#ecldeakin2018

[ecl310db-blog]

ABC Education site: Dream Machine game http://education.abc.net.au/res/i/L1174/index.html Build your own bicycle from a series of limited parts, then use similes as descriptors for the bike and what it looks, sounds and acts like.  In the interest of simplicity, I have created a pros and cons table for the educational game Dream Machine.

Overall: The game provides a multiliterate and multimodal experience for students to engage with reading and writing skills, with a particular focus on similes prompting students to consider their word choices.  It would be a suitable addition to a literacy rotation, as it allows students to work at their own pace, and provides a finished product at the conclusion, allowing opportunity for the teacher to review and follow up.

[grbanks-blog]

Prompt 4 Response

Great experience: Last semester when I was on placement I had a grade 1/2 class. I ran a really fun writing activity. Students were either given a card with a certain character name on it (for example; a princess, toad, grandma), or a card with a certain setting on it (for example; a swamp, the snow, a cave). A student that had a character, had to pair up with a student with a setting. In pairs, the students had to come up with and write a story about their character and include the setting they were given. Some students got really into this and wanted to write a book, but they had to include in their stories a problem and a solution. 

Not so great experience: Not that I can remember, I haven’t really had any terrible literacy lessons, but this is the one that stood out in terms of not going so well. 

Last year when I was on placement in a prep class, I was reading a big book to the students that they had read multiple times. Throughout this reading of it, the teacher got me to cover up certain words throughout the book to see if children could remember what the word was... this turned into children guessing silly words and everyone laughing at their ‘funny’ answers. The lesson didn’t go as we thought it would, but still managed to get through the book with some students productively participating.