Twenty-First-Century Literacy: Lights, Camera, Action!

We have a very exciting announcement to share!

Students in the Hive (aka the Studio 17 Production Studio) have been working very hard over the last several weeks to produce the first of five episodes of a TV production titled Ever Wonder? With the support and generosity of the B.E.S.T. organization, we were awarded a grant that has allowed us to rethink literacy and embed opportunities for students to develop twenty-first-century literacy skills into our existing curriculum. Our intent is to utilize film-making technology as a means to help students develop some of these important skills. We see this as an innovative, rigorous, engaging, and authentic way for students to interact with curriculum content.

Leveraging students’ inherent interest in YouTube videos, TV, and films is the key to creating an inviting and engaging literacy experience. Students will learn the many roles required to produce a feature film, documentary, series, interview, and/or commercial, and create a variety of digital video products for a public audience. Utilizing this process will not only allow us to bolster the development of key language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) but hone in on multimodal literacy skills as well (linguistic, visual, oral, gestural, and spatial). Film-making allows students to explore new pathways for learning and allows teachers the opportunity to discover student interests and contributions, and identify and nurture hidden talents.

This type of learning experience inspires and encourages creativity and problem-solving, maximizes flexible thinking, and provides endless opportunities for meaningful collaboration while allowing students to develop an understanding and appreciation for diverse student perspectives. Students will have opportunities to explore and develop a deeper understanding of curriculum content as well as important issues that exist in our school, local, national, and global communities.  An added bonus is that producing episodes related to previously learned curriculum content provides students with an opportunity to engage in retrieval practice - the act of deliberately recalling information, which forces us to pull our knowledge “out” and examine what we know or something we have already learned. It’s an all-around win!

The first of five episodes can be viewed below. Stay tuned for future episodes to be released in the coming weeks. Enjoy!

A Hive-Minded Experience

Students in The Hive recently wrapped up a project-based learning (PBL) experience related to the early civilizations of North America. 

We began with an in-depth investigation into the geography of various indigenous cultural regions, engaged in an animal skin community sketch-noting experience (retrieval practice) that allowed us to develop a deeper understanding of how geography influenced indigenous settlements, recreated important artifacts that were/are utilized during early and modern periods that help(ed) the early people adapt to their environments, and later broke into small groups to write reader's theater scripts or documentaries portraying or describing daily life in specific cultural regions. The next and final phase of the PBL experience provided an opportunity for some of our learners to create small-scale replicas of daily life in a tribal village to be used in student-created video documentaries, while others created props [aka artifacts], including large-scale longhouses, teepees, and plank houses that were used in a live performance to pair with their reader's theater scripts. Each one of their learning products clearly demonstrated their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of some of the challenges these early people faced adapting to the geography in the various regions and how the geography influenced (and continues to influence) their lifestyle and culture. 

This week's learning reflection asked learners to talk about what they created and how their learning products address our PBL driving question: How does geography shape how we live?  This is what CREATIVITY, CRITICAL THINKING, COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION look like during a PBL experience:

My group created a readers' theater presentation representing the culture of the Great Plains region. People in this region were nomadic (which means moves from place to place), so they needed a shelter that could move with them - a teepee was perfect for this. We made a buffalo, which was the most important resource in this region because they hunted them and used every part of the buffalo for survival. For example, they not only ate buffalo meat, but they made clothing and teepee covers out of the hide. My favorite part of this PBL experience was creating the artifacts.     - @FireDragon5

My group created a readers' theater presentation representing the Northeast Woodland cultural region. This region has lots of forests so people in this region could build the frame of their shelter from trees. We built a longhouse and used "animal skin" to cover it (and animal skin for the clothing, too). We made a river so that we could fish and tools for hunting. My favorite parts of this PBL experience was when we got to present what we learned to the class. We even performed a special dance from an Iroquios tribe.    - @hockey

I created a documentary of the Southwest cultural region. I made a pueblo, which was the type of shelter people in this region made because their soil was made of clay and they could make adobe bricks out of it to build their shelter. Adobe bricks keep a shelter cool because the climate in this region can get very hot.   - @BobMcPickleson

My group created a readers' theater presentation to show how the geography of the Pacific Northwest region lived. We made a lot of props to show how they used their resources. For example, we made paddles for a canoe, a basket to collect berries, and a totem pole, which is kind of like a monument to honor their ancestors. My favorite part of this PBL experience was writing the readers' theater script.     - @BuffBoiz

My group created a readers' theater presentation that showed the culture of the Great Plains region. We showed how they hunted buffalo for its meat, fur, hide, bones (which they made tools out of), and they even used its stomach to boil water in.     - @bob

My group created a readers' theater presentation of the Great Plains region. We showed how the people in this region were nomadic because they were always hunting because it was their main food source and they had to follow the buffalo. My favorite part of this PBL experience was creating the props because the props brought the whole thing together. It really gave us a peek into their daily life. We even told the story of the Indian Paint Brush because it was an important one that had been passed down for generations.     - @PuppyOnline

Our group created a readers' theater presentation that represented the Pacific Northwest region. We showed the type of foods some of the tribes would eat based on the resources they had available in this region - fishing for salmon and picking berries. We showed how they celebrated with a potlatch, the types of resources they would use to build their homes - a plank house.  My favorite part of this PBL experience was acting it out. I think we did a good job informing our classmates about our cultural region.    - @SoftballPiggy

My group created a readers' theater presentation to how the people of the Great Plains region lived based on the geography of this region. We showed how important the buffalo was because it's what they ate and they also used the buffalo hide to make clothing. My favorite part of this PBL experience was creating artifacts that represent the tools and resources in this region and how the geography affected their daily lives.     @LightningDragon

                                                

Making Our Thinking Visible

In an earlier post, we highlighted the power of visible thinking. Hive students LOVE engaging in visible thinking routines - they simply cannot get enough of them. This week, we began our explorations into Native American cultural regions. Specifically, they are investigating how geography affected how and where the earliest people of North America people lived. The enduring idea behind their research is "To understand the present and make plans for the future, we must first understand the past. Where people live matters." 

We offered students an opportunity to share out their learning at the mid-point of their explorations and research in an effort to help clarify any misunderstandings about their research, to build upon their existing knowledge, and to share connections they are making as a result of their learning. Using animal hides (aka brown butcher paper), students drew representations of their learning (much like a sketchnote!) and discussed how people from their cultural regions adapted to the land, resources, and soil that were available to each region. By allowing students to make their thinking visible to one another, they were able to develop a deeper and more meaningful understanding of how the geography of a particular region affects how people live.

This week's guest bloggers share their reflections on this visible thinking experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Enjoy.

One positive experience I had during the animal skin activity was when @LightningDragon shared how the people of the great plains region used a special harness to hook up the horses. I did not know about it until she shared that with our group.    - PuppyOnline

One challenge that I had during the animal skin activity was when we were all just drawing everywhere and we weren't collaborating well. Next time, we could plan ahead and maybe assign each person a job. That way, everyone would get to draw more than one thing.    - @BooksRule

A positive experience I had during the animal skin activity was how our group communicated. Before we even picked up a marker, we talked about a plan of what we were going to draw first. We did not fight and we we did not annoy each other. I have to say, my group was pretty big, but we worked well together and everyone took turns. Great job, great plains group!   -@softballgirl123

There were a couple of things I think could have gone better during the animal skin experience. For example, we did not communicate very well and did not talk to each other about what we were drawing, which made it hard to not draw the same thing. I think we could have avoided this by having everyone choose an object or topic to draw.    - @HarryPotter

A positive experience I had during the animal skin activity was how our group communicated. If we didn't communicate well, it would have been BONKERS. Communication is important when people are working together. It's how a team is supposed to work.   - @BuffBiz

Some things I would do differently next time during a group experience is to collaborate better and to prioritize the work. Some things that our group drew were not really important. We should have had a conversation first about what we were going to draw so that we didn't draw the same things over and over again. Also, we could have spent our time more wisely and not worry about things that are not important.    - @SoftballPiggy

It is helpful to see classmates thinking about what we are learning because we can learn things that we didn't know and hear what they have to say about their learning experience. Something we could do better next time is to plan ahead and listen to each other more.    - ArcticFox

A positive experience I had during the animal skin experience was when we made a river because they are an important resource in our region and it was something we could all agree on. We voted and picked the Rio Grande River as the one we would draw because it's located right in the middle of the southwest region. Lastly, when we drew corn (or maize), it lead to a great discussion about blue corn and how it gets its color.    - @ZombieCat126

There were a couple of things that went badly during the animal skin experience. First, nobody told others what they were going to draw, so there ended up being more than one of the same thing. Second, we did not plan ahead, so everything was random and sometimes didn't really make sense. Last, we didn't really cooperate with each other so it got confusing at times. Next time, we could listen to each other more and take the time to plan ahead so that it goes smoother.    - @ChickenNugget

I learned that one of the southwest Native American tribes makes something called Kachina dolls. I have to say, when I first saw ZombieCat126 was drawing something, I thought it was unrelated to our region. Then I realized that it was and I wanted to know more. ZombieCat126 told me that Kachina dolls are figures typically carved from cottonwood root. Amazing.   - @CheerQueen

There are lots of things we could do better next time we do this, like working together and communicating with each other. If he had better communication, we would have finished more quickly. It would also be better next time if my group builds on each others' ideas because we would have way more writing and we would have had a better discussion instead of just sharing out random ideas. We would do a lot better next time, but in the end, nothing can be perfect.    - @FireDragon5

Some positive experiences I had during the animal skin activity were (number one) if we couldn't come up with any ideas, we could ask other people in our group for help. Second, we were able to ask each other questions so we were sure about our ideas before we used them.   - @bob

For my group, the animal skin activity did NOT go well. For many reasons... First of all, we never planned. We never divided the work or did anything like that. Second, some of the people in our group (not all, just some) don't always get along and there were disagreements that didn't help the rest of us be productive. Next time, we could not pick up a marker until we have a solid plan and take some deep breaths if we feel like we are raising our voices. The more we practice all of these mental and physical tools to keep calm, the better and easier they will be to use.    - @writingmachine

One thing I thought we could do better is talking to each other before writing or drawing. I wasn't there the whole time, but when I got back, no one was talking to each other and everyone was just quietly drawing. I think we could have talked things out more or planned ahead to let each other know what we were planning to draw so that we all didn't draw the same things or something that wasn't related to our region.    - @Burt

A positive experience I had with the animal skin project was how we worked together so nicely. Our group talked and listened and whenever a mistake was made, we always turned whatever that mistake was, around. Everyone contributed on everything!    - @WritingGod

The animal skin experience helped me because I went beyond my own thoughts and it got me to think more about my region. I started thinking outside the box.    - @magician-of-icecream