This week is reading week so we had at-home learning modules. We are wrapping up our Genius hour and I am struggling through my tasks. I wish I had more time because I do not feel like my experiment is done so I think I am going to continue working through it after the class. I am happy with the topic I chose for my Genius Hour because I think it will benefit both me and the students I continue to work with. I can meet a lot of curriculum expectations with a topic like this. One of the things I found was this quote from the curriculum, “ As students develop their reading skills, it is important that they have many opportunities to read for a variety of purposes. A well-balanced reading program will provide students with opportunities to read for the pleasure of discovering interesting information as well as for the pleasure of self-discovery, for self-enrichment, and for the sheer fun of it. Such reading activities are particularly important in the elementary grades, when attitudes towards reading and reading habits are first being formed. Reading experiences that invite students to discover new worlds and new experiences and to develop their imaginative powers will go a long way towards convincing them that reading can be a rich source of pleasure and knowledge. Such experiences are likely to lead to a love of reading, which is among the most valuable resources students can take with them into adult life.” (10) I think my Genius hour project can work to do all of those things, which is why I am quite happy with the topic I chose, and the small advances I have made so far. Perhaps I could have planned better and done more in the six weeks I did have, but unfortunately it did not work out that way.
One of the things I created was this comic using ToonDoo:
I really love the tool ToonDoo and am happy to have had the experience to try and do it to create it. My object in my Genius Hour is to inspire students to enjoy literacy more through increased library time and recess book clubs, or after school book clubs. This cartoon demonstrates one of the things I tried to do with the younger students I work with, some of them are just newly grade 3's, and I tried to start encouraging them to like books by reading to them at first.
This week has been a challenge so far, and I am still continuing to work on my Genius Hour Ted Talk and Movie Trailer, so more later...
Upon further thought, I was looking through a bunch of resources and found the Storybird website. I wanted to create a book that could act as a better learning tool. I started researching through it, and found a really cute picture of a reading worm. I created a story called The Reading Worm and decided that would be a better Learning Object. My goal was to inspire students to read more. The curriculum supports that goal, as it is expected and essential for students to read. I wanted to create something that would curb them to be influenced to read at a young age.
The book I created is a short snippet of what literacy has to offer, and I would perhaps read this to junior students, catch them while they are young and encourage them to understand all that literacy has to offer.
My Movie Trailer is up, and I made it using Powtoon. I really like it. I definitely put a lot of work into it and it was challenging to make, so I hope other people also enjoy the results. I did consider using something like iMovie or another more movie-like tool, but in the end loved working with Powtoon and felt I would be better suited to explore a resource I was enjoying more. Anyways, it is under the Movie Trailer tab, so check it out!
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