Building Relationships: Marzano Element 39 through digital storytelling

Marzano Instructional Element 39: Understanding Students' Backgrounds and Interests

This element is key to building relationships with your students-- no matter the age level or subject you teach.

The "iAM" movie project is a simple lesson idea with variations available that any teacher could try immediately.

Ask your students to create a short video trailer about themselves-- their passions, interests, and even less surface level 'getting to know you' information. Highlighted tools of choice include Adobe Spark Video and iMovie trailers (both free or readily available apps)

For full "lesson plans" and example videos, be sure to read these two articles:

• http://lhstv.weebly.com/iam-imovie-trailers.html

• https://ww2.kqed.org/learning/2017/03/28/the-iam-video-project-a-creative-get-to-know-you-activity/

If you want to build out this lesson even further, consider looking through the resources available on iTunes from Apple Distinguished Educators about "iAM: A Brand Called ME"



either as a collection:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/iam/id492587276?mt=10

or as an iTunes U course (if you have access to iPads):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/iam-a-brand-called-me/id531749219







I referenced this same Marzano Instructional Element in my ESU8 Wednesday Webinar on iMovie + Marzano. Students are almost certain to be willing to complete this activity even outside of class time and even more importantly, you will learn new insights and deepen relationships with your learners.

 The following student projects from my classroom are an example of how you can get to know your students easily through a simple digital story. Show them to your class today and challenge your students to see how creative they can be in sharing their "personal brand."

SMART Board Games: SMART Lab Activities

The activities I mention in the video below are all games you can create in less than 5 minutes for your classroom. They are all available in the most recent version of SMART Notebook (16.2). You may need to check for updates, however. To do so simply launch SMART Notebook, and then click on Notebook > Check for Updates and Activation

Then just click on the Update button next to SMART Notebook, and enter your password to your Mac, and let it download and install. If you have troubles, feel free to ask Greg, Kevin, or myself to take a look. 

Once you’ve done this, you are all set to try out the fabulous activities inside of the SMART Lab section. Like I mention in the video, these are a great way to create classroom review games with no additional software or website sign up required. Some you would play full class on your SMART Board and others can be accessed with student devices.  My hope is that you will choose at least one of the following short videos at the page below, watch it, and immediately build a game activity for your classroom to try tomorrow. 

Let the SMART Board Games Begin!

 https://spark.adobe.com/page/NHDK0N6wH8hD1/ 

iMovie + Marzano (told with Adobe Spark Page)

And listen to Katie's added commentary with this ESU 8 Wednesday Webinar:

St. Patrick's Day Writing from First Grade iPad Authors

Are you as excited for St. Patrick’s Day as the creative First Grade Authors in Mrs. Willis’s class are?

Students personalized the leprechaun character in their stories with Toontastic 3D

Follow one leprechaun’s adventures in O’Neill as he searches for the pot of gold on St. Patrick’s Day.  

Skills addressed:

• Creative writing
• Oral reading fluency
• Story elements  (setting, characters, beginning, middle, and end)
• Local community history and traditions (O’Neill St. Patrick’s Day Celebration)
• iPad skills 

iPad apps utilized:

• Toontastic 3D (free)
• Book Creator (Lite version is free)

Our process included brainstorming ideas and writing the stories on paper with Mrs. Willis. When Mrs. Morrow worked with us on the iPads we created the setting and characters for our stories and recorded the animations with the Toontastic 3D app. Then each student created their own Book Creator project and designed their pages by adding the typed text of their story, their Toontastic animation, additional illustrations, and of course, their signature. Each student’s individual Book Creator pages were Airdropped to Mrs. Morrow’s iPad to be combined into one class book. Students brainstormed the facts for the ‘Did You Know?’ pages in between each of the leprechaun’s adventures. Finally, we filmed the conclusion for the book all together and added it to the last page of our Book Creator project. 

So, how can you experience this creative story? 

Luckily, you have three options. 

1. If you have an iPad or a Mac, download the free iBooks app. 

Use your Apple ID to download a free copy of the book and then read in iBooks. 

*This is the most fully functional version of the product. You can swipe to turn the pages and click on the videos to play within the story. 

View in iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1216353000 

2.  If you do not have an iPad, but have another type of digital device, you can “read” the whole story as a video on YouTube. 

The video of the whole book is over 18 minutes long, but you can easily skip around to find your favorite parts.  

*TIP: Be sure to watch the ending of the story, no matter what! It starts around 17:44

3.  A final option would be to stop in the 1st Grade classroom and read the book there. We will have a printed version on paper (minus the student voices and videos) as well as being able to view on the school iPads. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from some amazingly creative iPad authors!