In my first semester of Graduate school I took Dr. Spires New Literacies and Media class, ECI 546 and I learned so much! We reviewed and used many "cool tools" and we also completed a Project-Based Inquiry assignment. My partner and I decided to look at the engagement and enthusiasm of students during the informational writing process when using the app, Scribble My Story. The students excelled and really enjoyed using the app to share their writing. Students were able to create their own book about spiders and then share it with the class. They enjoyed creating their own illustrations and sharing their work with their classmates.We found that students were definitely more engaged and enthusiastic about writing when using the app!
Our PBI lessons addressed creating enthusiasm and engagement in the informational writing process for kindergarten and first grade students. That being said, I am reminded of Denise Johnson as she states, “Just as teachers use their expertise to carefully and intentionally select the best and most effective instructional strategies to meet students’ literacy needs, so should they select technology tools and resources” (Thomas, p 19). Realizing the need for preparation we utilized the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge or the TPACK framework in our planning.TPACK asks teachers to look at all three knowledge areas and how they work together to increase student motivation and make the content more accessible to students. Our goal was to increase engagement and enthusiasm during the informational writing process using, Scribble My Story. We created a written report about our project, which you can read below. This project also had a technology component for us as teachers. We discovered and explored Powtoon and iMovie and created a multimedia presentation about our project, which you can watch below.
Johnson, D. (2014). Reading, writing, and literacy 2.0: Teaching with online texts, tools, and resources, K-8. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.