February | 2017 | Lauren's Reflective Journal

“Digital storytelling begins with the notion that in the not too distant future, sharing one’s story through the multiple mediums of digital imagery, text, voice, sound, music, video and animation will be the principle hobby of the world’s people.” Porter, B., (2004) Digi Tales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories.

As part of last weeks lesson we were required to create an animation to highlight the importance of internet safety and to emphasise to children the consequences of speaking to strangers online. Our story involved a fairytale theme in which a young princess had been texting who she thought was her “Prince Charming.” However when she decided to meet up with him in the woods it became apparent that who she was talking to was not her Prince Charming but was infact an evil dragon. The evil dragon then captures her and locks the Princess in a tower and the Princess becomes trapped there.

Our experiences and outcomes for this activity were as follows:

Mental and Emotional Wellbeing – HWB O-OIa – I am aware of and able to express my feelings and am developing the ability to talk about them.

Listening and Talking – LIT O-O-1c – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.

LIT O-O9b – I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts I use.

We also felt we could relate this to a literacy activity as at the end of the animation the final frame writes “to be continued” and so the children could be asked to write a story to complete the ending of the film.

For our animation we used backgrounds found on google to create each setting and used props such as dolls and paper cut outs for the dragon figure and speech bubbles. To create the illusion that the figures were moving and speaking we had to move each prop slightly taking pictures of every individual movement. Thus when the film played the sequence of pictures produced a motion picture.We also added audio clips such as background music and dragon roars for a more dramatic affect as well as to keep the children engaged in the story line.

I feel this a great way to get the children engaged in digital literacy as the children can use the iPads to create animations and it also allows the children to be able to explore their own creativity as they can use a variety of props and settings to create a story. According to eFaqt.com using digital literacy allows children to acquire several transferable skills which I feel can be obtained by creating animations such as these. For example by getting the children to work in groups to create their animation will encourage them to develop their collaboration and effective communication skills. As well as this, Teachhub states that using digital technology within education improves retention rates as well as preparing them for their future where they may be required to use this kind of technology within their future careers. Finally eat.sleep.teach emphasises that movie making is an effective tool to use to check a class’s understanding of key themes, concepts and overviews.

The 2014 curriculum was announced back in July by education secretary Michael Gove, who said: “For the first time children will be learning to programme computers. It will raise standards across the board – and allow our children to compete in the global race.”

Over the past two sessions of Digital Technologies we have been exploring an app on the iPad called Scratch. Scratch is an app which allows you to create projects using animations and has many feature which allows the animation to move, speak, and even have sound effects. After having time to get to know Scratch I felt that it was an excellent tool to create new and creative lessons which will allow the children to also become accustomed to using new forms of technology. As part of our assessment we were required to create a lesson using Scratch so I decided I would base my lesson on mathematics and would cover the following experiences and outcomes:

*Early level MNU 02a: I have explored numbers, understanding that they represent quantities, and I can use them to count, create sequences and describe order

*Early level TCH 0-03a: I explore software and use what I learn to solve problems and present my ideas, thoughts or information

For my activity I intend to create an under the sea themed game in which the main character “Tom” the cat would ask the child to help him with his counting. Several crabs appear on the page and Tom will ask the child if they can count how many crabs there are on the page. After the child has time to answer Tom would say the correct answer. Each individual crab would then state that they posses an individual number and Tom will ask the child if they can then put the crabs into order from smallest number to largest. The activity would then be repeated with different sea creatures.

We were also asked to write a step-by-step guide that would enable other teachers to create the game.

*Step 1 – To create your game for your lesson click on the ScratchJr app located on the iPad and wait for the app to load

*Step 2 – Then, click the home button which will take you to the “my projects” page and select the blank page to begin your project

*Step 3 – Select your background by clicking the landscape icon at the top of the screen. Select the under the sea background by clicking on it then click on the tick button at the top right of the page

*Step 4 – To add a character, select the plus button on the left hand side of the screen. You will then have a selection of characters on your screen that you can then insert into your project. You can then insert your character you intend to use into your project by clicking on the character and then clicking the tick button located at the top of the screen. You can repeat this step to insert more characters.

Step 5 – You can then change the colour of the character by clicking the paintbrush icon. You can then change the colour of the character by selecting a colour and the clicking on the character. To write a number above the character use the line icon at the left hand side of the page and use your finger to draw the number

*Step 6 – To move your character click the yellow icon at the bottom of the page and select the green flag icon. Then select the blue flag arrow icon where you will be presented with different directions in which your character can move. To indicate how many steps you want your character to take select the number at the bottom of the arrow and type in the new number by pressing the number at the right hand side of the page. To activate the action, click the green flag at the top right hand side of the page.

Step 7 -To make your character speak select the yellow icon again, then click the purple icon and drag the speech bubble to connect to the flag icon. Click the on the speech bubble to insert text and to activate the action press the green flag again

*Step 8– To insert a new slide click the plus button located at the right hand side of the page

My lesson plan would be as follows:

*My lesson begins with Tom the cat asking the child to count how many crabs appear on the screen. This is to allow the child to recognise that numbers represent quantities and to help them to build on their knowledge of counting.

*Then in the next slide the crabs are then numbered and Tom the cat asks the child if they can then put the crabs into order from smallest to biggest which will allow the child understand order.

Scratch is an excellent tool to use within the classroom as it encourages cross curricular learning. For example my lesson combines mathematics and technology which also allows children to engage in new learning experiences rather than just being exposed to written text. As well as this using Scratch encourages active learning as the colours and movement within the activity will help to keep the children engaged. This task can also be done in pairs which encourages the children to develop their team work and communication skills. Scratch can also be used as a teaching aid in other subjects such as literacy or even history. I feel as a teacher it is beneficial to have a good understanding of this app for it encourages children to explore technology and also to become more innovative by allowing them to create their own projects. The huffington post also highlights that by using digital technology within lessons offers the ability to provide educational experiences that are tailor-made for each student reflecting on their ability level. As well as this a blog called tophat emphasises just how many digital resources there are to help children improve their learning which I now feel should be accessible to children within the classroom to allow them to explore different methods of learning.

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