is the news story about?
- Who is likely to be interested in this news story?
- What is the effect of the following techniques on the telling of the story?
- camera angle
- lighting
- voice over
- Why is the topic being covered? (Is this a current news event, a response to a tragedy?)
- What viewpoint does it want the audience to support?
- How does it do this?
- Is there another viewpoint that could be presented?
- Does this news broadcast aim to change the audiences’ mind?
Students were not given time to discuss ideas as they had been given opportunities to do this throughout the unit of work.
Using the information
The assessment task was used by both Year 6 teachers who had collaborated to develop a marking key so that their marking would be comparable across classes. They also split the marking so that each marked half the student’s responses from the other’s class.
The teachers collated the marks and reviewed the spread of student ability across both classes. They grouped the students according to their scores, and identified areas of strength and weakness for the various groups.
The teachers used this information to plan their next teaching cycle and to reflect on the success of the previous teaching cycle. They used the assessment, together with their anecdotal records from formative assessments, to inform their end of semester reporting.