Visualization Project- Animal Farm

Hello everyone,

I must say that for all the wonderful time I spent of Zoom University, I am still unable to do a plethora of technical savvy things. Uploading a PDF onto blogger seems to be one of those things. Well. Hang tight, I'll get another Zoom degree soon enough. For now, here is the link to my Animal Farm Canva Comic Strip. 

I must say that this course has lined up almost perfectly with the texts and instructional strategies that I have needed in my placement. Some of you have no idea how perfect this was! I had introduced texts while reading the prereading sources and started vocabulary as we talked about it in Lattimer. After being sent to work with English 9 ELL, I wondered why the visualization section of this class would be helpful? Past me should have seen the writing on the wall, right? Like, if it has helped before it should help again? I'd die first in a horror movie. 

I learned quickly that vocabulary for ELL students relies heavily on being able to truly grasp the context. To see it. To work with it and to feel it. The cooperating teacher in that room, yes an ELL
certified teacher, moved on quite quickly without covering vocabulary or stopping to assess if students know the topic at hand. For reference, we were talking about the Greenhouse Effect and the carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Yeah, try explaining that one with 'words they may already know'. Y'all sometimes it is really hard to be a student teacher and just have to watch some of this stuff. 

But I'm not a watcher. I'm a buyer. I bought myself a sturdy plastic sheet cover and a nice pair of whiteboard markers. Boom portable whiteboard on a budget. And what do you know? We are now learning how important it is for students to draw concepts and vocabulary. Facepalm, I knew this was coming! *Screams in gibberish 'Lattimer!' *

Anyways, I chose the comic book strip for the simplicity that they style conveys. Many students, even though the co-op will not admit it, do not know what a summary is or how to write one. Therefore, we're keeping this simple. Simple pictures on a simple format. This is to introduce the text and to provide a reference that students can go back to if need be. The pictures I chose were more of a graphic design and not so realistic-to keep students believing that this was indeed a comic book and not a huge text to be afraid of. Creating this text helped me realize that I really needed to know what was important in the story. At first, I was creating almost every element of the book. But girl, nobody has time for that! Time to slim that story down! So pull out the important parts. This of course is up for some debate. Yes, some elements are crucial and cannot be take to court on any matters (like when Harry kills Voldemort- that's pretty important to the whole series) but others can be included or excluded at the authors will. I think if I had my students do the same activity after reading a different text, I might have them write a small Claim-Evidence- Reasoning paragraph as to why they though that element was important to the story. You know, back their thinking up! 

As far as an influence to my future teaching, the first thing I have gathered is that sometimes it is best to start at the very beginning. Of course this means, at the basics. I have started a vocabulary deck of slides where the class works together each week to add a picture of the word in question to the deck as well as a definition. I think this is something that students can look at without feeling like they are ostracized from the rest of the class if they do not understand. Just pull up the slide deck.  But I have also learned that this could be a good way to show their thinking. You have to really know what you are going to draw before you spend all that time drawing it. I think that this may be a good summative assessment to use in the future. I will have to keep it in mind!