I love that Margaret Simon has started a Sunday Link Up for posts about digital literacy at her blog to challenge us to share our technology journeys.
Last year was the first year I tried out Public Service Announcements with my 6th graders during our Social Injustice unit. Here are the two posts from last year that highlighted my thinking and our work:
I did what I said I would this year - instead of using historical topics, my students researched current social injustices. They watched "Water is Everything" during our read aloud of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, and we mapped out characteristics of a PSA (introduces topic, states problem, cites facts about problem, ends with a call to action).
After their research, my intention was to have them plan out their PSAs on an online storyboard maker, Storyboardthat.com, and then make the videos again. However, they got so involved with the storyboards, I decided to make those their final products. Unfortunately, Storyboardthat.com is not free. They offer a 14 day free trial, but then you have to pay. I did decide to pay the minimum amount because I think we'll use it again this year. I hope you'll be able to read these. They did a great job!
Your dedication to instilling social justice in your students is so inspiring. I will come back to this. I'd love to talk to you more at NCTE because I am thinking of doing a social justice unit after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to have so much to talk about when we finally meet! :-)
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