Year 5: English Language Story Writing Task : Theme: Animals on the brink of extinction

Lesson:1

Learning objectives: to learn about near-extinct animals, the reasons for their present situation; the
problems in their habitats.

I introduce the topic by showing the class a brief video of how pollution, deforestation, improper
disposal of rubbish and lack of recycling leads to havoc in ecosystems and eventually permanent
destruction of certain habitats of animals which drives them to extinction.

Interactive session: I ask the students which animals they think are near extinction? What are the
possible causes of this situation?

We then narrow down to 5 animals and study them closely. Each child if given the opportunity to
research facts about their habitats and causes for extinction. We then compare to what they thought
and what really is?

This sets the mood and build the context for the creative writing task.

Consider the animals we have been studying which are at the brink of extinction. Analyse which factors
have led to destruction of their habitats. Now choose an animal and write a story of how it has been
snatched away from its habitat and eventually returned to its habitat. Make sure your story has a factual
component which consists of the facts regarding the animal’s habitat etc. Make it interesting and
involving but keep the plot simple.

Lesson:2

Learning objective: How to use I-movie to give life to your story. How to use I-movie to narrate a story,
add images or videos and soundtracks to create a simple movie.

We are going to be using I-movie in the classroom. I will give the students 15 min to discover the
application on their own and tell me what features it has. I will then show them a 5 min youtube video
which shows all the essential features.

In the end I will demonstrate how to add photos /videos and soundtracks with titles and subtitles. For
practice everyone will have a go with making a 1 min video by adding random pictures and adding texts.
Queries will be answered and there can be peer pairing with a strong student with a weak one to help
understand the features of this technology. The following is the task question:

After you are done with the story, you need to make it into an i-movie. You can mix and match up to 20
images or 10 short videos. Make sure they are high resolution. You will narrate your story yourself in the
movie. Select images from the internet which are clear and are directly related to your story. You can
add soundtracks to be dramatic ; however be sure that your narration is clear.
Critical Reflection:

The stage of the SAMR MODEL achieved with this task is Redefinition. A whole new task has been
achieved which was not thought of before. (Giving life to a story). Students never imagined that a movie
could be made out of their story. A challenge which surfaces here is that there are different cognitive
outcomes when interacting with technologies. Initially there is the first instance reaction which I have
noticed in different children. Due to different capabilities or adaptive skills, they absorb the new
information in varied ways. Some excel while others struggle at the very first stages because of being
overwhelmed. This leads to a compromised output even though the content of their assignment was
good. Comparison of the end product for all students becomes very subjective then.

Teaching with technology comes with a lot of complications. A lot of times teachers have to come up
with their own practices and classroom techniques to apply and make sure all students become
competent in the use of a technology. There are a lot of barriers in majority school environments which
make it harder to be applied. For example, some students might not have home access to devices which
support some specific applications.

Learning process needs to be modified instead of targeting only the end product. For example in the I-
Movie task, students might come under pressure to make the best i-movie in the class. They
concentrate on the images, videos and soundtracks but not the creative writing aspect hence the
learning process of creative writing is adversely affected. Hence incorporating technology can be quite
tricky, as a teacher you do not want to compromise on any learning aspect while technology takes the
main focus. Mastery and deep learning of the topic should always be the long-run objective and
technology should be used effectively to attain this objective.