In this course I have created story maps, scripts, story tables and productions through iMovie. The stages can be found below. Click on the links to see the different stages. Some links will open in evernote the productions will open in youtube.
Stage One: Story Map - Teaching Johnny
Click here to view it: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s225/sh/1444082a-8312-46a9-8450-c96df24d25c3/1939e238daede8a26e856055d35c4dad
Stage Two: Script - Teaching Johnny
Teaching Johnny
Johnny had never been to school before. He entered the classroom, put his belongings away and started talking to his friends. While he was talking I heard interesting sounds and words from Johnny. I completed a letter, sound assessment and found that Johnny didn’t know any letters or sounds from the alphabet and couldn’t read. He didn’t know how to use scissors correctly and writing for him was very difficult.
I contacted the special education teacher for suggestions on interventions in the classroom. After a few classroom observations by specialists, I was told to have Johnny lay on the floor to work on writing and strengthening his wrist. I was also told to have him sit on a ball instead of a chair.
The speech pathologist came in to the classroom and started to work with Johnny on his letter sounds. I set up a meeting with Johnny’s parents to discuss practice they could do at home with him. We met in my classroom after school. I started the meeting by telling Johnny’s parents what a great student he was and how well he was doing in math.
I then told his parents, “Johnny is having a difficult time with reading.” I showed his mom the assessments I had been giving Johnny. I showed his mom what letters Johnny was having difficulty with. Johnny’s mom replied “ I thought he might be having a slower development than other boys his age.” His mom started to tear up. I knew I had to say something quickly to make her feel better. I handed her a Kleenex and held her hand. I told her, “Johnny will be fine. We will work as a team and help him be successful.” I handed her a packet to take home and work with Johnny on it. The packet contained letter tracing, saying the letters, looking at a picture and trying to find what beginning sound the word started with.
The next day at school, Johnny started being pulled for interventions. When he was in the classroom during reading he worked one – on- one with me. I progressed monitored Johnny every day and bi-weekly. I kept sending extra support material home with Johnny and gave his mom some skills to work on. Nothing seemed to work. I had promised his mom, he would be fine. I told myself, I was going to stick to this promise. He is not sliding through the cracks. I kept having the interventionists pull Johnny and any down time in the classroom; I pulled Johnny aside and worked with him one – on – one with letters, sounds and blending to make a word.
During the 3rd Quarter assessments, Johnny and I sat down and went over letters, sounds and tried blending sounds together to read. It was a miracle. Johnny read a sentence by himself. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. I knew I didn’t want to cry in front of Johnny, so I gave Johnny a high five and a huge hug. Johnny’s face lit up and he smiled from ear to ear. Johnny looked up at me and said, with a lot of excitement, “I know my letters! I can’t wait to show my mom.”
A miracle? No, it wasn’t a miracle; it was the teamwork with the staff and his parents that helped Johnny with his success. All of the practice at school and at home finally paid off. Johnny was able to read and write sentences. When Johnny’s mom came to pick him up after school, he showed her his 100% reading test. Tears strolled down her face. She didn’t say anything just gave me a huge hug. I knew what she wanted to say, but couldn’t find the words. It was a great moment out of my teaching career.
We are still working on his handwriting and letter formation. Johnny is reading in class and helping friends who are still struggling. It is a wonderful site to see.
Stage Three: Story Table - Teaching Johnny
Click here to view it: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s225/sh/c9b4e25d-b37b-4d23-bea6-a0f0a01fba11/46c48af96e56c1303c8a18798c38267e
Stage Four: Digital Story Production - Teaching Johnny
This is the final production of the digital story, Teaching Johnny. Click here to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DFxBN610es&feature=youtu.be
The production will be viewed through Youtube.
Reflection:
I enjoyed writing about a professional experience I had while teaching. I found creating productions in iMovie takes a long time. To do this in my classroom, I need to plan a couple months for the stages and production to be completed. I had a lot of time to work on this project, but my students would only have a couple hours a day to work on it.
It would be important before starting this production to show my students a final piece. This way, my students always have the end in mind. What the project will look like after all the work is finished.
When I first created a digital story, I had no idea how it was going to look like. It wasn't until I finished the production and watched it, that I realized what a digital story was.
I still have issues with iMovie. During this production I had completed the whole recording, but didn't realize that if I didn't insert enough pictures in my library, that the recording would stop. I was working on the clips, when I realized the recording, I thought was inserted was completely gone. I thought iMovie had lost all of my work and that I would have to start over. I realized this was not the case after a few hours experimenting with iMovie. If there are not enough clips in the library, the recording ends on the last clip.
This was frustrating and caused more time to work on finishing the production. For this to not happen in my classroom, I would make sure my students would insert enough clips for their production before recording. The clips can always be adjusted or deleted, but trying to record the story in the middle is difficult.
Instead of having my students write in a journal about their school year, I would have them summarize it and create a digital story to share. Where were they at the beginning of the year to now. I would have them explain what areas were difficult for them, if they transferred during the school year, any important events happen and how the people in their life helped them be successful. They would be able to take their digital story home and share it with their family members.
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