Building Digital Literacy Through Poetry
PechaKucha Overview Presentation
Final Curriculum Project — Google Site
Curriculum Project Reflection
While creating this curriculum unit there were a few problems Kelsey and I faced during different stages, but they were all relatively easy to solve. We decided to complete this project together and only work on the project during our meetings so that we could both provide input on all aspects of the project; however, this meant we had to determine meeting times. These times changed each week depending on both of our schedules, so it was difficult to know the timeline of our project. We would meet during the day during school vacation or holidays, or late at night to work on the assignment. This was a difficult problem; however, since my job is flexible as a substitute teacher and a cashier we were able to determine meeting times easier.
The next challenge that arose while creating the curriculum specifically was deciding how we wanted to present it. We wanted to determine this early on, so that we knew what we were working towards as the end product. We knew that our lesson plans and materials were mostly going to be on documents, so we had to determine a way to make the project more digitally interactive. We brainstormed ideas and eventually decided on Google Sites to showcase all of our lessons and samples through embedded hyperlinks, and colorful designs.
Another challenge we were faced with was adapting the materials for this specific lesson. We decided to use some worksheets from a poetry unit in Kelsey’s curriculum called Wit and Wisdom, but the problem was that these sheets were based upon a novel and were specific to the curriculum’s unit. We had to make substantial changes in some situations to mold it to our lesson sequence, examples, and digital literacy infusion, but they were great starting points for our worksheets.
The last challenge that we faced was determining how the students were going to present their culminating task during the fifth lesson. We knew we wanted it to be a digital portfolio; however, we were unsure how we wanted it to be done. I brainstormed using Google Sites, but we wanted to take a creative risk and use a new platform neither of us have used. This is when we began doing research and found Bulbapp.com that is used for student portfolios. We faced the challenge of learning how to use this site to make a sample, and I specifically faced the problem of embedding my FlipGrid link into the page. I wasn’t able to embed the video, but Kelsey was able to determine how to do it; therefore, the problem was solved easily. Learning this new platform was challenging, but also rewarding because it allows students to comment on each other’s poems. Another positive about the platform is that it can also be used for other curriculum units to showcase students’ work, not just the poetry one!
References:
Great Minds (Ed.). (2016). Wit & wisdom: Grade 8. GreatMinds.
