I find my students always love to use the Ipads, making the Ipads great motivational tools. One activity I recently tried in my Grade 4 Language Arts class I found to be extremely successful. I had my students create PodCast (not true PodCast since they were not posted online or in series, but it caught their interest). Here are the reasons why this assignment worked:
-Students had the opportunity to instantly correct oral presentations skills in a low stress situation
-Students were motivated to share personal stories while implementing important sequencing structures
-Students were given an audience and a purpose to practice their oral production and presentation skills
-Students had to monitor and reflect on their own oral production skills
Preparations
I let the students know they would be marked with a rubric on the following criteria:
-Eye Contact
-Posture
-Volume
-Clarity
-Flow
-Expression
Planning
I started this assignment the first day the students came back from their Christmas Holidays. This ensured that they had at least a few good stories to share with their classmates. The students were asked to choose a story and fill out the 5 Ws question sheet and an addition planning sheet. I have attached this resource with this post - find below.
Practice
We discussed the difference between memorizing text and oral story telling. After students had filled out the planning sheet, they practiced telling their story to a partner. I modelled proper oral presentation/ story telling skills, and then encouraged them to tell the story without reading off the planning sheet.
PodCasts
The students paired up and recorded each other telling their stories without their planning sheets. They were allowed enough time to try a few times if needed. The situation was low stress for the students since they were not in front of a large group and knew they could make corrections if needed.
Presentations & Self-Reflections
The class watched the story PodCasts together. While the students watched their own PodCast, they filled out a self-reflection (3 positive comments and 3 suggestions). This was very effective, since many of the comment I heard while my students watched themselves on screen sounded like “Oh, I do read too fast, Mrs. Marcotte,” or “Oh, I forget to take pauses”. All comments I have told them before in Daily 5 conferencing, but may not have clicked for particular students.
Jessica Marcotte
@jmarcotte85
-Students had the opportunity to instantly correct oral presentations skills in a low stress situation
-Students were motivated to share personal stories while implementing important sequencing structures
-Students were given an audience and a purpose to practice their oral production and presentation skills
-Students had to monitor and reflect on their own oral production skills
Preparations
I let the students know they would be marked with a rubric on the following criteria:
-Eye Contact
-Posture
-Volume
-Clarity
-Flow
-Expression
Planning
I started this assignment the first day the students came back from their Christmas Holidays. This ensured that they had at least a few good stories to share with their classmates. The students were asked to choose a story and fill out the 5 Ws question sheet and an addition planning sheet. I have attached this resource with this post - find below.
Practice
We discussed the difference between memorizing text and oral story telling. After students had filled out the planning sheet, they practiced telling their story to a partner. I modelled proper oral presentation/ story telling skills, and then encouraged them to tell the story without reading off the planning sheet.
PodCasts
The students paired up and recorded each other telling their stories without their planning sheets. They were allowed enough time to try a few times if needed. The situation was low stress for the students since they were not in front of a large group and knew they could make corrections if needed.
Presentations & Self-Reflections
The class watched the story PodCasts together. While the students watched their own PodCast, they filled out a self-reflection (3 positive comments and 3 suggestions). This was very effective, since many of the comment I heard while my students watched themselves on screen sounded like “Oh, I do read too fast, Mrs. Marcotte,” or “Oh, I forget to take pauses”. All comments I have told them before in Daily 5 conferencing, but may not have clicked for particular students.
Jessica Marcotte
@jmarcotte85
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