Calligram Artwork
This REAL project developed by RSA Academy aims to have a real ‘Reading for meaning’ focus which develops pupils literacy skills through persuasive writing and speech creation. The competency focus is social responsibility and creativity. This is developed within the project by pupils annotating speeches developed by others based on similar topics.
The final outcome is a piece of artwork which will be exhibited at a range of locations across the local community, from offices, to local libraries and Women’s Aid centers. The artwork will be in the form of a framed calligram. In addition to this all pupils developed a speech which explains how and why that person changed the World. In some cases this was in the format of a Wevideo. Visitors to the exhibition can use a QR reader, to hear and see the speech and video which explains how the person they have selected is inspirational, their life, how they showed a growth mindset and and how they demonstrated social responsibility.
Pupils initially began by researching into who is inspirational, there was then a core focus on leading inspirational characters whereby pupils compared for common traits. This then led to a real research based task into why their person was inspirational.
Student reflections
“I am enjoying having a creative part to the project and I can really see what we are doing in literacy too” – Lauren
“It was great to see my work in a public space” – Amy
“I enjoyed researching into someone who interested me” – Lauren
“I was pleased with how my work improved and got better and better, when I redrafted it” – Alex
Teacher reflections
The project provided a great opportunity to really embed growth mindset through Multiple Drafts & Critique. The calligram and speech was critiqued on multiple occasions. There was real development in pupils work between their drafts and this lead to pupils massively improving their work as a result. In addition to this, the exhibition venue acted as a client within the projects and set constraints and briefs which supported pupils work. This provided both an Authentic Audience and a real world context.
