Digital Technology in Education - Lesson plan enhanced with technology: Mindmeister and StoryboardThat

Mindmeister and StoryboardThat: Lesson plan enhanced with technology:

Lesson plan enhanced with technology: Mindmeister and StoryboardThat

By Elizabet Gonzalez

Age group: 11 years old
Course: Fifth grade
Number of students: 18
Language level: Elementary A2
Time allotted: 80 minutes
Grammar focus: Simple past. (Affirmative and negative sentences; questions)
Communicative goal: Expressing what happened.
Physical location: Computer lab

During the previous classes students have been working with simple past.

Warmer (15 mins)

At the beginning of the class the teacher will show the students some scenes from a comic, without the written text, and they will have to guess what is happening. The teacher will ask some guiding questions to the students, for them to discuss orally.

Guiding questions:

What do you see?
Who do you think they are? Where are they?
Where is the boy going?
What did he find?

Once they have made their hypothesis and discuss, the students will go to a Google document created by the teacher, which is shared with each of them individually. They will have to read the comic and complete it, by themselves, with the correct form of the verbs in past tense. The answers will be checked orally with the whole class.

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of simple past.

Web (50 mins)

At this stage the learners will have to think and create an ending for the comic (6 vignettes) in pairs. In order to do this, first they will have to brainstorm ideas for the ending. This implies that the students think about and write down the dialogues and captions, for each vignette, that they are planning to use and share them on Mindmeister. They have already worked with this tool but if they don’t remember how to use it they will look at the tutorial. Once they have organized their ideas on mindmeister they will look at the Storyboardthat tutorial. After that, students will go to the StoryboardThat website and start creating their ending based on the ideas that they have proposed on mindmeister. The teacher will act as a monitor, walking around the classroom to see how the students are working and to answer questions if they need any help.

Instructions:

Now, in pairs you will create an ending for the story on StoryboardThat,no more than 6 vignettes.

First, brainstorm ideas and prepare a draft of the ending of the story on Mindmeister. Think and write the dialogues and captions of each vignette.
Look at the StoryboardThat tutorial which is uploaded on the google classroom.
Go to StoryboarThat.com and create the ending of the comic.

www.mindmeister.com/

www.storyboardthat.com/

What's next (15 mins)

The students will share the ideas that they have thought of for the ending of the story with the whole class, despite the fact that they haven’t finished working on StoryboardThat. They will continue working with it next class.

Theoretical framework

SAMR Model

The SAMR Model is a four-step model developed by Ruben Puentedura in 1980 for the analysis of the integration of technology in the classroom.

Hockly suggested using the SAMR Model specifically for mLearning within the context of English language teaching (ELT). This model provides a framework for instructional designers to evaluate mLearning activities in order to determine how well they meet the goal of transforming learning through the use of a mobile device.

This model contains four layers, each of them focus on the use and purpose of technology; substitution, augmentation; at these stages technology helps to enhance learning. It assists in the accomplishment of the task, but doesn’t transform learning.

The other two layers are modification and redefinition. At these levels technology transforms learning.

This lesson plan reaches the redefinition stage of the SAMR model. At this stage technology allows for the creation of tasks that were previously inconceivable. They couldn't have been done without the use of technology. Students are asked to share their ideas on Mindmeister in a collaborative way, and publish it. They will create an ending for the story, they can choose and design their own characters, scenes and they can even upload images. The combination of these would not be possible without the help of technology. The learners are also allowed to show the slides to the whole class with the help of a projector.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

The original Bloom's taxonomy was developed as a framework to classify statements of what educators expect their students to learn through the process of instruction, which includes properties that deal with psychological and educational issues.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy was developed by Andrew Churches as an extension of the original. It is the fusion of traditional frameworks and theories with technology in order to enrich the learning experience and engage 21st century learners' curiosity. It creates a hierarchy of learning activities in a digital environment. The objective is to help educators develop critical thinking skills and higher order cognitive abilities in their students.

Technological tools, such as Mindmeister and StoryboardThat in this case, are used as learning objects. These objects are able to promote creative writing, collaboration, role playing, real-life problem-based learning. With StoryboardThat students can write their own stories, choose the characters, and settings they like. Mindmeister allows students to work in a collaborative and synchronous way. Learners can use these tools outside the classroom.

This lesson goes from the lower order thinking skill to the higher.

Remembering is implied in this lesson since the students will have to remember how the past form of the verbs are, which they have learnt during the previous lessons. They will also put into practice what they already know in order to make coherent sentences.

Understanding : Students will have to construct meaning from written material, since their choice of an ending has to make sense with the story already given to them.
Applying: Students will make use of the new item that they have learned,simple past, to create a comic.
Evaluating: They have to select and organize critically their ideas.
Creating: Students will create their own ending for the story. They are the centre of the activity.

TRIPLE E

The TRIPLE E is a theoretical framework that was developed by Liz Kolb. It comprises three components that the use of technology in the classroom should include, which are:

Engagement: The use of StoryboardThat and Mindmeister engage students since they are using technology in the school context. They are creating new content, putting into practice the English language, while using it as a means for communication,to tell a story, and making use of online tools. Learners have an active role in the learning process since they can share their suggestions and are in charge of selecting what ideas they are going to use, how they will narrate them, which characters they will create, in which setting.
Enhancement: Students are able to draw a connection and interact with written text, drawings, images, all at the same time. StoryboardThat allows students to choose and redesign their characters, settings, to produce something new in the target language. This tool is appealing for learners since they are able to work with different characters, scenes, images and text.
Extension: With Mindmeister the learners are able to share their mind maps with their classmates, the teacher and people from outside the classroom.StoryboardThat also allows students to share their comics. They can use these tools for another subject, such as language or even in real life to make a presentation, to create their own stories.

Mindmeister

Mindmeister is an online tool which allows you to create free mind maps.There is also a mobile app for Android devices, iPhone and iPad. This tool allows you to make connections between concepts, ideas based on a certain topic.

Advantages: It is very useful for collaborative learning since students, without needing an account, can work together online in real- time. The mind maps are saved automatically in the cloud and you even can create a link for them and share it.
It offers graphical features to assist users in brainstorming, creating project plans, taking notes, managing meetings, and executing other online tasks.

Disadvantages: There are so many options that it may take a while to orient yourself. In order to convert the file into a pdf you should have a premium account.

Some teachers agree that Mindmeister is a very interesting and appealing tool that helps to improve the learning experience.

“MindMeister packs tons of mapping and sharing functionality into a sleek, simple interface easy enough for upper elementary kids through adults.” (2017, July)

“MindMeister also has the potential to be a great tool to support students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, executive functioning disorder, and autism.” (2017, July)

“Students can create online presentations, collaborate on projects, and organize notes.“ (2017, July)

Mindmeister Tutorial

1- First you need to sign up if you want your work to be saved.

2- You can sign up with your gmail account or another email address.

3- Once you have registered, you will be led to the web page where you can start choosing what to create.

4- You have to click on “New Mind Map” in order to start creating one.

5- There are many templates for you to choose. You have to click on the one you want to use.

6- Click in order to start writing.

7- When you finish writing press enter and another connection will appear.

8- Mindmeister allows you to choose different layouts, there are many colours and types of fonts. There are also emojis, which is very appealing, especially for kids and young learners. You are able to upload files, images, videos, URLs.

9- The mind maps you create are automatically saved in the cloud and you can access from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

10- You can invite people to collaborate on your mind map and work collaboratively. You are allowed to share your mind map on social media.

StoryboardThat

StoryboardThat is a website for creating comics, stories, dialogues, with a variety of images. It is very useful for cross- curriculum application. It fosters creativity and critical thinking.

Benefits: This website is useful for student- centered learning. It is very engaging specially for children since they can create their own characters and stories by choosing the character styles, the scenes, different layouts, backgrounds. It helps to foster creativity, collaboration.

Disadvantages: There could be more diversity in character choices. You need a premium account to have more options in compliance with the layout, and to add recordings.

Many teachers state that StoryboardThat is easy to use and engaging for students, especially for kids.

“One of the best things about StoryboardThat is its versatility.“ (2015, December)
“The drag-and-drop interface makes it simple for kids of all ages to use.” (2015, December)
“These kinds of choices and combinations are empowering for kids, and creating a linear story requires some very transferrable critical-thinking skills.” (2015, December)
“Kids will find it fun, and it doesn't take much to bring panels to life with backgrounds and characters. “ (2015, December)

Storyboardthat Tutorial

1- To start using StoryboardThat, you need to sign up with your email address. You will have to create a user and a password.

2- In order to start creating your comic, you should click on “Create a Storyboard”.

3- You have a large number of options. You are allowed to choose the scenes, you will find indoor and outdoor settings, characters, signs, bubble speech.

4- You have to drag the image or character you want to use to the vignette.

5- You can even edit the pose and facial expressions of your characters.

6- You have the options of add, copy or move cells. You can undo the changes.

7- Once you have finished you can save your work.

8- You are allowed to download your comic, print it or share it.

To read more about my work: elizabetsictple.blogspot.com/

Sources

SAMR Model A Practical Guide For Ed Tech Integration. (2017) Retrieved from www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Verbs For 21st Century Students (2016) Retrieved From www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-digital-taxonomy-verbs-21st-century-students/
Sneed (2016) Integrating Technology with Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved From teachonline.asu.edu/2016/05/integrating-technology-blooms-taxonomy/
Wedlock, M.S (2017) The Technology Driven Student: How to Apply Bloom's Revised Taxonomy To The Digital Generations. Retrieved From jespnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_1_March_2017/4.pdf
Consejo Federal de Educación (2012). Núcleos de Aprendizaje Prioritarios. Educación Primaria y Secundaria. Lenguas Extranjeras. Retrieved From www.me.gov.ar/consejo/resoluciones/res12/181-12_01.pdf
Ripani. F. (2016) Competencias de Educación Digital. Ministerio de Educación y Deportes. Retrieved from www.bnm.me.gov.ar/giga1/documentos/EL005452.pdf
Ripani. F. (2016) Orientaciones Pedagógicas. Ministerio de Educación y Deportes. Retrieved from www.bnm.me.gov.ar/giga1/documentos/EL005853.pdf
Adapting to meet Diverse Needs in ELT. Chapter 8. Differentiated Learning: Teacher's Pathways to meaningful Technology Integration. Garcia M.L (2018)
Common Sense Education. (2017, July) Retrieved from www.commonsense.org/education/website/mindmeister
Common Sense Education. (2015, December) Retrieved from www.commonsense.org/education/website/storyboardthat#:~:text=StoryboardThat%20is%20a%20website%20(and,bubbles%20or%20anywhere%20they%20please.

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