RPI Session 8: Create with Reading

 Engaging and Empowering Learning

We want our young people to be empowered so that their content is online. The consistent message that we receive from former students (now in their adult life) is that creativity in their schooling experience has designed who they are now as an adult. 

If using AI in the classroom, have the iMac (class computers) signed into a generic class account so that students learn not to use AI on their own devices. 

Getting our Creative Juices Flowing

Today we imagined we were book illustrators using the poem Te Marama by Kelly Joseph. We compared our illustrated poem with the published version. One of the differences between my poem and the published one is my little girl is still in bed with the moon phases above her head thinking about the things her whanau do during different phases. 

On the other hand, some similarities with my poem are the moon is shown and similar colours. 

The parts I like most about my poem are the different emotions that you could read the poem with because we spend a lot of time talking about our emotions and how different people respond to different situations. The parts I like more about the published poem is that the girl looks so peaceful. What do you think?

Why is Creativity Important?

If we want to see our learners as a whole learning, integrated their emotive and cognitive skills allow us to do this creatively, while applying the learning intention. This enables create to be used to support our overall learning.

Using Create to Show Learning

Tighter or Looser design theory around our create tasks. Tighter provides templates: graphic organisers, templates. For example, if a text leads to a specific object (ie backpack/umbrella) use a template of that object and extend the learning to the students adding to the object (ie what’s in the bag?).  

Here is an example of a Tighter Create task that I put together for my students to use before we read the text Kele’s Car. 

Using Create to Show Learning Part 2

Be sure we are providing opportunities for students to have choice when we are creating our tasks. For example, provide multiple avenues for a create task, or from the perspective of a character of their choice. This is also something that could be easily done with medium. For example, on paper or digital, and using markers or coloured pencils. 

Create to Learn “Longer…”

It is important to have set routine create tasks for our students to learn how to do early in the year that they can then pick and go throughout the year. This is very similar to the simplistic create “vlog” task that I have my learning to read students do throughout the year to retell the events of the story and share their vlog video on their blog. 

    Putting it all together

As a group, we reflected on various areas (from today’s discussions) that we would like to improve on or implement into our own classroom. Here is a screenshot of some of our responses. 

I would love to spend some time in the next few weeks thinking about how I can get my students to work more independently and collaboratively to create using the affordances that I have taught them so far this year. Students already know how to retell using their webcams but it would be great to move them to writing and recording a review or the books they are reading in class. I would also like to provide more opportunities for students to have choice when it comes to their create tasks.

RPI Session 7: Thinking

My personal thoughts/refections are embedded in this post written in italics. 

 Connecting with Manaiakalani

The Four C’s (Critical Thinking, Communication, Creativity and Collaboration) are necessary for success and have come out of the partnership for 21st Century Learners.

 Relating multiple literacies with technology is a challenge that we have embraced and continue to grow. 

Being cybersmart empowers our students to be connected, digital citizens, and confident decision makers. 

Smart Learners critically examine information online. When information is presented online that is inaccurate (some articles are printed to use for this purpose) it is great to have students critically evaluate the authenticity of the information and purpose for including it in the article. 

Higher Order Thinking to Access Deeper Meaning

Thinking back to comprehension, we discussed the baseline to get into higher levels of thinking. Students need to draw on personal experiences, knowledge, factual knowledge and interpretations that we are able to apply our analysis skills (critical thinking) to. 

Show this graphic to the students, and have a chat about what they are seeing. We need to be sure that we are using all our thinking skills when reading in order to access the deeper meaning behind the author’s words. 

There are three effective ways to plan for our students to think beyond the literal (modelling, response to text, extended discussion). 

Analysis as a Basis for Higher Order Thinking

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy, when focusing on the top three tiers, it is important to realise that this can be done during group discussion. Analysis is the opposite of summarising. Analysis involves close reading of the text to reinforce various skills or ideas (including more complex meanings). Breaking down into the elements of the story into parts that allow understanding to be extended or deepened. 

Analysis can be used to “zoom in” or “zoom out”. 

ZOOM IN: What words is the author using to show us that Matiu is trying to be brave?

ZOOM OUT: Allows us to make connections. 

Interpreting Figurative Language

Students need experience jumping from the figurative to the concrete. Understanding the abstraction is quite a shift from the literal. Start with thinking about the emotions that come to mind when thinking about a word/phrase (ie quiet as a mouse…frightened/scared) Then, provide students with deliberate opportunities to share everything you think about when you hear the phrase (include a visual picture that might be found by the students). 

Critical Analysis to Read Critically

Critically (unpacking and analysing) a text to gain deeper understanding. This will involve seeing things from a different perspective and recognising those perspectives. Positioning involves looking at the way the text positions us to uncover aspects that are unjust/unfair and/or manipulative. 

Presenting Students with a Provocation: A provocation is well resourced through extended discussion. 

Reading across texts from different perspectives is found in the new curriculum refresh. Check out Edward H. Behrman’s work for more information regarding this. Providing students with an opportunity to see things from a different point of view (Great for comparing fairy tales). 

Synthesising

This is a great resource to use when planning for synthesising. Don’t forget to use it!

Today’s session was full of a lot of information, and it is all about things that we are beginning to do with our students reading at year 4 and above. My favourite section of the day was being reminded about having students challenge and resist information by coming at it from a different character’s perspective. We do so much work in Years ¾ around emotions and being able to accurately label how we are feeling. Allowing students opportunities to practise showing empathy by thinking about how other characters in the story are feeling is such a fun thing to do. It also helps students in the future once they begin being assessed on the higher levels of the Probe test. 

I find that I have done many activities similar to these especially when I was teaching higher in the school. It has been fun exploring what this could look like with our year 4 students who are just starting their journey into reading to learn. 

I am excited to look at doing a fairy tale themed text set with my reading groups (in a whole class approach) looking at various viewpoints of the stories. I think this will be an easy way to get some of my readers who are still learning to read to begin to develop some higher order critical thinking skills. Who knows, it might even make a good film festival movie at some point in the future…