Students have continued with their inquiry into voices from the past, which is an interdisciplinary unit with Individuals and Societies. Over the past three weeks we have identified the conventions of historical movies and applied those to the film ‘100 days’ which deals with the genocide in Rwanda. Students discussed camera angles, incidental music, the story that concentrated on one person and the emotional impact of certain scenes. Students then investigated fiction and non-fiction writing to find out how language conveys ideas and emotions. We studied excerpts from ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ and the autobiography of the Romeo Dallaire, leader of the UN peace keepers in Rwanda. Next week we will be inquiring into the conventions of newspaper reports and documentaries and applying them to examples of those genres. This is leading up to a summative task which will be completed before the spring vacation.
