I will admit that my students do very few ‘posters’. I’m not big on them as a form of presenting info and much prefer them to talk to each other on a topic. But I have been challenging myself recently to be more purposeful in the readings that my students, especially my seniors, are doing and matching that with an appropriate output. I found a perfect opportunity to utilize ‘the poster’ in my recent unit on health. It became an activity within the unit. Here’s my 3 to 4 day breakdown of how I did it. It’s a perfect use for authentic resources as well. (I will again state that I use modified TL readings in the interest of equality of access/character reading difficulty as a previous post outlines )

Day 1 – Readings on the Topic: My students read a letter from a parent regarding their concern about their daughter’s seemingly poor health – diet/lack of exercise. In partners they were asked to discuss both the problems outlined/possible solutions (in the Target Language). They then followed up with a reading on ‘diets’ – the types, reasons why, reasons against. They also completed a reading about the ‘healthy’ aspects of a traditional Japanese diet. They were welcome to take notes – in the target language.

Day 2/3 – The Output: Students were tasked with producing a “Healthy Living” PSA-style poster that would be destined for the counseling, or other appropriate, office. The specific instructions asked students to:

– outline current problems that high school students face

– provide prospective solutions

– include a ‘catchy headline’ to get teen’s attention

– be constructed without the use of a dictionary – so that all students at their level would be able to understand the information.

The project rubric focused on clarity of language, identification of problems and presentation. (I’ve included the Task sheet/rubric that I used.)

Day 4 – The Reading Task: Prior to the activity I put a numbered post-it on each poster. For this part of the process students were asked to work as individuals, or with their partner, provided all communication was in the TL. They were then told to read all the posters carefully, for understanding, and to take at least 20 minutes for this part of the process. Once they completed their initial read they were handed a ‘fill-in sheet’ to be completed in English. I also told them that their completion mark would be based upon the level of detail of their answers.  The key for me was in selecting categories in a combination of ‘seriousness’ with some fun categories as well including:

– best outlining of problems current teens face

– best answer to a problem

– the answer that I most disagree with

– favourite poster

– best originality in either poster presentation or problems presented

Students were really focused on reading to understand the posters. They took their time in deciding on which posters to include in their responses. The posters identified common themes and student’s answers really showed a level of engagement with the information provided. Indirectly it also let the class know that their peers are facing the same issues as they themselves  – and showing that they are not alone in what they are facing.

I’ll try more ‘reading’ targeted poster projects in the future…for now I’m taking the advice of a few of the tips I’ve read to try to lower my stress and increase my level of health too!

Colleen