Literacy Project

June 22, 2014

My Literacy Project was a small group strategy lesson that involved the use of technology.  Because of the use of technology I knew that this lesson would take up more time than a typical strategy lesson.  I used Animoto to create a slideshow of vocabulary and proper nouns from the Walt Disney version of Beauty and the Beast.  Animoto was the technology that I felt most comfortable using at that point in our course. Additionally, I knew from my experience showing other educational videos to my students that they would be positively engaged as they watched an Animoto video, especially one with animation and set to a song they were all familiar with.

My class had been studying folk tales, fairy tales, and fables for a few weeks and we had already read other versions of Beauty and the Beast, practicing identifying and retelling the important parts and using vocabulary from the story and proper nouns as we did so.  However, those were whole-group lessons and based on my most recent DRA2 assessment data and what I already knew about some students’ recounting abilities, I decided to reteach similar objectives in a smaller group.  After my modeling and during the read-aloud of the tale, I had the students actively identify the vocabulary that was unfamiliar to them and turn and talk about what it could mean.  The Animoto’s purpose was to reinforce the new vocabulary and proper nouns found in the story.  At the close of the lesson, I assessed students’ abilities to retell an important part of the story in partnerships using relevant vocabulary and proper nouns. 

Overall, my small group lesson went as close to planned as it possibly could have.  The students thoroughly enjoyed the Animoto and each student used at least two words from the slideshow and/or our master whiteboard list when they retold an important part of the story.  Eventually, I would like to use more Animoto slideshows to have students practice sight word vocabulary and other content-specific vocabulary, showing any related images to help them remember the meanings.  I also plan to use Animoto in the beginning of the next school year to make a slideshow of my students’ “Hopes and Dreams” to share with parents at Open House.