OPTION A – STORYJUMPER.
This is the
link on a Storyjumper carried out with 3rd level of Primary Education students
in order to develop writing:
https://www.storyjumper.com/book/read/94047946/5fcd59a37be15
MY PERSONAL REFLECTION
ON THE TASK CARRIED OUT.
To begin
with, we have done in class different texts, sentences, brainstorming and
expressed ideas (through post-it) related to the unit on nature, as well as
grammatical aspects such as there is, there are, some, any, spaces of a city
(such as a park or bookstore), as well as the interrogative particle "where".
These activities complement others in order to teach vocabulary, grammar and
other language skills in a foreign language (English).
The task
carried out was intended to show and evaluate the knowledge acquired by the
students, as well as to work with new technologies and in cooperative groups.
The students had to write a story about a turkey (since during the unit we have
explained this typical celebration of the United States) and they had to use
the resources of the unit that I mentioned previously. Due to limited
technology resources, the students wrote and drew in their notebooks, then I
selected some aspects of each team and uploaded them to the Storyjumper web.
The
students have been grouped into four teams (in each one there are different
levels of competence, so that some children can help others). Each student
gives ideas about what vocabulary to use, grammar and ideas to write
(brainstorming). They also write the name of the character, the setting, the
conflict and the solution in their notebook (each child writes in their
notebook, since due to Covid-19 they cannot share resources).
Secondly, a
student expresses a sentence. The classmates on her team give her feedback (as
well as I as a teacher) and finally write the sentence in the notebook. Then
another student makes up another sentence and the same process is followed.
They can add drawings or photographs to all this. These guided activities help
foster student creativity, as well as peer evaluation among classmates.
Children really like to give feedback and, if the truth is told, they can be
more accurate than teachers. However, as they are young students they need help
from me in many aspects of the writing activities, as they are still developing
their linguistic skills in the mother tongue.
Finally the
teams would upload their texts and drawings to the Storyjumper website, but
since there are not enough computers (in fact there is only one per classroom),
as a teacher I write the texts or part of them on this website. Each team also
reads their text to the other three groups of students.
The
objectives of the activity are:
- Study the
vocabulary about nature and places in a city.
- Learn
about a typical celebration of Anglo-Saxon culture (Thanksgiving Day).
- Develop
written and oral expression through cooperative techniques (collaborative
text).
- Encourage
imagination and creativity through a story.
- Encourage
peer evaluation among classmates.
The
students really enjoyed this activity as they express their ideas, they help
each other and finally read their projects on a published website. They also
enjoy reading and understanding the stories of their classmates (meaningful
activities).
To
conclude, in the next activity related to this skill and with the storyjumper,
there should be some changes such as simplifying the vocabulary and grammar to
use, as well as dedicating more sessions (it is a creative activity that
requires more time).