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).