Teaching Sequence

30 minutes	Part A: Ideas about Representation
20 minutes	Part B: The Representational Nature of a Documentary
20 minutes	Part C: (Start) Representations in Paul Kelly - Stories of Me
20 minutes	Reflection/Homework

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Ideas about Representation

Before delivering this lesson, talk to students about how artists take in the elements of the world around them and translate them into texts that can be read, heard or viewed by people. These texts are representations of real world elements. Artists create and reinvent the world for the people who connect with them:

Step 1.

Invite students to adopt an open mindset - they will be required to think creatively about concepts that they may or may not know about. Help students to understand that an open mindset means thinking big, exploring new ideas and not blocking any potential opinions from other students.

Write each of the prompts below on the centre of its own piece of butcher’s paper. Stick each piece of paper up onto the wall of the classroom, and invite students to split into 3 groups (one for each prompt) to discuss and brainstorm their thoughts, questions and puzzlements that they have for each of the prompts.

Story: truth or fiction?
Documentary: fact or falsity?
The title Paul Kelly - Stories Of Me, suggests:

Each group should work collaboratively for 5 minutes to add as many ideas as they can to a concept. You could circulate among the groups and remind students that each of their thoughts and questions is legitimate and they should continue their brainstorm using language such as “yes…and?” rather than shutting down responses they don’t agree with.

After 5 minutes, invite groups to rotate to brainstorm the next concept, and encourage students who haven’t contributed yet to articulate their thoughts on paper.

Step 2.

After the final rotation, ask students to recirculate around the room to read their classmate's ideas. Once they have done so, invite students to return to their seats and share their reflections on what they observed on each piece of paper.

Part B: The Representational Nature of a Documentary

Step 1.

Discuss with students that there are many types of texts about real people, including biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, documentaries and reality shows. These don’t simply recount the events of a person’s life; the author carefully selects details from that life and constructs a story that is believable and that projects a powerful message. The process can therefore be regarded as a construction, building up a picture from different elements.

Step 2.

Explore “representation” and the concepts that link to the documentary genre by guiding the class in the creation of a mind-map around the concepts. You could do so on another piece of butcher’s paper or using a webtool such as mindmeister or bubbl.us (so that it can be kept and referred to at a later date). You could guide students in their brainstorming by suggesting ideas such as:

The subject of a documentary does not usually get to choose what is included
What is shown or included in a documentary couldn’t possibly cover all that actually occurs in a person or thing’s world
If everything was included, it might be boring, so different parts are selected to represent the whole
No (life) story is told without some sense of creativity

Part C: Representation in Paul Kelly - Stories of Me

Step 1.

Students now investigate the ways that Paul Kelly is represented in the documentary. Ask students to recall the documentary and describe in writing on the Student Worksheet the section of the film when Paul Kelly was represented as each of the versions of ‘self’ listed:

An everyday person
A performer
A story teller
A family man
A ‘loving’ man
A celebrity
An Australian

Step 2.

Facilitate a class discussion about students' responses. Did they see other ways in which Paul Kelly was represented in the film?

If required, students could watch parts of Paul Kelly - Stories of Me to recall the different representations of Paul Kelly in the documentary. The film is hyperlinked on the Student Worksheet.

Reflection/Homework

Students reflect on the lesson by completing the “I used to think … but now I think …” reflection tool (in relation to their understanding of the representational nature of documentary).

They are asked:

What did you used to think about how true to real life a documentary was?
Now what do you think? Describe why you think that way.

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Students could write a piece that discusses the representation of personality in Paul Kelly - Stories of Me. They could respond to either of the following prompts:

A documentary is real, but not wholly true.
To be a true reflection of Paul Kelly’s life, the documentary would need to show every second of it.

Provisional Learning Support: Give students specific points from the film to view before they complete the activities in Part C.

PAUL KELLY - STORIES OF ME - Representation in Documentaries

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