Tag: writing

Oil’d – How Could Our Pupils Make an Animation Like This?

Curriculum, Literacy, SciencePublished onUpdated onLeave a Comment on Oil’d – How Could Our Pupils Make an Animation Like This?

I’m fascinated by the representation of data using infographics. I like their bold visual approach and how the style and composition signals the content it is communicating.

Chris Harmon a designer and animator from the Greater New York City area created this beautiful and thought provoking animation called Oil’d. It explores how dependent we are to oil and how much was lost into the ocean from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

Oil’d from Chris Harmon on Vimeo.

Just from the presentation of information about the oil spill we could go in many different directions with our classes.

  • Exploring he sources of information used
  • Verifying the accuracy of the data included in the film

However if we unpick the animation layer by layer we get a much better idea of the great skill with which Chris used to complete it. Wouldn’t it be great to have Chris in front of a class of students explaining how he went about creating the animation, the stages of planning and execution.

For me there are many elements and skills that would on their own make excellent projects for children to explore and be engaged in:

Data
The maths involved in comparing and cross referencing the data, and what so many good infographic do the data-metaphor, juxtaposing information against something we find easy to refer to. For example the number of plastic bottles inside the Empire State Building, which we know is big!

Authentic information and research
Finding accurate information and data would be another important skill that would challenge a student to create something equally authentic and meaningful. We have the tools with which to find huge amounts of information and data but we need to know how to filter it. I don’t think teaching children how to search is enough, that is the first step, it is how we then process that information that needs time to be demonstrated and improved.

Persuasion
With my literacy hat on this animation pushes us to consider the impact of oil on our lives and has a strong persuasive message. The art of persuasive writing and in this case the careful scripting would be great to develop in this sort of medium, perhaps about a local issue.

Animation
The artwork and animation are obviously professional, but there is much to explore about the use of colour to convey meaning and an overall message. The colour schemes remind me of the Breathing Earth which also depicts an environmental message. It would be good for children to explore symbols and how we might convey a message in a visual way – a comparison type task would fit well here.

I think this animation is a great example of the sort of cross-curricular, multi-skill outcome that should be challenging our pupils in our schools. Making an animated infographic film about a local issue would cover so much. Furthermore if you had the opportunity to involve expertise, like Chris Harmon’s, it would provide that spark that would spur such a project onwards even further.

Don’t Just Tweet, Create Something!

Google Docs, Interesting Ways, Networks, TwitterPublished onUpdated on2 Comments on Don’t Just Tweet, Create Something!

I have been fortunate enough to see many resources created by the thousands of willing educators using Twitter. However in my opinion there is a strong case for using hashtagging more systematically, so that we better organise and structure the resources, ideas and thoughts we all have.

A Twitter hashtag uses this symbol # folllowed by a unique word, abbreviation, acronym or phrase that defines the subject or theme of the tweet it is included in. It is a great way to filter and organise tweets so they are easily found by your network.

Simply put, the more we use tagging the easier it will be to find the most relevant tweets that share resources and advice etc.

One example of a resource created using hashtags is the sentence starter tweets I began under the tags #sentstartdecisions and #sentstarttree. I wanted to gather together ideas for sentence starters that can be used in the classroom. Each tag is specific to a topic or theme that gives other teachers a little bit of a focus for their contributions.

They have proven really successful, with nearly 100 contributions for just these two tags – a great resource for the classroom, to inspire planning and to engage young writers. However the tweets are not that useful as they are – indeed there is also the retweets that use the hashtag, so it is mildly littered with less than useful tweets. I have taken all of the sentence starters and created separate Google Docs presentations with them, a sentence starter per slide. I suspect that in this form it is more useful and accessible to teachers and students.

(Please feel free to edit the above presentations and add your ideas)

In fact by using the Twitter hashtag I have in effect added a step in the process. The Interesting Ways series is so successful because when users contribute they archive and extend a version of the presentation itself – there is no middle man, well there is me and I often add ideas on behalf of people, but there is no middle step, you add your idea and that’s it. Using a hashtag and then having to generate a presentation from that tag before it’s Twitter lifespan runs out is time consuming. (Tweets will eventually not appear in a hashtag search)

On the other hand, adding a sentence starter idea via Twitter is less clicks for a teacher using Twitter – they don’t have to go to Google Docs, add the slide etc. So it is easier to do it there and then and add the hashtag. In fact some school children were contributing with their teachers this week.

I believe it is important we encourage the alacritous members of our network in some form of creation. Whichever way you gather the ideas engage them in creation as much as conversation.

Australian Postcards Please!

Australia, BloggingPublished on24 Comments on Australian Postcards Please!

1923704675 7f1aab4c0cWe are hoping to connect with lots of different schools right across Australia for our topic work this term.

This will help our children to really understand what life is like today for their peers throughout Australia.

But for an old fashioned pen-pal style idea we welcome your postcards, because after all there is still something special about receiving mail – the physical kind!

If you are an Australian teacher or educator we would love to have you and your class send us a card. The postcard could be about your town, city or state or even a famous landmark you are close to.

We have two classes doing the Australia topic so if you could please send 2 cards one addressed to Mr Barrett’s Class and the other to Mrs Bartholomew’s Class.

John Davies Primary School
Barker Street,
Huthwaite,
Sutton-in-Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire,
England.
NG17 2LH

As we gather your cards we will photograph them and update your location on a Google Map. Don’t forget to add your class blog address if you have one – our Year 5/6 classes will be starting their own soon.

Please let us know if you can help and we look forward to seeing your cards in the post!

__

Pic: Wish You Were Here by H4NUM4N


Seeing Ripples

Blogging, Curriculum, Literacy, Mapping, Networks, Twitter, VoicethreadPublished onUpdated on5 Comments on Seeing Ripples

When you share your classroom experiences and ideas, one thing you hope for is that they are transferable to other classrooms. This week I was delighted to see three examples of my ideas being successfully applied elsewhere.

The first is from Peter Richardson a primary school teacher in Preston who took my idea for using Voicethread for peer assessment of writing and used it for work in their Egyptian work. Here is the Voicethread he shared.

Kevin McLaughlin is a Year 4 teacher in Leicester and after reading my blog post about using Twitter and Google Forms for a data handling lesson, has applied the same ideas himself. His class compared music tastes from Kevin’s Twitter network (via a Google Form) with their own. I am pleased it worked well for his Year 4 class too, as Kevin explains,

The data that we now have will be used next week in further Maths lessons and the children added that they will continue to use the survey over the weekend at home and with friends. Real data from real people. This is what makes this type of investigation so very useful and brings an added dimension to data collection activities.

The final ripple I caused comes from Jan Webb another Year 4 teacher in Cheshire. Jan took up the challenge of using my Maths Maps idea with her class and developed a series of activities in a Google Map of Berlin for her class to use.

View Berlin in a larger map

Jan explains on her blog how they enjoyed using the resource in her class.

…a great deal of discussion arose from finding the shapes in some of the buildings and finding how many rectangles we could see in a building!  We all really enjoyed these tasks and they not only let us discuss aspects of shape, but also provoked discussions about aspects of life in Germany.

These ripples are very encouraging as you are able to clearly see the effect sharing your own practice has on other teachers and subsequently other children’s learning.

If you have always thought about starting a blog but never got round to it, why not give it a go. The more pebbles in the pond causing ripples the better.

Superhero Ideas That Didn’t Make It Through the Revolving Doors

Curriculum, Literacy, SuperheroesPublished onUpdated on11 Comments on Superhero Ideas That Didn’t Make It Through the Revolving Doors

Earlier this year we completed a very successful Superheroes topic in school. However many of the initial ideas I had never made it out of the revolving doors, so to speak.

One of the biggest influences for ideas and content was discovering the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company and the spin off thoughts that occurred. The Superhero Supply store is a real shop in Brooklyn which sells all sorts of hero paraphernalia, from capes to muscles in a tin. Behind a swinging bookcase is of course a secret lair, a children’s writing and tutoring workshop.

BSHS Front

The Superhero Supply Company is part of 826 National a non-profit organisation in the US to help support school children with homework and writing. Established by Dave Eggers it now has “stores” across the country with a simple aim:

Our goal is to assist students ages six to eighteen with their writing skills, and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing.

Of course what struck me about the concept and especially the Superhero online store, was the level of meta fiction that could be explored. This topic can easily focus on the comic book fiction but the mundaneness of shopping for a suitable replacement cape struck me as such a great idea to work with.

  • Turn your classroom into a store for Superheroes.
  • Try and find a mannequin that you could use to show a superhero outfit.
  • Use the Pixar film The Incredibles.
  • What happens in the everyday life of a Superhero?
  • In drama explore everyday routines with a superhero costume on – queuing for a bus, picking up some milk from the shop.

Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co The online store provided me with a rich vein of ideas for writing beyond children’s own fictional heroes.

The persuasive language used to sell the special products on offer would be a great text to unpick. For example on sale at the online store is Item No. 2503 – STANDARD 58″ SUPERHERO CAPE.

For over two centuries, the BSSCo. Standard 58″ Superhero Cape has been the industry standard in fly-wear for professional heroes. Every cape we ship meets all Superhero Alliance and FAA regulation requirements, and is specially designed for maximum flight control and resistance to air burn.

If you’re a working, flying superhero, the Standard 58″ Superhero Cape is a must-have. Because let’s face it. Without one, you’re just some guy who looks like he’s falling.

Available in a variety of colors.

4447594737 9acfe091c5 oThe act of exploring the sophisticated persuasive devices used in the short product descriptions would be an excellent class activity.

  • Develop your own online Superhero Supply store.
  • Invite children to bring in toys and gadgets that could be rebranded as hero gear.
  • Model how to write a similarly persuasive piece for their own gadgets.
  • Children could role play the real life store or an order by telephone- Superhero and sales assistant, “I’m looking for something a little darker…”
  • Develop a customer newsletter from the store or a flyer.
  • What other things might we find in tins? Muscles, gravity – create your own Hero Basics range
  • Script a radio or TV commercial as a Superhero endorses the store.

Further to these ideas we looked at how the children could design and make their own superhero costumes. This could be done so that they could wear them and then use them in subsequent drama and fictional work.

On reflection we did think that full size costumes for each child might end up quite a complex operation, so considered three alternatives. (1) To buy lots of dolls that could be dressed in miniature (2) Invite some local fashion design students to help (3) Creating a utility belt may be a design project that would allow children to work individually.

Accompanying these little design and make projects children could provide instruction manuals for the products that are created, such as the functions of the belt or the unique features of their cape.

Of course the stores have real products and their sale raises money for the 826 tutoring programmes and running costs. Each store has a different style as explained on the 826 National web page:

San Francisco’s pirate supply store sells glass eyes and one-of-a-kind peglegs, 826NYC’s Superhero Supply Company offers custom-fit capes, Seattle’s Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company sells all your space commuting appurtenances, 826michigan’s Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair Shop specializes in must-have mechanical conveniences, while 826LA features a time travel store, there’s a secret agent supply store in Chicago, and the Cryptozoology shop in Boston is now open!

Spend any amount of time browsing the products available in the online store and you are bound to be inspired.

It is unfortunate I never got to put some of the ideas I have outlined into action, but I hope that sharing them here may give you the opportunity.

Pic: Jeffrey O. Gustafson