Tag: Digital

Creativity, PYP, Writing

Sharing Your Story

Sonya terBorg

Recently, a friend sent me a link to Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling.  I loved them – for a number of reasons, primarily that Pixar is clearly a company that knows how to tell a story, so when they share, I listen!

My first thought upon reading through them however, was not the application to ‘storytelling’ in the traditional sense of the word (telling a fairy story) but in the application of these rules to the journey my students are about to take as part of the PYP Exhibition. 

The highlight of our exhibition evening last year was sitting and listening to student after student get up and tell their story. They shared their journey through the process: where they started, where they went, where they currently were at and where they were heading.  Their stories were compelling, engaging, entertaining, interesting and a true reflection of their growth and development over the course of the Exhibition.

As I read Pixar’s rules, I can’t help but convert to advice for my current fifth grade students as they embark on their journey with the idea of telling their story.

Here are my 16 rules for my kids to guide them as they tell their learning stories:

  1. We admire you for trying more than for your successes. 
  2. Once you reach the end of your story, look back and share the theme that has driven your learning.
  3. Simplify
  4. Focus
  5. Tell us how you dealt with challenges.
  6. Write your ending now, before we begin.  Speak into existence what you want to be your reality!
  7. Be ready to not be perfect.
  8. When you get stuck, make a list of what you are NOT going to do next and hope the material to get you unstuck shows up.
  9. Put your ideas in writing, all the time, even in the middle of the night.
  10. Discount the obvious ideas.  Keep thinking.  Surprise yourself.
  11. Share your opinions – be bold!
  12. Ask yourself: “Why this passion?”  Why MUST this be the thing for you.  Build off this burning belief within you.
  13. Be honest!  We admire you for it!
  14. No work is ever wasted.  If it is not working, let it go and move on – it will come back around to be useful later.
  15. Do your best.
  16. What is the essence – the guts – of your story?  Start there and go!

Planning for these stories can be done digitally.  Digital storytelling simply means using computer based tools to tell stories. Click on the image below to check out five digital storytelling tools for kids.  Three of them (Voicethread, Show Me, and Toontastic) are familiar to me.  The other two, Sock Puppets and Puppet Pals are new to me.  All look like great tools for encouraging students to get their ideas down.

Which have you used? Which are you willing to try?

Digital Storytelling

These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, Pixar’s Story Artist.

Brain Research, Inspiration, Tech, Writing

A Traffic Light, A Band-Aid, and A Passport: 3 Back-to-School Essentials

Sonya terBorg

Traffic Light

 

 

We started the year with two days of writing training.  Among other strategies, we looked at Step Up To Writing. This method utilizes a color coding system and a traffic light analogy to guide children through the process of writing a topic sentence and expanding on that idea with enough detail and information to engage their audience.  It is also a way of helping organize thoughts orally when used to guide students as they share their ideas.  Once a main idea has been shared, having that student elaborate is a great way for them to continue to think and share their ideas with the class. As a school, we have agreed to implement this strategy pre-K through 5th.  I am looking forward to seeing how this works – and how my students do at self-initiating this thinking process as the year progresses.

Band Aid

This morning, I was on Pinterest and my friend and fellow teacher, Kim, had pinned an interesting post from a first grade teacher’s blog about differentiation.  Her story goes that on the first day or during the first week of school, the teacher asks her students to pretend they have a “boo-boo”.  She asks each one in turn to describe where they are hurt (cut my finger, scraped my knee, stubbed my toe etc).  Regardless of what the child says, the teacher places a band aid on their upper arm.  Despite cries of “But I don’t need it there!” everyone gets a band aid on their upper arm.  She explains she is treating all her students fairly by giving everyone the same thing.  At least one child will exclaim that they don’t all need the band-aid there – they all need it in different spots – at which point she shares the moral of her story: that fair does not mean equal.

I love this analogy – especially as I head into a new year with new students who each have unique needs.  Some kids I may spend time with taking dictation from what they say while others write out their own ideas.  Equal? No.  Fair? Absolutely.

Digital Passport

Earlier this week, I came across an online Digital Passport curriculum for Grades 3-5.  Created by CommonSense Media, the passport program can be customized for your students to guide them through responsible use of the internet.  A brief overview of the curriculum offered includes the topics of communication, privacy, cyberbullying, searching and giving credit where it is due.  This is a solid, basic foundation of skills regarding appropriate digital use.  I can see the need to add to and customize as the year progresses or if a particular issue arises but for a pre-packaged, FREE program, this looks pretty impressive.  Students can pace themselves through the activities, work independently or collaboratively and the responses to the questions can be completed online in game form and offline via discussions, drawings, writing and even role-playing.

If you are looking for a dynamic solution to kick off your connected year, I think this looks like a pretty good place to start.

Educator Guide PDF