Keeping club members engaged during lockdown and beyond

Bethan Fletcher is a Specialist Provision teacher at Williamston Primary School in Wales, who's been running her Into Film Club for nearly a year now. We caught up with her to talk about some of the activities and resources that she's been using to help engage her club members during lockdown and beyond.

• Fersiwn Gymraeg / Read this article in Welsh

Did working remotely impact your Into Film Club and how you use film for learning?

It was difficult to engage all children, as our level of interaction with them varied depending on their situation. However, using film did help to engage those children who began isolating early, as we'd all watched films together beforehand in school. It enabled us to offer follow-up home-based activities for them to do based on the films we'd watched, such as making posters for new characters for the film Inside Out and making stop-frame animations on movie themes.

Were you able to run your Into Film Club virtually?

We did not run it fully, and found it difficult to choose something specific that we could all view together or that we'd all seen or could remember. However, we had a heroes topic with a variety of suggested activities which were open to interpretation. For example, some pupils used the film heroes they knew of as stimulus for written or craft-based work, whereas others created their own super-hero inspired films. I then introduced a story on Google Classroom and shared the things that we'd created at home.

What were some positives from running things online?

Some families and parents engaged excellently and created some beautiful work. It was nice that parents saw the progress their children were making, and were able to use their own skills to develop tasks further and begun to see the impact of using visual content for educational engagement.

How are things going now you're back at school?

We have used nature documentaries as a resource to support and enrich our tasks. We've not had access to iPads as frequently as we'd like - which we use for stop frame, green screen, etc - as we do not have our own in class. We will hopefully use more in the coming half term, now that we have spent a term getting back to class and finishing assessments.

Which resources have gone down well at your Into Film Club?

The Top 5 Film Making Tips (ages 5-16) and Camera Framing worksheets, as the children were able to see differences in perspective, and used this for iMovie trailers they made. We also enjoy making book trailers using iMovie.

What films have gone down well in your Into Film Club?

What one piece of advice would you give to new Into Film Club leaders?

You probably use a lot of the skills already in class, but this a fantastic way to engage children in a purposeful way. Use what you already do in class, and go on Into Film training courses or speak to the supportive staff for ideas on how to be more creative and use film with more confidence and more effectively.

Mae Bethan Fletcher yn athrawes Darpariaeth Arbenigol yn Ysgol Gynradd Williamston yng Nghymru a bu'n rhedeg ei Chlwb Into Film am bron i flwyddyn erbyn hyn. Gwnaethom gysylltu â hi i drafod rhai o'r gweithgareddau a'r adnoddau y bu'n eu defnyddio i helpu i ymgysylltu ag aelodau ei chlwb yn ystod y cyfnod clo a thu hwnt.

A wnaeth gweithio o bell effeithio ar eich Clwb Into Film a sut rydych yn defnyddio ffilm i ddysgu?

Roedd yn anodd ymgysylltu â'r holl blant, oherwydd roedd ein lefel o gysylltiad â nhw yn amrywio oherwydd y sefyllfa. Fodd bynnag, roedd hi'n wych cael defnyddio ffilm fel cyfrwng i weithio â'r plant hynny a ddechreuodd ynysu'n gynnar a defnyddio'r ffilmiau cyfarwydd y buom yn eu gwylio ar y cyd yn yr ysgol cyn y cyfnod clo fel sbardun i waith o adre'. Yn wir, fe wnaethom ni gynnig gweithgareddau dilynol, fel gwneud posteri ar gyfer cymeriadau newydd ar gyfer y ffilm Inside Out a gwneud animeiddiadau stopio ffrâm ar themâu'r ffilmiau.

A oeddech chi'n gallu rhedeg eich Clwb Into Film mewn modd rhithiol?

Wnaethom ni ddim ei redeg yn iawn, achos roedd yn anodd dewis rhywbeth penodol y gallem ni oll ei wylio gyda'n gilydd neu yr oeddem ni oll wedi'i wylio neu'n gallu ei gofio a thrafod. Fodd bynnag, fe wnaethom ni wait har y pwnc ‘arwyr' a chynnig amrywiaeth o weithgareddau y gellid eu dadansoddi mewn gwahanol ffyrdd. Er enghraifft, defnyddiodd rhai disgyblion yr arwyr ffilm roeddent yn gwybod amdanynt fel ysgogiad ar gyfer gwaith ysgrifenedig neu grefft, tra bo eraill wedi creu eu ffilmiau eu hunain a ysgogwyd gan archarwyr. Yna, fe wnes i gynnal sesiwn stori ar Google Classroom gan rannu rhai o'r pethau yr oeddem wedi'u creu gartref.

Beth oedd rhai o'r pethau cadarnhaol am gynnal y clwb ar-lein?

Gwnaeth rhai teuluoedd a rhieni ymgysylltu'n wych a chreu gwaith arbennig. Roedd yn hyfryd bod y rhieni yn gweld datblygiad yn eu plant ac yn yn gallu defnyddio eu sgiliau eu hunain i ddatblygu tasgau ymhellach. Braf oedd rhannu yr effaith mae defnyddio cynnwys gweledol ar gyfer ymgysylltiad addysgol ar ein disgyblion gyda'n rhieni.

Sut mae pethau wedi bod ers ichi ddychwelyd i'r ysgol?

Rydym wedi defnyddio rhaglenni dogfen natur fel adnodd i gefnogi a chyfoethogi ein tasgau. Nid ydym wedi cael mynediad at iPadiau mor aml ag yr hoffem, oherwydd nid oes gennym rai ein hunain yn y dosbarth, gan amlaf ry'n ni'n eu defnyddio ar gyfer animeiddio stopio ffrâm, y sgrin werdd, ac ati - Rydym yn gobeithio gallu eu defnyddio yn amlach yn ystod yr hanner tymor nesaf gan ein bod wedi treulio tymor yn dychwelyd i'r dosbarth ac yn gorffen asesiadau.

Pa adnoddau a fu'n boblogaidd yn eich Clwb Into Film?

Y taflenni gwaith ar y 5 prif argymhelliad ar gyfer Gwneud Ffilmiau (oedran 5-16) a Fframiau Camera, oherwydd roedd y plant yn gallu gweld y gwahaniaethau mewn persbectif, a gwnaethant ddefnyddio
hyn ar gyfer y rhagluniau iMovie a wnaethant. Rydym hefyd yn mwynhau gwneud rhagluniau llyfrau hefyd gan ddefnyddio iMovie.

Pa ffilmiau sy'n boblogaidd yn eich Clwb Into Film?

WALL-E (2008)
Casgliad Ffilmiau Byr Pixar Cyfrol 3 (2018)

Pa un darn o gyngor y byddech yn ei roi i arweinwyr Clybiau Into Film newydd?

Mae'n debygol eich bod yn defnyddio llawer o'r sgiliau eisoes yn y dosbarth, ond mae hyn yn ffordd wych o ymgysylltu â'r plant mewn ffordd bwrpasol. Defnyddiwch yr hyn rydych yn ei wneud eisoes yn y dosbarth, ac ewch ar gyrsiau hyfforddi Into Film neu siaradwch â'r staff cymorth i gael syniadau ynghylch sut i fod yn fwy creadigol a defnyddio ffilm gyda mwy o hyder ac mewn modd mwy effeithiol