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.
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