The True Story
This is the book made by three of my students using Storyjumper:
Here’s how they got to that final result:
The activity that I proposed was watching the trailer of the film Isle of Dogs with no sound, except for the first words said by the voiceover (“The Japanese Archipelago. 20 years in the future. Canine saturation has reached epidemic proportions”), so that my students were able to imagine what was actually happening by just watching the images (no one in my class had seen the movie, by the way!). I asked them to form groups of 3 or 4, as they wished. Then I played the trailer once, with no sound and without any indication, only that they should pay attention. After that, I asked them about their general impression on the video, and then I explained that they would have to retell the story, so I played the trailer again and asked them to take notes of what was going on. After that, I let them talk for 10-15 minutes, to compare notes and agree on the story. Then I explained that we were going to use Storyjumper to tell the story visually too, but adding some dialogue that would reflect the story they imagined after watching the trailer. I gave each group a laptop and showed them how the tool is used, which they found easy to do, and then let them create their stories until the end of the session. Since only one group finished, I asked the rest to finish at home, so one person in each group was in charge of finishing, to make things easier (it’s very difficult to ask adult students to meet outside school hours).
With this activity, I wanted my students to be able to understand a visual product and turn it into a written story that made sense, while agreeing (orally) to make something in a group. In addition, I asked them to add some modals of deduction to their texts, so that they were able to practice in writing something that we had been working on. I think that using Storyjumper helped them especially in the part of having to agree orally – they first agreed on the story and on how to do it, and then they were together, in a group, in front of a computer, having to discuss and agree on every little detail.
However, after using this tool, I would say that it’s not the best thing for C1 students. I see how it can be very appealing for younger students and also for adult learners in lower levels, but not so much in C1, because I felt that it took more effort to put together the graphic part than to actually write, and the result is not actually very C1. Maybe it was my fault, but I could not come up with another type of activity, given the tool. At the beginning I was going to use Pixton, but I found the possibilities of both tools very similar and the problem with Pixton was that there were not many free backgrounds and characters that were suitable for a story about dogs in an island.
My students’ creativity and imagination were no doubt encouraged by the activity, but I think that it was mostly because of the trailer and the fact that I played it with no sound, forcing them to imagine things, rather than Storyjumper itself. In fact, I think some of them were rather annoyed by having to do that like that, because it took a long time to choose the visual items, and not too much effort was put into the “writing” part. Maybe next time I will ask them to write the voiceover instead, and ask them to read it aloud and give feedback as in a writing workshop. Nevertheless, some students did find Storyjumper fun and were laughing all the time while they were creating their book (especially the three students whose work you can see above).
I asked the students who finished their projects to share them with the rest of the class on our Moodle, and then told them to leave comments giving constructive feedback to their classmates on what they liked and what they would change to make the story more effective. I do this often, so they are, in general, used to doing it. They have just started doing this and, so far, they are leaving interesting comments.
Here’s how they got to that final result:
The activity that I proposed was watching the trailer of the film Isle of Dogs with no sound, except for the first words said by the voiceover (“The Japanese Archipelago. 20 years in the future. Canine saturation has reached epidemic proportions”), so that my students were able to imagine what was actually happening by just watching the images (no one in my class had seen the movie, by the way!). I asked them to form groups of 3 or 4, as they wished. Then I played the trailer once, with no sound and without any indication, only that they should pay attention. After that, I asked them about their general impression on the video, and then I explained that they would have to retell the story, so I played the trailer again and asked them to take notes of what was going on. After that, I let them talk for 10-15 minutes, to compare notes and agree on the story. Then I explained that we were going to use Storyjumper to tell the story visually too, but adding some dialogue that would reflect the story they imagined after watching the trailer. I gave each group a laptop and showed them how the tool is used, which they found easy to do, and then let them create their stories until the end of the session. Since only one group finished, I asked the rest to finish at home, so one person in each group was in charge of finishing, to make things easier (it’s very difficult to ask adult students to meet outside school hours).
With this activity, I wanted my students to be able to understand a visual product and turn it into a written story that made sense, while agreeing (orally) to make something in a group. In addition, I asked them to add some modals of deduction to their texts, so that they were able to practice in writing something that we had been working on. I think that using Storyjumper helped them especially in the part of having to agree orally – they first agreed on the story and on how to do it, and then they were together, in a group, in front of a computer, having to discuss and agree on every little detail.
However, after using this tool, I would say that it’s not the best thing for C1 students. I see how it can be very appealing for younger students and also for adult learners in lower levels, but not so much in C1, because I felt that it took more effort to put together the graphic part than to actually write, and the result is not actually very C1. Maybe it was my fault, but I could not come up with another type of activity, given the tool. At the beginning I was going to use Pixton, but I found the possibilities of both tools very similar and the problem with Pixton was that there were not many free backgrounds and characters that were suitable for a story about dogs in an island.
My students’ creativity and imagination were no doubt encouraged by the activity, but I think that it was mostly because of the trailer and the fact that I played it with no sound, forcing them to imagine things, rather than Storyjumper itself. In fact, I think some of them were rather annoyed by having to do that like that, because it took a long time to choose the visual items, and not too much effort was put into the “writing” part. Maybe next time I will ask them to write the voiceover instead, and ask them to read it aloud and give feedback as in a writing workshop. Nevertheless, some students did find Storyjumper fun and were laughing all the time while they were creating their book (especially the three students whose work you can see above).
I asked the students who finished their projects to share them with the rest of the class on our Moodle, and then told them to leave comments giving constructive feedback to their classmates on what they liked and what they would change to make the story more effective. I do this often, so they are, in general, used to doing it. They have just started doing this and, so far, they are leaving interesting comments.
Hi Auria!! I've read your blog and I love it!! The first thing that grabbed my attention was the appealing picture you chose. It's really original. And in relation to the activities, I think you did a good job and you had good ideas both to assign tasks for you students as well as to solve problems when you couldn't do the project in class.
ReplyDeleteThis project with Storyjumper is ingenious. I find really interesting the way you started the task, it is something I wanted to do with my students, that is, to give them one sentence to start their stories and to receive different answers. But I agree with you, the task is not appropriate for C1 students. You should try Pixton, but with lower levels. I created a Pixton because I didn't have time to do the task with my students and I enjoyed it a lot. I think this tool is better if you give them freedom to write about the topics that inspire them so they can experiment with all the tools and characters.
On the other hand, you created a good video with genially. I ran out of time and my students couldn't work this activity so I created one video as if I were a student, but your way of taking advantage of this tool to offer a lesson to your student is great.
Congratulations for your work!! Take care.