Kermit McKenzie Jr. High
Guadalupe, CA
Problem: Our students really need to improve their reading and writing skills. We use our 'research-based' instructional programs (hopefully with great success). However, we all sometimes suffer from the grinding effect.... our routines grind on them, and they deliver uninspired work..... maybe correct, but without their individual, even quirky, ways of looking at the world.
"Show don't tell" is something I repeat often when working with my 6th-8th students as they write.
"We went to Costco and I got lost. I was scared and then my mom found me" OR....
"My little brother and I were fighting over my handheld game all the way to Costco. My mom finally yelled "I'm either going to break that game or break you if you don't stop!" My feelings were really hurt, so when we got to store I wanted to be as far away from them as I could. Suddenly when I looked down the long, long row of big boxes up to high ceiling...... I didn't see anyone I knew. "Mom" I said "MOM?"My heart started beating really fast."
As teachers we all want our students to use more vivid language, to give descriptive examples of what they are trying to share, and to learn to use dialogue to make the story more immediate.
However, a two-part challenge for my predominantly English-Learning students is that they often struggle with 'seeing' the pictures that writers are creating for their readers, and their own vocabularies and command of complex sentences are not advanced enough to capture what they 'see' in their own stories. By junior high most can write long, but in fact, most of the writing is wasted words. The challenge is similar to the 'google challenge'- how to choose the best, most meaningful content, so that two-way communication happens.
Enter: Comics and Photonovellas. These widely read forms of information sharing and story-telling have many applications in our classrooms. This unit will focus on one lesson set that I've found to be very motivating for the students, relatively easy to manage, and wide-open for success with diverse ages and skill levels..... from primary to college (challenge yourself to make a photo-comic!) Because of it's extraordinary ease of use, I will focus on a software program, made for Mac's, called 'Comiclife'..... and will give suggestions for how to do similar work with other easily available or free software. (**ComicLife is expected to be ready for Windows in Fall '07)
Note: I've had some great success over the years with mixed media storytelling ranging from handdrawn comics to student videos with original soundtracks... this photo-comic activity set is meant to work in the "mama bear" area of time-materials-expertise..... hopefully 'just right'.
#4 Word and Thought 'Balloons'