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We are Team 17
inanimatealice inanimate digital literacy multimodal alice
tells the story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.
This is the day-to-day journey of Shaun Wood and Team 17 as we explored the digital stories of Inanimate Alice. We have documented our learning along with the documents we used and photographs of our work. We hope that you can use our journey as a guide for your own.
Session 1: Monday - July
WALT: question texts as a reader.
We discussed the meaning of 'inanimate' which we thought the 'in' might mean an opposite or even part of something else. We thought 'animate' could be related to cartoons and animation.
We then read the text of Inanimate Alice and in groups recorded our questions as we read through the story. All groups shared questions for our class questions and wondering shown below.
Last term we learnt to question during reading and we are showing that we are becoming good asking them.
Session 2: Tuesday - July
WALT: compare and contrast different literacy media as readers.
We discussed the meaning of the words of our WALT and thought of examples to describe them.
We then watched Episode One: China as a class then again in our a groups along with the text version. In our groups we used T charts to compare and contrast the print and digital versions of Inanimate Alice. All students shared their ideas for our class comparison chart shown below. We all agreed that although we preferred the digital version, the print was still as we could visualise.
Wednesday - July
WALT: recognise emotions and moods through text, images and music.
Today during reading we watched "
Episode One: China" again in our groups. While we watched we created a feelings chart to try track how Alice was feeling on each page. Below is the Feeling Chart created by
Session 3: Monday - July
WALT: identify the structures and features of narratives.
We begun by reviewing what an 'Accountable Discussion' looked like and how we could use it to focus our group discussions. Once again all groups did excellent well thought recording in their group books and shared their ideas on our class review of what we expect from narratives and digital narratives. We tried to think of our own experiences as writers and discussed these questions:
What is a narrative text? What is digital fiction? How is a digital text different from a print text? What do they have in common?
Then we watched Episode 2: Italy while thinking about the structures and features of narratives that we had recorded.
Thursday - July
WALT: to identify features interesting website may have.
During our computer suite time we are learning to create websites for the
TVNZ6 NETGUIDE SCHOOLS MULTIMEDIA CHALLENGE
. We explored past winners to see what features their websites had. We also wondered what made the good ones so interesting. This is our brainstorm, we also thought that many of these features are the same as those we identified in Inanimate Alice.
Session 4: Tuesday - July
WALT: use inference to help gather information.
We started with students sharing what we had explored in yesterdays lesson for the students who were away. We recognised inference because we have been learning about that strategy in reading. In our groups we watched episodes 1 and 2 again and our purpose was to gather information to answer the questions below. Once again everyone shared their ideas which we collected onto the sheet below. We had some great discussions about whether Alice was living in Italy or on holiday their and had to explain what clues made us feel that way.
We thought that we had succeeded in using inference to help gather information.
Character Inference sheet by Saylor
Session 5a: Monday - August
WALT: predict common narrative features in the next episode.
to brainstorm and share our prediction.
What do you predict will happen in Episode 3?
Session 5b: Tuesday - July
WALT: identify author's craft and intent.
We tried to think as authors and identify the techniques, styles and strategies that the author uses to create the theme of Alice.
Friday - August
After brainstorming what we knew and could infer about Alice, we drew a picture of what we though Alice looks like. We then each created a character description brainstorm. We studied character descriptions last term.
Monday - August
WALT: to plot the main events of a story on a timeline.
In our groups we watched Episode 3 again. We wanted to plot the main events of the story and see how this matched the *'tension' of the story. We also practiced spotting the parts of a narrative on our timeline worksheets.
* tension: we imagined tension like an elastic band. When the story gets exciting or scary we feel the tension as readers, like an elastic band ready to snap.
There were some scary moments!
Monday - August
Our class discussed some of the narrative styles and techniques that we had earlier identified as unique to 'Inanimate Alice.' We thought we would show our understanding of this style by writing an orientation for the next episode. We used a
to create an Alice avatar to read our text as the text is told from her point of view. (Orientation with thanks to Henrica.)
Get a Voki now!
Session 5b: Tuesday - August
Today we had discussions about the groups we would be working in to create our own episode of Inanimate Alice. We brainstormed all the different things we would need to do to get to the end result of a new digital story about Alice.
Students separated into four jigsaw groups to identify and analyse elements of Inanimate Alice. Each group discussed a specific literacy element and took notes. They then presented responses back to their home group.
Our Jigsaw Learning Elements
- Text Structure: What is similar about the way the text is structured across all three episodes?
- Changes: What differences are there in three texts? Can you identify any patterns in these differences?
- Storyline: What elements/themes can you identify that are common to all three episodes?
- Author’s craft: What techniques and strategies has the author used to create this text?
Wednesday - August
Before watching episode 4 we did some prediction about what may happen. Each student added to our AnswerGarden brainstorm below. Then we watched Episode 4: Hometown.
Thursday - August
We watched Episode 4: Hometown in our groups again. This time we plotted the main events, structure, navigation and tension. We will use our knowledge to help us write our our episode.
Tuesday - August
Today was exciting because we are finally beginning to plan and write our own Inanimate Alice episode 5. It will be in Samoa, where many of our students and whanau are from.
We brainstormed ideas in groups and used our previous timelines to help us plan ideas for Episode 5 on a blank timeline/structure/plot sheet.
As each of us is writing our own 'Inanimate Alice: Samoa' narrative we then worked on own ou=wn to draw a story path from our timeline planner. Below A.J. tells Mr Wood his story using his pictures as a guide.
Finally some of us started writing our stories using past scripts, brainstorms and planning to guide us. This will be our first draft.
Wednesday - August
Today during topic we did a jigsaw exploration of the Samoan culture. In pairs we found the information for some questions Mr Wood asked, then we each shared our learning with the class.We are learning to understand and appreciate all cultures, but this will also help us write our own Inanimate Alice: Samoa episodes.
During art we prepared some square cards for scaffito (scraping paint off to reveal the crayon beneath). Each group had up to eight card to show the key points and tell their story. In groups we drew draft plans then split the work between group members, and began scratching. Lastly we put them up on the white board and shared our stories with the class.
Running out of time
We are nearing the end of term and we decided to list all the things our groups needed to complete before the deadline. Each group created a time management plan and assigned each member duties.
While the stories were being finished off, the group leaders got together with Mr. Wood and did a self-assessment of their own group project. We used the rubric from the
Alice and Friends wiki
Presentation with peer and teacher assessment
All groups finished their digital stories and then presented their stories to the class using our data-projector. Each group had to peer assess another group using the peer assessment form during the shows. The class brainstormed the criteria for the peer-assessment. See the slide show below for the photos.
Final Digital Stories
All the student stories can be
. The story below is by Steven, Nicholas and Isaia. It has been converted to a Slideshare file to embed here, however it lost most of the music, sound effects and animation.
Bailey Road School
Some groups decided they would draw their own Brad.
Students working on class laptops creating their Alice stories.
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