Focus Question: What happened next?

Overview of program: Development of a narrative, focussing on beginning, middle, and the end, as well as specific features of a narrative such as character, plot, setting, any possibly complications and the possible resolutions to these complications. Furthermore, allowing the children to determine these aspects of the narrative so it relates to them and their interests. We will do this by undertaking a Sentence Starter activity in which each child can actively participate in creating the narrative, by incorporating their own sentences. Together the group will then take photos to portray this narrative, and voice recordings will be added to create the audio effect of the movie. Another key focus will be to improve descriptive language. This will be through the use of adjectives, which they can use in any of their sentences to make the story more exciting and appealing to the audience. This will be achieved through the use of additional props and objects which the children can use adjectives to describe before choosing to use them in the Narrative. At the commencement of the digi-tell program we will be undertaking a Game of what are you doing? which will help to open up the childrens creative minds by thinking on the spot which they will also need to do when undertaking the activity Sentence Starter. Furthermore, the Sentence starter activity will be accompanied by a box of props in which there will be a range of items, which will elicit ideas for things such as settings, characters and even potential complications. This evidence demonstrates the use of a range of teaching and learning resources/technologies because every week were using such things as sentence starter activities in which the children wrote down their sentences for the movie, as well as the technology which was implemented throughout the program. Technology included cameras, Mac Laptops and even the use of their sound proof audio room to record the childrens voices for the movie.

Throughout the whole program our group strived to model curiosity and enthusiasm for learning through the various frontloading activities as well as the incorporation of various teaching approaches. I believe that a significant example of this was our example movie which we had created and showed the students at the beginning of the project (Attached below this evidence on Standard 6 page). This demonstrated a sense of fun and enjoyment from creating a narrative piece that was both unique to the people making it and also a representation of how learning with technology can bring another level to literacy.

Throughout each week we were developing students knowledge of not only movie making and technology but also were constantly reinforcing the concept of narratives. We provided a great amount of opportunities to explore ideas and emerge understandings, through enabled them to take many of the photos, edit the film and be the narrators. Every week we stated what conceptual and procedural knowledge we were focusing on. This further demonstrates how we were striving to develop their skills in understanding and creating a narrative in movie form.

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Evidence of my use of a range of teaching approaches was in each weeks frontloading activities. This sometimes consisted of games such as what are you doing or in another case was using picture cards of the video to reinforce the importance of sequence in Narrative forms. Flexibility was also an area demonstrated throughout this project, as our group initially had two students in the first week, however, when it came to the second week one of those students was not there (who had contributed significantly to the written narrative the week before) and there was another new student. From then on we always had to plan for the original students possible return to the group and have opportunities for her to participate and contribute. Flexibility in terms of our timeline for completing certain aspects was largely evidence, as we often found that we had not completed the material we had expected and that would have to be continued the next week. In the end however, the product was successfully completed and both of the students thanked us as they had enjoyed the experience.

Text Type: Text type features: - Structure of the text: Beginning, middle and the end - Content of the text: Characters, Setting, Plot, Complication and resolution - Series of events - Length of the narrative (Because the narrative needs to include all of the above and these need to be detailed using such things as adjectives.

Program Learning Outcomes: English Australian Curriculum (Level 4):

ACELY 1694

Culminating Project: Digital Narrative Digital story or animation Proposed Sequence of Project Development: Session 1: Plan and write the Narrative Session 2: Establish what needs to represented in a photo and then take the photos Session 3: Record voices to correspond with the photos Session 4: Edit and Present final Digital Narrative Every week we had a focus of what we wanted the children to be achieving.

Plan, Draft and publish imaginative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for the widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features
ACELY 1697

Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements

Reference: Wing Jan, L. (2009). Write ways: modelling

Explicit Text Type Knowledge (Conceptual) (Learning Outcomes):

Procedural Knowledge (Organisation) (Learning Outcomes)

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writing forms. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Children will understand the Key concepts in a narrative Structure of having a beginning, middle, end Incorporations of characters, setting and plot Having a complication Having a resolution

Children will be able to construct a narrative, using the checklist they create. Which they will use to include characters, settings, complications and resolutions and an overall plot; with a beginning, middle and end sequence.

Children will know the process by which a narrative is constructed - First establishing the key concepts of a Narrative (as stated above) - Stating who are possible characters, possible settings, and a possible plot - Have examples of complications and resolutions - Start with the beginning of the Narrative, then proceed onto the middle of the Narrative which includes the complication and the resolution as well as the main plot - Complete the Narrative with a conclusion by which the story concludes - Make sure to include descriptive language through adjectives throughout the piece of writing Project Assessment: We will be using formative assessment throughout the four-week period through observations (recorded in out meeting notes each week) as well as such things as our evaluation sheet from week two. This will evaluate how the students are enjoying the digi-tell program and areas, which we can improve. We will also be using the sequencing activity in week 3 where the students order the photos to go into the movie, which will reinforce the notion of sequencing, and also what key concepts of a narrative each photo represents.

Digi-Tell Program Planning Template

Week 1 Focus Question: What happened next? Focus: Engage children, assess their prior knowledge, and begin the writing of the narrative Learning Outcomes Explicit Text Type Knowledge (Conceptual) and Procedural (organisation) knowledge: Conceptual: Encouraging children to state the key concepts and features of a narrative. Specifically, Chloe Gaeggeler, Annabel Cameron, Claire Schiller

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Structure of the text: Beginning, middle and the end, Content of the text: Characters, Setting, Plot, Complication and resolution. Furthermore, the importance of descriptive language in narratives. Procedural: Assessing prior knowledge through the creation of the checklist, in which the children will come and write what they think is necessary for a narrative piece of writing. Once this has been understood and completed, proceed onto writing the narrative, using the sentence starter activity (teacher writes all answers on the board)

Frontloading Activity: The what are you doing game is aimed at motivating and engaging the children into thinking of taking turns with contributing ideas. The extension task of getting them to use an adjective in each sentence encourages their use of descriptive language, which is crucial when writing narratives. We make a checklist to make sure all the concepts By creating the checklist the are covered and that we can keep track of what is necessary for the children to include. students were able to come up The Checklist in which the children write up what with ideas that they were they think are necessary components needed when familiar with and that were writing a narrative. The children come up to the relevant to their prior butchers paper and write their own answers, to knowledge. engage them further. Scaffolding Activities: Explore and practice concepts Move from where the children are to where you want them to be Leading to culminating project that allows students to visually show their procedural and conceptual knowledge in creative way (Digital story) Connection to session Assessments: Time Learning Experiences and Key Questions: learning outcomes When undertaking the 1. What are you doing? Game (Explicit and Procedural what are you doing 2. Brainstorm what key concepts Knowledge) : game we will be are in a Narrative and write them ACELY 1694 observing how the on the butchers paper to make Plan, Draft and publish children engage with it. the checklist. imaginative and Also when undertaking 3. Our example of the end product persuasive texts the extension task, 4. Go back to their checklist and containing key making sure that the make sure that everything they information and children are adding said was in our movie and if there supporting details for the appropriate adjectives. was anything missing write this widening range of (Through describing audiences, some of the objects in down. demonstrating increasing the box of props.) 5. Explain the sentence starter Childrens checklist to activity and also encourage them control over text structures and language assess prior knowledge to come up with ideas for who features the characters could be, where the story could be set, what Linking to Learning might be some complications, experiences: and have these written down so they can refer to them during the 2 & 5 activity. Create literary texts that
Early Finishers: Start taking photos for the explore students own experiences and

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video Share Time Re-read the story together and then the children individually state what they learnt about narratives.

imagining (ACELT1607) 2,3 & 5 Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings (ACELT1794)

Materials/ Resources - Butchers paper - Textas Annabel, Claire, Chloe - Computer and example video Chloe - Props for props box Annabel, Chloe, Claire - Box for props box (including toy duck/teddy, tiger ears/headband, bowl, soft drink bottle, book, ribbons, cape) - Claire - USB - Chloe - Fruit - Annabel

Week 1 Modifications and Justification Section Description Learning - We didnt compare our video with their checklist because we felt as experiences though their checklist demonstrated that they had a fairly good grasp on and key aspects of a Narrative. questions - We felt that asking the students to check the checklist with the movie (point 4) would not be as effective as if they did this with their final product or throughout the creation of their movie. Meeting Notes Date 7/8/12

Date

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Pre-session - Decided on a Text Type - Narrative - Discussed and decided upon a range of activities and games which could be used over the four lessons - Wrote out the lesson plan so our ideas were more concrete - Delegated tasks - Finished writing up/fixing sections of the lesson plan - Organised what was going to be in the prop box and who was going to bring the components - Completed and Finished editing our example movie - Delegate who was bring what materials and equipment - Discussed what a sentence starter activity was and researched possible starting sentences (our starting sentence for our example movie was through the open door I could see.. - Discussed strategies associated with the sentence starter activity and writing the narrative, such as encouraging and prompting students to contribute at least 4 sentences each. Post session

27/8/12

We were considerate of which part of the story to modify because we were taking into account that it had to be relevant to the students, and reflective of their work not ours.

- We felt really excited that the students contributed to the story but we needed to edit the story in order for it to make sense. We were however, considerate of which sentences we chose to eliminate or alter. We mostly changed the sentences we had contributed rather than the students sentences so it was still majority their ideas and contributions.

- We felt that the frontloading activity was not as successful as we had anticipated, because the students engagement was lacking. We decided to stop the activity after observing this so we could get into writing the story The distraction with the box of props is an area, which regretted not modifying because we noticed the student getting very distracted. (If we use this in week 2 we will leave the box away until it is necessary)

Week 2 Focus Question: What happened next? Focus: Continuing with the writing of the narrative (if not finished) Take all necessary photos Learning Outcomes Explicit Text Type Knowledge (Conceptual) and Procedural (organisation) knowledge: Conceptual: For children to understand the importance of background, angle, and lighting, when taking a photo. Procedural: Get children to discuss what is needed for a good photo (such as background, lighting and angle). Allow children to practice with the camera in order to get the best photo. Go over the checklist with the children and cross check it with the story to make sure it has all necessary elements.

Frontloading Activity: Introductory discussion with the new child/children and encourage the students who had been there week one to describe what we would be doing in the next three weeks. Scaffolding Activities: Explore and practice concepts Move from where the children are to where you want them to be Leading to culminating project that allows students to visually show their procedural and conceptual knowledg Connection to session Assessments: Time Learning Experiences and Key Questions:
Finish writing the story as a group Start taking the photos and informing the children of the key things to remember when taking a good photo (show them good photos) Write down with the children what kind of photos will need to be taken? E.g. ones of the characters and where the story is set. learning outcomes (Explicit and Procedural Knowledge): ACELY 1697 Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements

The childrens checklist, which they created in the first week. Evaluation sheet (Appendix 1)

Key Questions:

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What things can you see in these photos that makes them a good photo to use? Can you think of some things that we should take photos of for our video? Early Finishers: Start recording their voice for voice over Share Time Allow individual children to show a photo and explain what they learnt about photos and why it is good/bad

Materials/ Resources - Examples of good photos (on movie) - Chloe - Props - Everyone - Camera - Chloe - Costumes - Everyone - Story - USB - Childrens checklist - Textas - Fruit Week 2 Modifications and Justification Section Description Meeting Notes Date 28/8/12

Pre-session We felt that due to the fact that we hadnt finished the narrative writing from week one, our frontloading activity, which was originally the Four Corners activity, was going to be too long. Instead we thought that we would spend the first bit of time introducing ourselves (including group members), to the new child/children (if we had any), and also go over again our example movie and what we would be doing in the next three weeks Post session CHANGES ONLY Chloe- I felt that today was not as productive as I had hoped. One of the children was missing and she was going to be the main character so we had to adapt that so the new student would take her place so we could start taking photos. This reflection is evidence of my flexibility is adapting to having a new student, without letting the program change significantly. I felt as though one of the children became restless as we started trying on costumes and started getting ready to take photos. She logged onto the computer and was looking up possible sounds we could use.

Date

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This is a key reflection because it highlights the importance of allowing children with these opportunities to explore ideas such as the audio sounds and photo taking techniques in order to develop skills, and engage them in their learning. I think a key thing to think about for next week would be for her to have a specific role, such as taking the photos, or finding the sound effects because I think that would help her stay focussed on the task. I also felt that the evaluation sheet that we created went really well as we were able to see what worked and what we could improve on.

Week 3 Focus Question: What happened next? Focus: Voice recordings and their features. Learning Outcomes Explicit Text Type Knowledge (Conceptual) and Procedural (organisation) knowledge: Conceptual: How to make voice overs, including tone of voice, and expression. Also where to put them in the movie. Being able to identify the Beginning, Middle and the End of the Video. Procedural: Remind the students what tone and expression of voice works best with recording, by demonstrating to them first. Allow them to have a few practices so they can gain confidence with it. Attach the voice recordings to the photos on the video. Frontloading Activity: Picture cards demonstrating certain aspects of the story and the children have to put them in the correct order so they gain knowledge about sequencing a narrative Scaffolding Activities: Explore and practice concepts Move from where the children are to where you want them to be Leading to culminating project that allows students to visually show their procedural and conceptual knowledge in creative way (Digital story) Learning Experiences and Key Questions: Connection to session Assessments: Time Picture card story to test their ability to retain the sequence of their narrative, as well as thinking about what aspects of a narrative the photos represent. Finish taking any photos Start recording voice overs
learning outcomes (Explicit and Procedural Knowledge): ACELY 1697 Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place Seeing how well they demonstrate the sequence of the story using the picture cards. Relate this to the key components of the narrative (checklist, created in week 1)

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Early Finishers Start editing any of the voice overs or photos.

Share Time As a group listen to the voice recordings of each person and what they learnt about voice recordings.

visual, print and audio elements

Materials/ Resources - Camera - CDS - USB - Computer - Costumes - Props - Fruit - Picture Cards

Week 4 Focus Question: What happened next? Focus: Finishing and presenting the product Learning Outcomes Explicit Text Type Knowledge (Conceptual) and Procedural (organisation) knowledge: Conceptual: Editing and fitting in voice overs Procedural: Checking over finished product going over checklist

Frontloading Activity: Show the children what we have done so far for the movie and allow them to evaluate and edit the finished product as a group. Scaffolding Activities: Explore and practice concepts Move from where the children are to where you want them to be Leading to culminating project that allows students to visually show their procedural and conceptual knowledge in creative way (Digital story) Connection to session Assessments: Time Learning Experiences and Key Questions:
Duster Hockey Finish editing Present final product learning outcomes (Explicit and Procedural Knowledge): ACELY 1697 Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and Overall product and the Rubric

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Early Finishers Play any of the games from previous weeks or any others that the children might pick Share Time As a group Discuss:

What was the best part of the four lessons? What parts of the movie do you like the best? WATCH THE MOVIE!

publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements

Materials/ Resources - Duster + two newspaper rolls - CDS - Camera - USB - Computer - Costumes - Props - Lollies? (something more exciting than fruit) Activity Description What are you doing game 1. You begin in a circle with someone in the centre doing a certain action 2. Someone else walks in and asks what are you doing 3. They then say another action (NOT THE ONE THAT THEY ARE DOING) 4. Then they start doing the one which was said by the person in the centre

Four corners game

1. In each corner there will be a question with 3 different multiple-choice answers. Next to each answer there will be an action to do, so once a student has decided on an answer they do that action. 2. Children will choose a corner to start at and perform the action to their chosen answer. 3. The teacher then goes around and checks if they have the right answer. 4. The teacher then changes the questions so the children dont copy what they saw the other child doing. 5. Repeat steps 1-4 another 2 times

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