Bio
Tasia is an elementary school teacher. She loves math and science and studied Pure Mathematics at DePaul University which led to a Masters in Arts and Science. Tasia has a passion for teaching and hopes to teach math at the college level one day. Tasia recently married a wonderful man she has known since high school, Alex. Together, they are the proud parents of two cats, Eva and Jezebel, a chameleon, Ramon, and a parakeet, Bird.
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My Amazing Teaching Moment
Teaching narrative writing is difficult. Students get their thoughts, characters, settings, and especially use of dialogue jumbled up. I want my students to enjoy writing. I feel like I take away their creativity as we go through the editing process; too much of me or other students’ ideas end up in their final products.
To change this, I had the students create stop motion videos and incorporated the steps of the writing process. First, students blogged about ideas for their videos. Next, students commented on each other’s blogs and grouped themselves based on their video topics. Students then created an 8 frame comic strip to show what would happen in their stop motion video. They had to have the scenes in sequential order, have the settings drawn out, and have their characters use dialogue or incorporate dialogue in some way.
The students collaborated on their comic strips, discussed what their settings would be and what materials they would need for their videos. Many of the students built props, brought in action figures or created their own characters with Legos or clay.
Students used a free app on their devices to make a quick stop motion video to see what “kinks” they would need to work out before shooting their stories. For example, this practice allowed them to play with increasing frames per second, which led to a mini lesson in the classroom on fractions and time.
It was evident that the students really enjoyed making stop motion videos and this in turn, translated into them working on the writing process without even knowing it. Normally when the students write a narrative essay they look for examples online and the end product is a stale carbon copy of something on the web. The personalized and creative nature of the videos really forced the students to interact and discuss the narrative elements of each other’s videos. Students worked together and quickly assigned the roles that each team member would play in their video. In the groups they discussed setting, character, and dialogue without really thinking about the mechanics of it. They had to think about their characters’ appearances (if they were creating them by hand or if they were going to star in the video) and they had to think of a story that flowed and made sense (they were all excited to share their stories and other group’s provided critiques as the watched them). I took great pleasure in watching their videos and posting them on our classroom site for others to enjoy.
I envision myself continuing to use stop motion in writing as part of language arts, but also using this medium in science, math, and social studies. Students can show a volcano erupting, the moon changing phases as it rotates around Earth, and the Mayflower’s treacherous voyage across the ocean. Students (and teachers) get bored of the same pencil and paper routine. The students just complete the work to please the teacher, but some do not take joy in their work or in their classmate’s work. Stop motion videos are exciting since they are using so many sources to complete them. It goes beyond pencil, paper and coloring utensils. It adds computers, cameras, voice and music recording, They are miniature movies that the students created and that they could publish (such as on YouTube) so others could watch and enjoy as well. There are limitless opportunities with stop motion technology and I cannot wait to incorporate it in my lessons.
To change this, I had the students create stop motion videos and incorporated the steps of the writing process. First, students blogged about ideas for their videos. Next, students commented on each other’s blogs and grouped themselves based on their video topics. Students then created an 8 frame comic strip to show what would happen in their stop motion video. They had to have the scenes in sequential order, have the settings drawn out, and have their characters use dialogue or incorporate dialogue in some way.
The students collaborated on their comic strips, discussed what their settings would be and what materials they would need for their videos. Many of the students built props, brought in action figures or created their own characters with Legos or clay.
Students used a free app on their devices to make a quick stop motion video to see what “kinks” they would need to work out before shooting their stories. For example, this practice allowed them to play with increasing frames per second, which led to a mini lesson in the classroom on fractions and time.
It was evident that the students really enjoyed making stop motion videos and this in turn, translated into them working on the writing process without even knowing it. Normally when the students write a narrative essay they look for examples online and the end product is a stale carbon copy of something on the web. The personalized and creative nature of the videos really forced the students to interact and discuss the narrative elements of each other’s videos. Students worked together and quickly assigned the roles that each team member would play in their video. In the groups they discussed setting, character, and dialogue without really thinking about the mechanics of it. They had to think about their characters’ appearances (if they were creating them by hand or if they were going to star in the video) and they had to think of a story that flowed and made sense (they were all excited to share their stories and other group’s provided critiques as the watched them). I took great pleasure in watching their videos and posting them on our classroom site for others to enjoy.
I envision myself continuing to use stop motion in writing as part of language arts, but also using this medium in science, math, and social studies. Students can show a volcano erupting, the moon changing phases as it rotates around Earth, and the Mayflower’s treacherous voyage across the ocean. Students (and teachers) get bored of the same pencil and paper routine. The students just complete the work to please the teacher, but some do not take joy in their work or in their classmate’s work. Stop motion videos are exciting since they are using so many sources to complete them. It goes beyond pencil, paper and coloring utensils. It adds computers, cameras, voice and music recording, They are miniature movies that the students created and that they could publish (such as on YouTube) so others could watch and enjoy as well. There are limitless opportunities with stop motion technology and I cannot wait to incorporate it in my lessons.
Why are each of these vital to Ultimate STEM Lessons?
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5 Key Components:
1. Flexibility Pedagogical flexibility allows for differentiation, impromptu lessons, and alternative assessment. This opens the door to interdisciplinary connections and allows for greater “teachable moments”. 2. Teacher as Facilitator & Student Collaboration Teacher as a facilitator creates activities which allow students to take ownership of their own learning to become experts through student collaboration. 3. Student Choice Student choice allows for alternative assessment, increased student engagement, differentiation as students are invested in their own learning. 4. Student Engagement Student engagement allows students to be active participants in their own learning, keeping them captivated and interested. 5. Creativity Creativity allows for multiple intelligences, with open interpretations that exceed teacher expectations and plays on students’ strengths. |