TeachingSagittarian » grade5isb

(Reflection Post 2 CoETaIL Course 5)

Grade 5 is using a google doc to help each other teach our students the technology skills required in order to complete the Culminating Project for our Environments/Sustainability Unit for Science/Social Studies.

In pairs or as individuals, our students will be creating PSAs (Public Service Announcements).They will need to analyze one aspect of their family’s environmental impact (i.e. electricity, water usage, garbage, paper usage, etc), research why there is such an impact and create an action plan with their own innovative ways to diminish that impact in order to create a preferable future. The PSA will make a compelling recommendation for change based on evidence (that includes written, oral and visual aspects) and that includes specific actions to take in order to improve their family’s environmental impact.

To help my colleagues help their students to successfully complete this project using technology, the following planning has been started on a google doc which we can all add to as we progress through the final stages of our Sustainability Unit. The google doc will also serve as a reflection point for future reference when we are planning for this unit again. Please add in the comments below anything else that may need consideration or documentation. We’d like to share and learn from not just each other, but fellow educators that may be doing something similar or have done something similar – wherever you may be.

Here’s what the project has so far by using the Understanding by Design planning:

Proposed Timeline:

1 x session to Investigate
2-4 x sessions to Plan (invest the majority of your time in this stage – the better prepared your students are in this storyboard phase, the better the creation process will be)
1-2 sessions to Create
1 x session to Peer Review
1 x session to Reflect

Tools Used:

Inspiration (optional) for brainstorming ideas
iMovie (PSA)

Investigate:

Brainstorm actions that can make a difference to your impact on the environment and influence sustainability
Read “How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (365 practical ways to make a real difference)” – Joanna Yarrow if students are stuck for ideas
Watch a sample PSA - Example of a PSA – created by HS students in 3 days – (about the Digital Divide)
Watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s PSA – Global Warning
Watch sample 30 second simplistic PSAs related to sustainability: Planet2025
Reiterate that a PSA is like a commercial – it’s message is strong and succinct
Students can work in Individually or in Pairs

Plan:

Your Public Service Announcement will need:

1st min max = explain what the problem is
2nd min max = why is this a problem? (causes and effect)
3rd min max = what are we going to do about it (go further on something we’re already doing)

Research why the aspect you have chosen creates such an impact (it’s cause & effect on the environment)
Use a storyboard to plan out your PSA
Write a script based on the research
Find pictures, talk about research, citing sourcing, how to save and organize images
Use: Compfight or Search:Creative Commons (both search flickr)
Find creative commons music for the video (no copyright probs)
Use: Jamendo

Create:

Create PSA in iMovie (Book Tech Co-ordinator if you’re not familiar with the basics of iMovie – use your “experts” in class)
Subject the movie to peer review before final posting and make necessary changes

Evaluate:

Rubric – (generic digital storytelling rubric currently being tailored to suit this project)
Conduct class discussion of what could have been improved
Self-Assessment Rubric (generic digital storytelling self-assessment rubric currently being tailored to suit this project)
Students upload their PSA to their blog and write blog post reflecting on their personal experience with the project  What did they learn?  What was difficult?  What was easy?  What would they do differently next time?

What’s your thinking? What are we missing? What could be added?

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