Submitted by: Christen Tulli
School: Pocahontas Middle School
Summary
In this lesson, the students created “Choose Your Own Adventure” iWebs! The stories were written in second person point of view and stop frequently to give the reader a choice of what to do next. The reader then has the joy of picking a choice and reading more of the adventure they have selected. Reading becomes more fun because readers can start at the same beginning but experience a new adventure each time based on their own choices! Each of the Choose Your Own Adventure stories had at least twenty possible ways the story could progress!
After writing the stories, the students put them into iWeb, hyperlinked each choice to a new page in order to make the story interactive, added music and sound effects and created songs in Garage Band, and added visuals from Google images. What made this lesson truly special is how collaborative and interactive it was! The students presented their Choose Your Own Adventure stories to five classes (sixth, seventh, and eighth grades), and the students asked the participants in these classes to vote on each of the choices! The classes were so excited to have an adventure together! The participants in each of these classes then provided feedback by completing a Quia survey. The honesty of the feedback helped the authors to grow as presenters and writers. A webpage was created (with corresponding iMovie) to house the stories for the entire school (and world) to enjoy.
TIPC Ratings
Developing
The students acquired their own CYOA books to share with the class and to serve as the method of researching the structure of CYOA’s. Students were also required to locate and acquire pictures for their online CYOA and cite the sources of all borrowed content.
Approaching
The lesson was structured in a manner that allowed the students to choose their own groups as the teacher provided opportunities for their work to reach outside the barrier of the classroom walls. The teacher helped to structure the groups, leading them through the introduction and then stepping back and allowing the students to guide their own progress. Students performed various tasks to produce a collective product as the teacher allowed the students to assess their product through presentation and online peer review.
Developing
The teacher provided the experience and activities necessary to create opportunities for the students to understand the story elements required to create a multi-storyline text. The students went beyond basic writing skills and added a technology component which required them to think critically about how story elements are to be applied, delivered, and enhanced in an online environment most effectively.
Target
The teacher created and maintained an environment that allowed students to research, communicate, and create original work and to collaborate with students outside the classroom to assess their learning by sharing their stories and seeking feedback online to determine the value and impact of their work.
