The Australian National Curriculum, English, is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. The strands of literacy and literature, particularly, are very well suited to the use of technology to tell stories. At Oakleigh State School, in Prep, students learn to use the app ‘Explain Everything’ as part of a retelling of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. The purpose of this activity is to reinforce the story structure in preparation for an assessment task.
This term in Year 1, as part of an English unit on Aboriginal stories, the children have been revisiting their skills from this Prep unit to allow them to further build on their understanding of story, character and plot. The technology in this instance creates opportunities for replaying the work for the creators and others, for children to work together and take turns telling the story and then for them to listen to it back. It creates opportunities for teachers to talk to the students about fluency or to set goals in different areas of reading. It is also a hugely engaging activity that has the potential to connect students more to each other, to the story and to the characters.
The first example below was their initial piece of work. The second example was the result of a child working on his own to retell another of the stories the class had read. Further information on curriculum links is at the base of this post.
English
Literature
Discuss features of plot, character and setting in different types of literature and explore some features of characters in different texts (ACELT1584)
Listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication(ACELT1586)
Innovate on familiar texts by using similar characters, repetitive patterns or vocabulary (ACELT1832)
Literacy
Respond to texts drawn from a range of cultures and experiences (ACELY1655)
Engage in conversations and discussions, using active listening behaviours, showing interest, and contributing ideas, information and questions (ACELY1656)
Use interaction skills including turn-taking, recognising the contributions of others, speaking clearly and using appropriate volume and pace(ACELY1788)
Digital Technologies
Media Arts
Use media technologies to capture and edit images, sounds and text for a purpose (ACAMAM055)
Create and present media artworks that communicate ideas and stories to an audience (ACAMAM056)