Hi Parent, Families, Friends and Students,
During Term 3 students in 2A were very lucky to have some very special ‘Actors’ join their class.
Introducing…. Dash, Dot, Bee Bot and the Blue Bot!
Why did they need actors you may ask? With narratives being the key focus of Literacy for the Term they were writing brilliant stories, which needed brilliant actors (well ones that would do what they said at least!). The best way to do that was to bring in the robots and program them with algorithms (steps).
How did they do it?
The first step to their amazing stories was to plan and draft their narratives. Students set off into their groups to think about how their stories were going to unfold. Each group was given a story map to fill in. They needed to plan each of the scenes in their narratives and think about the different settings that their story was going to occur in. Once they had completed their story maps they needed to search the internet for settings to match each of their scenes. Then it was time to have a quick lesson on how to use the new Green Screen, cast their actors and begin filming!
With the Green Screen set up students worked together to begin to program their actors to ‘act’ out the scene. With much trial and error and exceptional team work students successfully created algorithms to match their narratives.
Once filming had completed it was time to narrate their stories. Using the different reading strategies that they had learnt so far this year, students narrated their stories with clear voices focusing on their pace and expression. It was now time to put the final touches on their movies and get ready to launch them to Parents and Grandparents.
Students became authors, directors, narrators, editors, programmers and 21st century learners!
Why did we do it?
Commencing in 2016 schools will be implementing the new Digital Curriculum as set by the Victorian Curriculum Assessment and Authority. The new curriculum is focusing on allowing students to become more confident and creative developers with the use of technology. The focus is on providing students with authentic challenges in digital solutions. It is designed to give students the opportunity to creatively present data whilst problem solving. The aim was to integrate the curriculum into what we are already doing in the classroom. What the students achieved this term allowed them to meet each of the achievement standards for their level.
The Final product!
MAX AND JORDAN
I am very proud of what the students achieved during this term and look forward to what we can do in Term 4!
What did you enjoy most about this activity? What do you think you could do better next time?