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RESOURCES STUDENTS WILL USE
Scratch program, created by MIT. Available as a free download at: http://scratch.mit.edu/download
OTHER MATERIALS REQUIRED
Computers, student selected short stories
SOURCES/CREDITS
Melissa Julian, Technology Integration Specialist
Kristin Brennan, English Teacher
Prior to this library lesson, English classroom instruction is provided for summarizing and writing 3 different kinds of complex sentences. Students come to the library with a completed complex sentence summarizing their portion of a story.
Examples of Scratch projects created by the author’s students are available online at: http://scratch.mit.edu/galleries/view/72781
Day 1
Direct Instruction:
In the English classroom, instruction is provided in summarizing and writing three different kinds of complex sentences. On day 1, students come to the library with a completed complex sentence summarizing their portion of the story. Once at the library, students are given a basic overview of Scratch’s capabilities and introduced to the project’s goals.
Modeling and guided practice:
Students watch an example that teachers previously collaborated to create.
Students then are shown how to create a background for the animation.
Students create their own background.
Day 2
Modeling and guided practice:
Students are shown how to animate a character; all students are required to make their character execute the same basic movements.
Independent practice:
Students independently begin animating their characters to mirror the action in their sentences.
Day 3
Modeling and guided practice:
Students are shown how to switch between different backgrounds.
Independent practice:
Students continue to animate their characters and add the programming language to switch between backgrounds.
Day 4
Modeling and guided practice:
Students are shown how to add programming language to reset their animation back to the beginning, allowing for consecutive views.
Day 5
Sharing and reflecting:
Every team displays their completed animation. Students move from computer to computer in a gallery walk fashion viewing every animation. At three different stops during the gallery walk students are told to write a complex sentence summarizing the animation that they’re currently viewing. At the conclusion of the day, students verbally reflect as a class and discuss what they liked best about the project, what was most difficult, and what they’d do differently next time.
