Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Toontastic: tablet activity (Anna A., Esther M., Mireia N.)

Hello, we are Anna Alcázar, Esther Muñoz and Mireia Núñez. In the following lines we aim to present you our tablet activity and the evaluation of the app we used.




Description of Context

Target audience: 4th Primary, at the end of 2nd term.

Placement in the curriculum: Àmbit lingüístic (dimensió oral, expressió escrita, literària).

Previous knowledge: The students are supposed to be competent in the use of tablets and different apps. Further, they have already work on the different parts of a story and some vocabulary related to it.


Description of the activity

Name of the activity: Toontastic story.

Description: In small groups, students are going to create a story. First, using a draft they will have to agree with the different characters and the plot (the setting, the conflict and the resolution). Then they will have to write the narration using one or two sentences for each part of the story. Finally, they will use Toontastic to direct their story and turn it into 3D cartoons. They will divide the different tasks and in pairs work on the tablet to create and customize the different characters, to choose the setting, record themselves reading the story. At the end they are going to present and share it with the other classmates.



Lesson objectives:
- To revise the different parts of a story
- To work on writing different kind of sentences using some structures (Once upon a time…, suddenly…, finally…)
- To revise and introduce new vocabulary related with their story.
- learn how to use the app Toontastic.

Competences
Personal competences: Autonomy and initiative competence. To the extent that the students reflect about their self-identity.
Communicative competence: Linguistic and audio-visual communicative competence. To the extent that the students communicate their ideas and the new knowledge while learning a second language.
Methodological competence: Learning to learn competence. To the extent that the students dispose of an optimal environment to guide their own learning process.
Social and civic competences: Knowledge and interaction with the world. To the extent that the students identify social problems and promote social awareness about it. Social and civic competence. To the extent that the students identify social problems and promote social awareness about it.
Digital competence

Time: 2-3 sessions.

Focus: The story parts and the use of sentences to explain the setting, the conflict and the resolution.

Description of the activity: create a story with the 3 main parts (introduction, body and end) using de Toontastic app (the whole activity will be done on groups of 3 or 4)
- Task 1: students will have a look to the Toontastic app in order to know its possibilities and to start thinking about the story.
Task 2: write a draft on paper.
- Task 3: create their story using the Toontastic app. (they can choose characters and their movements, they can record their voices…).



Educational quality of it for the EFL class: it is a very useful and motivating tool in order to work on literature and story creation. They must combine creativity and their English in order to come up with the final product: a real story that they will share with their partners. Also, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, this activity is high demanding because they do not have to just imitate or reproduce an example, but they have to produce their own product.

Language accuracy: this activity involves vocabulary, grammar and also pronunciation (students will record their voices).


Description of the Implementation of the activity

Materials required
  • Tablets (two per group)
  • Paper and pens to create the draft.

Class management: The students are going to be divided in small groups of 4 students each to create the story draft and then in pairs to work with the tablets. As well the experts in TIC are going to help the teacher and the pupils during the second session to deal with any problem or question in relation with the tablet use.     

Evaluation: The teacher is going to assess the work done by the students through individual observation during the class time. Then the drafts are going to help him/her to perceive the knowledges acquired by the group. The final production can also contribute to see the learning achievements.

Trouble-shooting: Using iPads can some time become a chaos. That’s why it is important to have different strategies to deal with the class. For example, the teacher could have an ICT assistant to help their partner with technological problems. Also, at some points the teacher could say “iPads looking at me” to catch students’ attention. Furthermore, to check that everybody have been working, at the end of the class the teacher could check the opened apps. Moreover, the teacher should have some activities prepared for fast-finishers, such as preparing a poster advertising their story.

Differentiation: Multiple intelligences are involved as well as different ways of learning (listening, kinaesthetic…). These promotes everybody’s understanding and participation. Also is a fun that will also motivate that students who normally have trouble with English. This activity is based on group work. Therefore, students with some difficulties can be help by their partners. Also, using ICT is a way to reinforce inclusion (maybe a student that is not good at English is very good at ICT).


Evaluation of the app

By taking as a reference point Tony Vincent's app evaluation rubric, we definitely thin this app is very useful:






We hope you think this app is useful and you like the activity we propose. If you want to know more about this app click on this link and you will be able to watch a tutorial: 

Thank you and see you next class!
Anna, Esther and Mireia




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