- what the experience looks like for students.types of outcomes students might have.
- how the outcome is tied to curriculum objectives.
- what Web 2.0 tools are aligned to the outcomes and lead to higher order thinking skills.
- kinds of directions or guidelines you will provide in order to ensure success.
Write a post that briefly describes the activity you would create and how could you might minimize possible challenges students and the teacher might have to address. Make sure that your activity is aligned to a learning objective, and uses verbs from the top three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. In a later module, this activity may be one component of a larger unit you create.
This week, I was thinking about the CCSS Listening and Speaking elements and how that might be taught in a blended environment. Voki sprang to mind, even though this week was the very first time I had even heard of the program and it seems to have been around for some time. Wouldn't it be fun, and much less threatening for most students, to have a small project through the program:
Students will be given a monologue from a (probably Shakespearean play) to read - probably, I would pass out four or five speeches. Each student would receive a random speech and be responsible for reading and understanding the contents, and researching a little of the storyline to help with the context if needed/or all the speeches would be from the same play that we were about to read. They would have to write a paraphrased speech using modern language or slang and perform the speech through the Voki avatar. Groups could be assigned or random depending on how the speeches are distributed. In groups, students would create an avatar through Voki that resembles the speaker of the lines, and read and record the speech/their version of it. The recording could be posted online or presented to the class. The timing of the presentations could even be staggered so that as we come to each speech in the play, students could hear their peers perform it!
| CCSS Standards from http://www.scoe.net/castandards/agenda/2010/ela_ccs_recommendations.pdf | How it relates to the assignment: |
| Comprehension and Collaboration 4. b. Plan, memorize and present a recitation (e.g., poem, selection from a speech or dramatic soliloquy) that: conveys the meaning of the selection and includes appropriate performance techniques (e.g., tone, rate, voice modulation) to achieve the desired aesthetic eff ect. (9th or 10th grade.) | Comprehension and collaboration is met through the facts that students must comprehend the speech well enough to paraphrase in their own vernacular. Then, they must agree on a common version for their group and, even though one person would be speaking, the group must all agree that the performance conveys the tone, meaning, and emotion that the speech implies. |
| Knowledge of Language 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. | Again, they would have to understand the text in the original form and apply their knowledge of language to realize the meaning more fully and prove comprehension |
| Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaff olding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. | Both the 10th and 12th grade standards require students to be able to read independently and proficiently. |
| Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas 5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of fi ndings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 9-10 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 32 for specifi c expectations.) | I'm taking some liberty here, as this is meant to apply to information more than literature, but using digital media and adapting a speech for the purpose of proving comprehension fit with the spirit of this standard as well. |
The directions for a blended class are probably the most difficult as we move instruction onto the 2.0 web. It's almost like being a new teacher in that I have no examples of past student work or the experience about what is likely to cause hang-ups. For example, the culminating project for the poetry analysis project in my class is always to have students apply the techniques to a song. I know, after a couple of issues, that there must be guidelines and a failsafe for refusing certain colorful songs from the classroom; that interpretations must be at least PG- rated, and any graphics also have to pass the PG rating. I usually tell students if they would feel uncomfortable hanging their poster in a church or their grandma's living room, then it doesn't belong here. So...the guidelines and instructions are probably going to be very different the second year. But here goes...
Voki Speech Analysis Project (part 2)
Now
that you have read, understood, and paraphrased your speech. It is
time to create a presentation. You will work with the other students in
our class period who have also paraphrased the speech. Together, you
will review the speeches and collaborate on a new version that best
conveys the meaning of the original. When that is done, you will create
a Voki account and create an avatar that represents the speaker.
Finally, your group will be responsible for recording the revised
speech so that we can hear the meaning of the speech, the way the
speaker most likely would have said it, and the emotion the author meant
the character to be feeling.(I would probably show an example I did of an original for meaning/intensity and student examples once I'd done this)
Your grade is based on the following:
1. Your individual paraphrase of the speech (50)
2. The final paraphrased copy of the speech from your group (50)
3. Your reflection on your participation and contribution to the project (30)
4. The Final product (150)
a. speech changes tone and intensity in a way that helps us understand the character's emotional state
b. speech uses words and phrases that appropriately convey to a modern audience the meaning the original author intended
c. the Voki avatar is a reasonable representation of the speaker
d. the speech is smooth and fluent, the reader has practiced and does not 'stumble' over words and phrases (someone did not just read the speech)
e. the project is ready on the appointed due date
5. Individually, you must be able to relate the speech's meaning to the rest of the play when we are done reading it. (50)
6. Partner report card (20)
Part of the challenges are going to be getting it done on time and with the equipment available. Having the project turned in will be easy - I have students email projects pretty regularly; also my district has a groupfusion website that allows an assignment drop sort of like the dropbox in haiku. The technology aspect will be tough for some, but I have a laptop and LCD overhead projector, and I will be able to walk people through. I can get around my district's firewall right now by using savevid.com. Online, I've found a few youtube tutorials, and after we work on the screencast assignment, I'm pretty confident I'll be able to create one that won't be blocked by my district.
Most of the challenge for this project will be getting students through some challenging language - but online tools like m-w.com and even sparknotes might help with that.
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