Learning Projects

Introducing the Learning Project Phases

The teacher will start by asking how long have they  studied in the school? How many friends have they got?  What funny moment have they lived and with whom? It will be asked if they remember their first day of school, what expectations they had, if they liked the idea of changing schools, and why they did it. The students will have ten minutes to talk about their experiences with the rest of the class, allowing them to work on their speaking skills. The teacher will ask them how they could represent their experiences, whether they prefer by writing stories, poems, or drawing; they will be alloted five minutes to talk about their preferences. Once they have discussed their ideas, the teacher will encourage them to share their feelings about using comics to represent their first day of school.

 Initiating the Learning Project

The students will divide into groups of three to define their project about the comic: “My First Day at School” by answering some questions related to what comics are and why people like them, followed by what situations they would like to represent.

1)      What is a comic?

2)      What is the story of comics?

3)      Why do people like comics?

4)      What kinds of topics are represented in comics?

5)      What are the parts of a comic?

6)      What characteristics do the comics have?

7)      What resources could you use to create a comic?

8)      What is the purpose of a comic about the first day at school?

9)      What roles will each team member play?

        10)      How will project changes be handled?

Planning the Learning Project

The student teams will create a plan to develop their project comics based on the questions they previously answered during their initiation; they will have a week to work on it. It is suggested that they have a planner so they can be organized.

1)        Organize teams to develop the draft of the comic: Set off the topic the number of panels (they can be between five to ten)

2)      The resources needed for creating the comic (students might use PowerPoint, Cava Design, Storyboard Creator, or any website that they prefer)

3)      Write the draft of the comic, then select the owner(s) of each panel (students must have selected the resource, and they need to have the possibility to share the document to work on at the same time)

4)      The students will select a time schedule for each task.

Executing the Learning Project

The student teams will work based on the schedule they previously agreed on, and they will verify if each integrant is working on their assigned task. They must verify whether the comic has all the required elements (panels, captions, gutters, speech bubbles).

Closing the Learning Project

The students will check the quality and usefulness of their project; they will analyze what they were learning through working on Comics: "On the First Day of the School Year" as a main topic, and mention new vocabulary, grammar, and other details they want to share.

Introducing the Learning Project, Phases

The teacher will start by wondering what´s new in the school. If anyone knows something that might interest the students, it would be seen for some students as gossiping about what catches their attention and makes them participate. For sure, someone knows or has heard something they can share with the rest of the class. It will be asked: When? Who? Where? How? and Why it happened? The teacher will ask them how they can verify that the information is accurate.  Moreover, how can it affect the people involved? Or can it affect them?  Furthermore, there are other additional questions that the teacher might suggest. Thus, students will be introduced to the news topic, and they will reflect on the importance of being informed if it is news, when it is gossip, and how to avoid misinformation.

 Initiating the Learning Project

Based on the previous conversation about what´s new in the school, the teacher will make it know to students that they will work on a newspaper projects. They will organize into groups of five to define their project about the newspaper: “What is going on today?” First, they will clarify their ideas about the news by answering the following questions:

1)      What is a newspaper?

2)      What are the parts of a newspaper?

3)      What information should be put in a school newspaper?

4)      What information should not be written in a school newspaper?

5)      How to collect information for news?

6)      What is the purpose of a school newspaper?

7)      What resources could you use to create a newspaper?

8)      What roles will each team member play during the development of the project?

9)      What are the team goals?

        10)      Who will benefit from the project?

Planning the Learning Project

The student teams will create a plan to develop their project newspaper: What is going on at the school today? Considering the previous questions they used as a reference to initiate their project, they will have two weeks to work on it, and they will decide whether they prefer a digital or a paper version. It is suggested that they have a planner so they can be organized.

1)      Organize teams to establish what sections will be developed in the newspaper and which members will be in charge.

2)      The students will decide on the program or resource that will help them to organize their project (students might use Cava Design, Storyboard Creator, Flipsnack, Google Docs, or any website that they prefer)

3)    Each team member will work on the selected part of the project based on the agenda they have previously planned.

4)      Students will meet to check the development of each task, verifying that they will achieve the goals proposed by them at the beginning.

5)      After the meeting and the teacher´s feedback, students will work on the edition of their project.

Executing the Learning Project

The students will work on developing the project, starting with the previous questions that help as a guide to understanding what a newspaper is and the importance of informing people based on the specific characteristics of this kind of content. Considering they have a schedule, they will work according to it, and if they need to make changes, they will write an observation explaining why it is required.

Closing the Learning Project

During the development of the project, the students must establish whether they prefer the newspaper on paper or a digital version. According to their preferences, the teacher will provide them with the conditions to show their results to the rest of the class.

Introducing the Learning Project

The teacher will start by wondering what's new in the school. If anyone knows something that might interest the students. It might be seen as gossiping for some students about what catches their attention and makes them participate. For sure, someone knows or has heard something they can share with the rest of the class. It will be asked: When? Who? Where? How? and Why did it happen? The teacher will ask them how they can verify that the information is accurate.  Moreover, how can it affect the people involved? Or can it affect them?  Furthermore, there are other additional questions that the teacher might suggest. Thus, students will be introduced to the news topic, and they will reflect on the importance of being informed if it is news, when it is gossip, and how to avoid misinformation.

Initiating the Learning Project

The teacher will explain to the students that they will write a personal diary,  where they talk about what they usually do during the day on their cellphones, how much time they spend on them, what kind of things they like to do, how they feel when they forget them somewhere and how vital are their cellphones for them and what they would do if they do not have them for several days, they will answer their questions which will give them ideas for their projects.

1)      What is the purpose of a personal diary?

2)      What do you think about people who write a personal diary?

3)      What is your opinion about people who share their personal diaries online?

4)      If you write a personal diary, how would you do it? On paper? Online?

5)      Have you read any personal diaries?

6)      Why do young people like cell phones?

7)      What is your opinion about cell phones?

8)      If your cellphone had no applications, would you like it?

9)      What positive aspects do cell phones have?

        10)      What negative aspects do cell phones have?

Planning the Learning Project

This project will be developed individually, considering the characteristics. of personal diaries, they will decide whether they prefer to use a notebook or if they want to write them directly on their computers. However, they will write their experiences for one week, focusing on the aspect of the use of their cell phone; the objective is that students reflect on the use of cell phones.

1)      Establish the resource that will be used to write personal diary entries (notebook, Word document, Penzu, writeadiary.com or any other resource of preference).

2)      During the week, students will write personal diary entries considering different moments of the day: morning, afternoon, and evening.

3)      Students will write detailed information about what they do with their cell phones, how they feel when doing something specific, and why.

4)      Students will read their diary entries and ask themselves: Why did I write this? Could I do something different without my cell phone? How does my cellphone impact my life"

5)      Language learners will rewrite aspects they consider necessary about their diaries.

Executing the Learning Project

The students will write their personal diaries, considering the indications from the teacher. The students have listed five hours of English class per week and will use this time to write their personal diaries, and the teacher should have a template to set off specific moments of the day that are required to focus on.

Closing the Learning Project

The teacher will randomly choose students who will share experiences about the use they have of cell phones, if they consider they are responsible for this element or not, and why they do not have to say everything that is in their diaries if they do not want to.  Nevertheless, the idea is to reflect on it.