Nope, the infamous Twitter is no longer just for tweeting - people have found ways to use Twitter to write stories. In keeping with our discussion about Web 2.0 tools, I found the following article particularly interesting & useful - it was posted by edutopia & I came across it on my twitter feed! Yay for Twitter! 

Karl Tiedemann was able to write a fictional story using Twitter. Due to the limited character space available for each tweet, Karl found a new way to connect the story & he was creative with it, too (he uses links and changes the backgrounds)! Check out what I’m talking about here!

Yes, its a cool experiment, BUT I’m not entirely sure if I like the idea that each link takes you to a new page…and another page….and another page, and so on. By the time I was finished, I had countless windows open. And I’m sure there’s a way around this, but I was more interested in reading the story at the time. However, I would definitely show this to my students if talking about writing or thinking about using Twitter in the class. It makes for a great educational tool, in more ways than one!

What do you think?

The following is a lesson plan redesign for my multiliteracies class. We had to choose a lesson & revise & redesign it using a text selection or literary practice that was not integrated in the original form.

Grade 10 Open Religious Education course: Jesus of History, Christ of Faith

Unit 3: The World of Jesus: History and Politics

Rationale: By the end of the unit, students would be able to answer the question: why is it important that we study Jesus’ Jewish roots? I wanted students to realize that in order to fully understand Jesus Christ, it is important to have a background in Jewish religious, social and political history.

Curriculum Expectations:

CGE1c: Actively reflects on God’s Word as communicated through the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. CGE2b: Reads, understands and uses written materials effectively. CGE2e: Uses and integrates the Catholic faith tradition, in the critical analysis of the arts, media, technology & information systems to enhance the quality of life. PF1.01: Demonstrate what it means to consider Jesus as revelation of the Father’s love. CM1.01: Demonstrate a knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus and the social teachings of the Church and identify their importance for moral decision-making. CM1.02: Demonstrate that salvation history teaches that all of God’s creation is good, that human beings are responsible stewards of creation, and that sin (both personal and social) is present in the world.

Redesigning the Lesson

I learned from previous lessons that my students did not like reading bible passages. They were not accustomed to reading the Bible and interpreting it. For the lesson on Exodus (looking specifically at the covenantal promise), I decided to give the students a break from using the text and opted to teach the Exodus story by viewing The Prince of Egypt film, and the students were very receptive to this approach. The film adaptation of the biblical narrative account of the Exodus story stays true to the account closely and it allowed students to develop media literacy skills and reflect on the use of the Bible in media. In order to gauge student’s understanding (and to ensure that they were paying close attention), I provided a handout with content and reflection questions, which if you can imagine, the students were not too happy about.

For further evaluation, I assigned students The Exodus Story Comic Strip assignment. In pairs, they were required to use one of the passages that I assigned to them from the Book of Exodus (Slaves in Egpyt, God Calls Moses, The Ten Plagues, The Passover, Crossing the Red Sea, Food in the Desert, Mt. Sinai & the Ten Commandments, The Golden Calf, & The Command to Leave Sinai) to create a series of cartoon/comic strip cells. Students had to include at least five cells, all of which had to be hand drawn. Students were evaluated on three things: if they were able to demonstrate an understanding of all of the basic concepts about the story & give explanations, use a range of thinking skills to present relevant information, and communicate it with a degree of creativity.

If I were to teach this lesson on Exodus again, I would do a couple of things differently. I would use a few of the awesome tools that I wrote about in my last blog post. As I mentioned, my grade ten students loved, loved, loved their cell phones. I spent countless minutes addressing this issue in my class; therefore in order to adapt and appeal to students’ interests, I would incorporate the cellphone as an educational tool rather than a recreational one. The handout was ineffective because students did not participate. Today’s Meet is interactive and allows students to respond immediately while watching the movie. Most importantly, I can participate and facilitate any conversation that needs direction. Also, a lot of questions might arise while watching the movie and these are often unaddressed because students forget about them. This technology allows me to address the questions as they come up and do a “think aloud,” pausing the movie where clarification is needed.

I would also change the Exodus comic strip assignment in order to give students more choice and appeal to different learners. Students still have the opportunity to create their own media texts, but they could utilize Glogster, Animoto, or Bitstrips. Students could also choose to hand draw them if they wish. This assignment asks students to consider how and why they are presenting the story in a particular way. They take on the role of producer in constructing meaning in media texts with the biblical passage I assign them. The finished products can be shared with their classmates!

The purpose of the literacy survey is to gauge student’s interests, strengths and weaknesses in the area of English and literacy. My next placement for practicum will be in an English classroom, and I look forward to using this survey to learn about my students and find it extremely useful given the short time that we have to do so. In terms of constructing my survey, I chose to incorporate some of the questions that Danika (my instructor for the course A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies) used in her survey – some of the things students read and write on a regular basis & the question about multiple intelligences. I particularly like this question because I can learn the ways in which the students experience the most success and address these strengths when developing my lesson plan.

A few of my questions address students’ past experiences in the English classroom. I asked what students like the most & the least about their last English class and followed this with a question about what they find the most difficult. For example, if the majority of students find poetry or Shakespeare the most difficult, then I know to spend more time on these areas and present it in a way that will encourage students to learn and enjoy it.

Before I can incorporate various literacies in my classroom, I would like to know how many students have computer and Internet access at home. Lastly, I asked students to outline their goals for the course and what they hope to achieve. I asked students this question, not because it will make marking easier, but it will allow me to track their progress. If a student is hoping to achieve between 80-90%, but is consistently falling below this, I can address it sooner and we can work together to reach the desired goal.

Of course, a short survey cannot address everything that a teacher would like to know; therefore the last question allows students the opportunity to share more information. This is helpful for those students who may not be comfortable disclosing information face to face.