Picture the Music

Notes

In this example we will work through how to use a picture the music lesson to achieve this aim. This would take 2 sessions.

In this example the students are using the Narrative Planning Map as the template. These dry wipe mats are really useful in teaching the students thought mapping, so essential when using Picture the Music.

Start by explaining to the students that they will be opening a story in 2 different ways and that the stimuli to give them ideas are in the picture and the music.

The picture of the mountain will be in presentation mode on the screen. The music player will be hidden so that the students get a good view of the picture.

The first opening they are going to try is a descriptive one. This will set the scene for the rest of the story. It needs to be a vivid, vibrant description of the setting.

Ensure that the students realise that the ideas they need for this are in the picture and music. They need to catch these ideas by looking really closely at the picture and listening carefully to the music.

Before listening to the music see how many things they can see in the picture. It is these things that are possible ideas which they can write about.

Give the students 2 mins to talk to each other about what they can see. Then share the ideas with each other as a class. Keep reminding them that these ideas can all be mapped on the templates that they have.

The sort of ideas you’ll get will be – rocks, sky, clouds, colours, textures etc

Ask questions about each idea that they suggest. What type of green is that? What would the rocks feel like if you touched them? What does the grass feel like on your hands?

Explain that when the music plays they will have more ideas to use on their maps. They can use different branches for the music ideas or mix them up with the visual ones. It is up to them how they arrange their ideas.

Play the music with the picture on full screen presentation mode.

During this time the students map their ideas on the dry wipe mats provided. See pic of map.

So far they have Looked, listened and thought.

The map will provide the students with the ideas to create sentences. The aim is to create an opening to a story using description.

They now use the ideas on their maps to create this description. Each branch gives rise to sentences.

E.G. Sky/Soft on the map could be: The sky was as soft as velvet.

If the students find this stage hard then model it a few times - look at someones map and see how you can develop sentences from it. They will soon get the idea.

It can be useful to tick off each branch as it is used.

Share the writing at the end of the session with the music playing softly - it can be very effective in bringing the writing alive!

SESSION 2

For the next session, to complete the aim of experimenting with alternative story openings we will change the music. This time the students will try and create the opening to the story with a hidden character. The emotions associated with the character are in the music. They once again gather their ideas from both the picture and the music.

The openings the students create this time will have a more action based start. Rather than being a description of the setting they will introduce the story from the viewpoint of a character in the setting. This character is ‘in’ the music.

OUTCOMES

The students write two alternative story openings.

They have Looked and listened carefully

They have used thought maps as a way to organise their ideas

They have constructed sentences from their own ideas

They have shared their ideas and work

They have an understanding of the process of LOOK LISTEN THINK WRITE

NOTE

The long term view of Picture the Music is that it gives learners the skills needed to gather ideas from the visual and auditory senses. Eventually it is hoped that the learner will be able to see and hear things around them and use these ideas for their writing. Hopefully putting an end to "I don’t know what to write".

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