For the literacy project, I was trying to think about something that we were already doing in the classroom that the students would really enjoy working on. Since we have been reading Out of My Mind, I wanted to incorporate some activity for my students in relation to the book. My students and I have had lengthy conversations about the difficulties Melody faces because she does not have the ability to talk and how difficult that must be. I had my students sit for one minute demonstrating how long that seems to last when you are not able to talk or move around freely. Some of them looked as though they were about to burst! Then I asked my students how difficult it must be to have all those thoughts in your head and not be able to truly express yourself for 10 years. So many of us take for granted the words that we use daily that I wanted my students to think about what would be the most important thing they would want to convey to someone if they did not have the capability. Then I got the idea that for my project, I would have my students make a video of what Melody would say if she were able to talk. The program I originally wanted to use was not the best for me to use in the classroom unfortunately, so I had the students create comic strips and then we made a class Animoto. Below is our class video, I hope you enjoy!
I LOVE what you did with your class! Do you mind if I show it to mine? I talk about you all the time, so it would be a easy way for our classes to feel a bit more connected.
ReplyDeleteSince Melody could not talk, perhaps doing the final product without speaking worked well, though she could talk in the end once she had the technology assistance to use to express her words. The idea of sharing across classes as Taylor suggests would work well with a variety of tools. Perhaps the two of you can figure out a way for your students to share their final reactions to the book using an appropriate technology tool.
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