Module 3: Role play support

In Module 3 we used Role play as a teaching and learning strategy to solve issues, do problem solving and explore the value of peer assessment in a gamified environment. We cooked at some issues that crops up in a ict enriched school milieu e.g. can the school go paperless?  By writing a storyboard for the roleplay that has to explore various issues connected to the topic, learners are forced to come up with various issues and angles and then find solutions. This strategy is a great way to make sure that learners really intimately engage with topics from a problem-solution point of view.

From a technology point of view, various skills can be incorporated to enhance this experience. Firstly, they (the learners) have to design (write) the roleplay and digitise that for sharing and as part of their portfolio. They can either write it out (old school) and then taking a photo or type it out using a word processor or their tablet journaling app (Memoires). The roleplay has to be practised, video-ed and edited and has to clearly adhere to the following rubric criteria:

So the format of the roleplay lesson could be: (Use the roleplay template here: https://goo.gl/UOx8i8 and it could be one lesson with the assessment being the next lesson.)

• Stating the problem in a single sentence
• Exploring what the various issues might be associated with the problem statement
• Assigning roles (who says what)
• Acting the problems out 
• Acting the solutions out
• Taking a video of the role play. 
• Basic video editing
• Upload the video to Youtube and share the link with you in the back channel/email. This can be done after the lesson. 

Assessment:

The next step in this strategy is to have the learners assess each others role play with a view to reward the top roleplays (gamification). This can be in the follow-up lesson or as homework. They can physically swap tablets or view the roleplays on Youtube. This means that they would have dealt with at least 2 issues within the classroom topic (their own and the group they are assessing). You can also ask them to assess all the roleplay videos as assessment (individually or as a group). 

They then have to complete the assessment and score the group according to the given score sheet. This can be done physically (complete the printout and submit a photo of the results-lowtech) or do it using a google form (see example) or online collaborative spreadsheet (see example). The winning team are then rewarded. This can also count as formative assessment grading. 

Debriefing

It is important that ALL the issues are briefly discussed with pertinent questions to guide the discussion. This can be done in the back channel were you will be able to monitor that all the learners are giving input. You can also use a wordcloud application to summarise the main points and contributors (Wordclouds, Wordle, Tagcrowd, or for a list see here: http://www.edudemic.com/word-cloud-generators/) 

Badging

In order to achieve this badge I will need the following from you.

You only have to submit 1 roleplay planner but can submit more than one for this badge. So I would like to know what your lesson was all about as well as what issues and scenarios were given to the learners to contemplate and turn into a roleplay. You can do this in your Memoires with photos and text if you want to. I would like you to upload the best roleplay video or supply the roleplay video link (but you may upload/supply all of your learner groups' roleplays if you like). Upload the roleplay planner(s) to your Google drive  ( I would have send you a link to that) as well as your lesson plan summary.

Assessment is not specifically included in this badge but you will be submitting an assessment badge soon and this can count towards that badge. The assessment part of this activity is very important and serves to expose the learners to different issues and solutions.

Lesson plan ideas: How do I do this in my subject area? 
Now it is your turn to think about how you can use Role play within what you are doing at the moment in your classroom. Consult the "Doing it differently" section in your Course Manual.

If you have any questions or would like to run some ideas past me, please use the comment section below so that we can all explore together.

Module 4 Learning stations

Resource folder:
(Or you can access the folder from your shared Google drive using your Google drive app)

Module 3: Role play

Module material:




Activity 1: Reflection: 

• Backchannel: www.todaysmeet.com/gac
• Access the material 
• Badging: Uplod to Gdrive in future. You will get an invite to your folder. 

Activity 2: Role play demonstration and evaluation

• Complete the Role play checklist: https://goo.gl/forms/knTigEkYhkUcuiAx1

Activity 3: Group Role play

• Scenarios. 
• Role play Planner

Activity 4: Group assessment

Some fun from the first 2 modules at our #ICT4RED #GApschools training

Jolly ending to ict4red training session at #gapschools with @maggiev pic.twitter.com/EI72R7dP7F

— Vicky (@verytrickyvicky) July 23, 2016

Module 2: Storytelling Support

Everybody has got a story to tell! In this module we look at how we can use storytelling as a strategy for learning and teaching in the classroom. We purposely asked you to do a story about yourself during the workshop so that we can get to know you a little bit better and understand what makes you tick! You used a slideshow app to create your storyboard.

You will also remember that you did a video intro showing us what is your inner animal. That also tells a story. So let's look at what I will be badging for storytelling:

As long as I can tick all the above, you can be as creative as you like, but here is a walk through of how you could approach it:

Firstly, you are going to yet again start with what you will be teaching (CAPS). You can use the storyboard template to do your planning. A story has a beginning (intro) a middle part and a conclusion. Then you will actually create your lesson story using a slideshow presentation. Don't put to many concepts on each slide. Then lastly you will present your topic to your learners and ask at least one learner to video you doing this (presenting your slideshow). You can then test their understanding of how they understand the topic by asking them to briefly tell (take a video of) the story of... what was this lesson/topic about? Always try to do it in group context as to not allow for "passive time" e.g each group must create a video story of understanding. Pick a group/learner to present their story to the class using the Random student picker. Sounds good? 

Some ideas (You can consult your storytelling manual to see how you can do it with 1 or more tablets):

Some more ideas:

Suggestions on how to integrate storytelling in lessons #gapschools @maggiev pic.twitter.com/ha43kgP0b5

— Vicky (@verytrickyvicky) July 23, 2016

• Maths: Ask your learners to dramatize the story of a quadratic equation. Each group member must do the follow on line of the solution starting with once upon a time.......
• Questions can be a great way to get learners to think about story-fying a topic. e.g. why does a L look the way it does? 
• If you have any ideas or want to get some feedback from you peers and me, share what you will be doing, are planning to do in the comments below. 

Using technology

Video is of course a great way to record stories. Using slideshows to create your storyboards and visuals can add and provide focus while telling your story. Incorporating photos, cartoons and animations have the potential of really grabbing learner interest. But most of all..... asking them to be creative to solidify understanding is definitely the way to go!! 

Here is the Module resources and I am looking forward to see what you will come up with!!! Jaribaaaa!!!! 

Module 1 Jigsaw support

So you had fun in the workshop! But now you have to implement the Jigsaw strategy in your classroom and you find that, like anything, there will be challenges. So this post will try to tease out the criteria, give some suggestion and encourage you to to take the leap and be innovative beyond expectations! We are looking for the ICTChampions among you and even if you have not been the ICT guru in the past, this is your opportunity to shine!

So lets start with a summary of what the Jigsaw method entails. You take your classroom topic, design 4 (or more depending on how many learners you have in the classroom) tasks that will teach your learners different aspects of your relevant topic. They start of in a home group where you allocate a number and then leave to join a expert task group where they learn 1 (or more, but try to keep it simple) concept or skill. They have to concentrate as they have to explain what they have learned back in their home groups. After a period of time (you can split this over 2 periods) they have to return to their home group and take turns to explain to the rest of their home group members what they have learned.

So this strategy involves 2 processes, figuring something out together as a group and becoming experts, and then explaining your understanding what you have learned to others. So let's get started!

You have to look at what you want your learners to learn. For this you need to consult your CAPS documents and think of how you can use the Jigsaw strategy in what you would have taught ANYWAY in your classroom. So I am not asking you to do anything extra, I am asking you to do it differently!

Then last but not least, you have to incorporate the use of tablets in your lesson plan. It should n ot be the main focus. Think about the different mobile skills that you used in the workshop and then decide how you can incorporate these skills into the various tasks. For instance, you learned how to take photos, selfies and videos, you annotated PDF's and used your Memoires app for reflection. You shared files to one another, you used a back-channel for classroom discussions to name but a few. So ask yourself, how can technology (tablets) be used effectively (and seamlessly) during this jigsaw lesson?

This is what I am going to need from you in order for you to earn your Jigsaw Badge:

So you have to take your topic and divide it into 4 expert tasks. Some ideas to get you started: 

At at least one of the task groups, the learners have to use a tablet(s). It is up to you how they can use the tablet(s). You can leave a video explaining that specific task topic, or simulation, or the learners can take a video of what they have to go and explain back in their Home groups. Important. they have to explain back in their home groups they cant just show the video. See your manual for more ideas of how to use the tablet during this strategy. 

The expert task groups can be bigger (e.g. 8 learners) but make sure that the home groups do not consist of more than 4 members. It takes time to explain each of the tasks. 

Additional assessment. 

To bring the gamified fun and competitive element of gaming into this strategy, you can ask each leaner to evaluate their peers. Use a scoring rubric for this (see example scoring sheet). You can have a prize for the learner with the highest score and collect the sheets for formative assessment. 

So what will happen during badging? 

I will collect the evidence as per the criteria from you:

• Your lesson plan with the 4 tasks as per your classroom topic. You can use the lessonplan template or you can just explain it in your Memoires journal. It has to be in electronic format, so if you have printed the lesson plan, or did it on written piece of paper, you will have to take a photo of it as evidence. You can also take a photo of each of the task instructions before the learners do it in their task groups. 
• Take a photo/short video of the task group figuring out how to do the task and a photo of a learner explaining how to do a task in the home group. 
• You can even add the photo(s)/videos to your lesson entry in your Memoires journal. This will count towards your reflective practitioner badge at the end of this course where we will check if you have reflected on what you are doing all along. As the Memories journal entries are time stamped, you cant wait till the end to  do reflections, you have to record what you are doing as you go along!
• Please save all your evidence in your documents folder using your file manager (or ES File Explorer)  Make sub folders to make it easier to find (e.g 1 Jigsaw, 2 Storytelling..). 
• You can also upload it to your Google drive and share your drive folder with me. (We will look at how to do that at a later stage) 

I will ask you to briefly tell me:

• What your lesson is about.
• How did your learners and you enjoy it?
• What worked what did not work. 

I will check your Memoires journal entries and export it to myself. 

See you guys on Thursday the 18th and Friday the 19th for badging. Training is on the 19th and 20th. 

If you have any questions, feel free to add that to the discussion below where we can help one another.