Interpreting Poetry: A Multi-Media Project, Peggy Rux, Pasteur Librarian

The fourth quarter marks the beginning of the end of the school year. While ISAT testing is completed, NWEA is in full swing.  Students are tired and in need of a unit that utilizes the skills they have worked on during the year, as well as provide them the opportunity to have some creative fun! This lesson does both; it allows the students to research, collaborate, and create a presentation on a favorite poem.

Pasteur’s enrollment is over 1200, and I see 4-5 classes of every grade, therefore it is difficult to truly collaborate with classroom teachers. Instead, they submit their unit plans to me and I create my units to coordinate with theirs. In addition, book selection has to be accounted for, so when I plan my units, I always have to considered what the students will be working on while book selection takes place.

This unit is titled, “Interpreting Poetry, a Multimedia Project”. Students are introduced to the unit through a PowerPoint that describes the step-by-step process of creating a screen cast of a favorite poem. Once students have selected their poem, I remind them that just as there is a writing process, there is a process to creating a multimedia project as well. I remind students that the more detailed their storyboard, the more time they will have to create their screen cast.  The next step in the project is to collect images to be used in the screen cast. Students use free images from google.com and morguefile.com and create an album in the Photos app on the iPad. Once they have their albums made, students begin working with the Educreations app. I always like to allow my students time to “play” with an app before working with it so they feel more comfortable. The students favorite part is when they get to share their work. (I connect the students iPad to the projector.)

In the past I had the students turn their projects in for my review only. However, they really enjoy seeing each others work, so now we have presentations during class time. It is a fun way to spend the last one or two library classes!