Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes	Part B: The Impact Of War On Waste
15 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by asking students to share what they already know about War On Waste. Prompt students with questions such as:

What is War On Waste about?
What topics are addressed in War On Waste?
What stood out for you about War On Waste (what did you find most interesting or important)?

You could also share the following trailer with students to help them remember some of the key points from the show:

War On Waste: Extended Sneak Peek (https://youtu.be/aCUdU6zRyZc)

Step 2.

Now pose the following questions to students:

What do you think is the aim of the War On Waste show?

Invite students to suggest answers, leading students to the idea that the aim was to reduce the amount of waste that Australians produce.

Explain to students that in the next activity they will be exploring the impact of War On Waste, investigating how it was received and whether it achieved its aim.

Part B: The Impact Of War On Waste

Step 1.

Break the class into pairs or small groups. Electronically distribute a copy of this document: War On Waste Impact Report - Edited. Explain to students this report examines what impact the show had and some of the reasons behind its impact.

Note: This version of the report has been edited to remove pages not required for this lesson; the full version is available here.

Students will begin by looking at what impact the show had. Direct them to the Executive Summary and Introduction and ask them to read through these sections. (Note: they will be looking at the other section – Chapter 3 – later in this lesson.) Working together, students can use the report to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Students can transcribe the answer to these questions by hand or they could add comments to the digital version of their report to show their answers.

How did the show reportedly impact businesses? What changes did it inspire?
How did the show reportedly impact individuals and families?
What other changes were identified as a result of the show?
What percentage of viewers were inspired to change their behaviours?
What do you think is meant by the term ‘Fertile ground for change’? How might this have influenced the impact of the show?
Reading through the Executive Summary and Introduction, do you think the show met its aims to reduce waste? Explain your answer.

Once complete, invite students to share some of their answers with the class. The aim of this process is to ensure students understand that the show had a high impact and was successful in creating behaviour change in individuals, communities, businesses and other organisations, including schools.

Step 2.

Students will now look at some of the reasons why War On Waste was successful.

Students can work in the same pairs/groups. Direct them to Chapter 3 of the Impact Report and ask them to read through this section. Based on what they have read you could then work as a class to suggest responses to the following question. Record answers on the board:

What strategies were used in War On Waste that helped to contribute to its success?

Answers will likely include things like:

Craig’s effective communication manner (e.g. he is described as authentic, avoids lecturing people, is cheerful and easygoing, is on a journey with the audience)
Visual stunts like the coffee cup tram or fast fashion mountain
Showing us how easy it is to make simple changes with ‘people like us’ taking action
Actually challenging businesses and governments with tough and real questions, and demanding real action
By having two series the momentum can build over time, and by reporting the successes of the first series we can be hopeful about future actions

Work with students to summarise their ideas into key points or themes and keep a record of these themes.

Explain to students that in the next part of the activity they will use their knowledge of the impact of War On Waste to plan and create their own mini TV episode around waste.

Part C: Planning Your Own War On Waste Episode

For more information about planning and producing a short film or episode, download this Film Making Toolkit for Teachers.

Step 1.

The first step in planning your episode is to think about what you want your episode to be about. It may be that there is a waste topic that you want students to focus on or one that students are particularly interested in, such as one raised in War On Waste. Ideally, you will select a topic that will be relevant to your school or local community; in this way, you’ll be able to reduce the resources required to produce your episode. Alternatively, you might like to focus on a waste program that is already running at your school or in your community, with the aim of increasing awareness of this program.

Step 2.

Once you have selected a topic, you need to start thinking about what your story around this topic will be; how will you share this idea with an audience? Students will work in groups to develop ideas through a brainstorming activity.

Give each group a piece of butcher’s paper and each student a marker pen or coloured pencil. Students should stand around the tables rather than sit in their chairs as this encourages more creative thinking. Explain to students that they will work in their groups to come up with as many different ideas for addressing their topic as possible in five minutes. The ideas can be as abstract and off-the-wall as students like. The aim is to have as many ideas as possible, with a view to being able to choose one that can be developed, refined and turned into a mini-episode.

Remind students of the strategies identified in the Impact Report and recorded on the board, and encourage them to be inspired by these (e.g. visual impact, walking people through simple solutions).

Before starting the five-minute countdown, ask students to write the waste topic that they chose/were assigned on the top of their piece of paper, if relevant. Explain to students that they should:

Write everything down as fast as possible on the butcher's paper.
Work fast because they only have five minutes and they need 50 ideas.
Be inspired by what their peers are writing – this is a collaborative brainstorm!
Do not discuss the ideas at this stage – just get them recorded.
Do not censor or say 'no' to anything during this process.
Start the timer, allowing for five minutes, calling out "ready, set, go"!
- Give time markers as they progress: "Three minutes left! Two minutes! One minute left!".
- Call out "STOP!" once the timer reaches zero.
- Make sure all students put their markers down as soon as the five minutes is finished.

You could project a countdown of five minutes using this online stopwatch or similar.

Get students to count how many responses they came up with and write each group's number on the board. Add them up to find a whole class figure and reflect on how much can get done in five minutes.

Step 3.

Allow students a few minutes to clarify or explain any ideas further with their groups.
Then, invite each student to read and rate the ideas by:

Drawing a star next to the idea they think is the most creative
Drawing a smiley face next to the idea that they like best
Drawing a tick next to the idea that matches what they are trying to achieve

Step 4.

Explain to groups that they now need to choose one idea that they can develop into an episode, by considering the stars, smiley faces and ticks. This will require them to understand some of the parameters of the mini-episode they will be creating. Explain that the episode they will be creating should be no longer than three minutes and that it will be presented to an audience or uploaded onto the school website/blog for viewing.

In addition, explain any other constraints relevant to your setting, such as timeframes, and equipment and resources available.

Step 5.

Once they have selected an idea, allow the groups to spend some time working together to refine their idea, thinking about the following questions:

What is your idea? What will happen in this episode?
How will this idea address the topic you are focusing on?
What will be your 'call to action'? What action will the audience be asked to take?

Step 6.

Provide each group with a copy of the Film Making Tips and the Storyboard Template to guide them through this process of planning their episode. Explain that storyboarding means visually planning the episode they want to film. Students will need to sketch out scenes from their episode showing people and events. Add ideas for visuals and audio (such as dialogue, music or sound effects).

Students might like to jot short scenes down on sticky notes or small pieces of paper first, so they can rearrange them easily to develop a flow for their episode.

Step 7.

Allow students plenty of time to work on their storyboards.

Step 8.

The next part of planning involves thinking about all the other details required to bring the episode to life. It would now be useful for students to develop a brief plan for their film-making process. They should include the following elements in their plan:

Equipment and resources they will need
Type of film technique they will use (e.g. live action, studio, stop-motion animation, picture story)
Technical elements they want to include (e.g. sound effects, studio lighting, etc.)
How many people they need for filming and acting
Any questions they still have that will need answering
Estimated timeline for the project. How long will they dedicate to planning, making, editing?

At this point, students don't need to begin filming; the aim of creating a draft is to flesh out their ideas for the episode. They might like to develop a brief script that can be read out along with displaying the storyboard.

Step 9.

Allow each group to present their plans and provide feedback to their peers on how their episode ideas could be improved. You might like to team up groups to share with each other or do a whole-class sharing, so that you can more easily review concepts and guide constructive feedback.

Some suggested points to consider when assessing the work of peers could include (available on the Student Worksheet – these can also be used to guide students in planning their episodes):

Will this episode address the waste topic you are focusing on?
Does this episode comply with set constraints (such as episode length and resources available)?
Does this episode inspire people to make changes for the waste topic you are addressing?
Does this episode include some factual information or statistics (where relevant)?
Does this episode make sense?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this episode and how could it be improved?

Step 10.

Once planning is complete, allow students time to consider and incorporate feedback before beginning filming.

Part D: Production

For more information about planning and producing a short film or episode, download this Film Making Toolkit for TeachersFilm Making Toolkit for Teachers.

Step 1.

Before creating their episodes, encourage students to consider the following:

What resources (props, etc.) will we need?
Who will need to be involved? What tasks are there and who will complete these tasks?
What permissions (model releases, copyright, etc.) do we need and how can we get these?
Where do we need help from our teacher?

It is recommended that students gain final approval for their idea from the teacher before they begin filming.

Step 2.

Provide plenty of time, opportunity and relevant resources for students to create their films.

Some useful equipment might include:

Lights, lamps or torches
A 'green screen' (this can be made from any green fabric – make sure it is ironed
Plasticine – useful for claymation
Tablets/iPads or other recording and editing devices
Craft equipment for designing images, puppets, signs or costume elements
Waste items relating to the waste topic students are addressing

Step 3.

Students may find it useful to write a script. You might like to give them a copy of these Script Writing Tips to help them along.

Reflection

Step 1.

A whole-school approach to understanding and taking positive action in the local community isn't just about what happens in the classroom or school, but importantly, also how it involves the wider community. Furthermore, an important part of real-world learning such as in this project, is the opportunity for students to present what they learn throughout the project in a public arena. Plan for groups to share their episode with the school or a section of the school; you could hold a screening session or upload episodes to the school blog/website.

Step 2.

Invite students to work independently to complete the following reflection questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Project reflection:

Was our episode a success? Why or why not?
How will our episode help to address the waste topic we focused on?
What parts of our project were the most successful and why?
What parts were the least successful and why? How would we improve these parts?
How could we extend or continue our call to action into our community?

Student self-reflection:

How did I work in the group?
What would I do differently next time?
What was the best part of working on this project and why?
What was the worst part and why?
What am I most proud of?

Differentiated Learning

Opportunities for Extension -

Students might like to interview people in the community and include interviews in their episode.
Students might like to share the video with community members or publish it through social media channels (provided all copyright requirements and model releases are completed).

Provisions for Learning Support -

The value of developing group creative works is that there are a number of roles required to make it a success. In film-making, students can take on a variety of useful roles within their group, and these can be carefully thought through and tailored to specific students. Consider students' needs and learning preferences when it comes to things like: leadership, performing or public speaking, planning and record-keeping, communication and collaboration, technologies, craft and design.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

War On Waste - Make A War On Waste Episode

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