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Subject

English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Learning Context/ Introduction

The purpose of this learning experience is to acquaint students with the Web 2.0 tool "Blabberize" and use it as motivation for students to edit and refine their book reports. March is Women's History Month. As part of the social studies curriculum, fourth graders learn about famous American women and their contributions to society. It is a perfect time to highlight the Biography/Autobiography section of the library. This learning experience consisted of 4 (40 minute) lessons in the library.

Essential Question

How have women contributed to our world?

Duration

This unit spanned a period of 3 weeks, but these specific lessons occurred (during a 40 minute library class) for one day at the beginning of the unit and 3 days at the end of the unit. Some children came into the library during their free time to finish what they couldn't do during regular class time.

Procedure

Day 1:

1. As an introduction, students were asked to find the biography section in the library. They were told that they would be reading a biography and writing a book report about the woman they read about.


2. Then we had a discussion about National Women's History Month and why it is celebrated. We talked about a few famous women that the children were aware of (e.g., Helen Keller, Martha Washington) and I showed them the books about those women. Then I did book talks on a few others to get the students interested.


3. 30-40 biographies of women were displayed on the tables in the library before the class came in. Students were asked to choose one of them. As they browsed, they were encouraged to ask questions about the books. They chose their books and brought them home to read.


4. In their classrooms, the students wrote their book reports. Grading criteria for the written reports was determined by the classroom teacher.

Day 2:

1. I used a SMART Board to show students how to get to the Blabberize website and showed them some "blabberizations" that had already been done. (Be sure to preview these or do them yourself!) A "Blabberization" is when you use a picture of someone or something, adjust it so that the mouth moves as if it were talking, and add your voice recording so that your voice is coming out of the object's or person's mouth.


2. I explained that they would be using this site to enhance their book reports by inserting a picture of the person about whom they were reading and making it seem as if their character were telling us about herself.

Day 3:

1. At this point the reports had been written and edited in MS Word during classroom time with their teacher. When they come to the library, students were asked to log into their folders and change their report from third person to a first person narrative. It needed to be written in the first person because when the project is complete, it will appear as if the character is talking and telling the viewer about her life. 


2. They save the narrative as a new file.


3. Then students searched Google Images and found a picture of their subject and saved it in their folders on the network.

Day 4:

1. Students printed out their revised book reports.


2. Then they inserted the saved photos into Blabberize, adjusted the mouth markings and read their revised reports into the microphone. When they finished recording, they played them back to make sure that they were working.


3. Then they were able to share them with a partner.

Assessment

See attached

blabber rubric.docx

Student Work

The content in Blabberize was saved in a private file and at this time the site won't allow it to be exported. It is my understanding that they are working on the issue.

Related Resource

• Computers with Internet access
• Microphones
• Library books (specifically women's biographies)

Instructional/Environment Modifications

Since this was a joint assignment with the classroom teacher, we needed to have several short meetings to be sure we were on the same page. A teacher assistant was used to help the CSE students and some students needed more time to finish reading their books.

Website(s)

Blabberize

Reflections and Feedback

I am new in this position of library teacher and my goal is to enhance the projects that are already being done in the classrooms.

Before I start this project again I will read a few books that were written from different points of view. It was difficult for some of the children to change from third person to first person.

Many of the boys were not happy that they had to read a biography about a woman, but once they saw what could be done with Blabberize, they were very motivated to complete their writing and start recording their voices. Even the most reluctant writer was excited about this project and asked when she could come down to do hers. Web 2.0 tools can be impressive and exciting for children and can be used as motivation.

You have to be careful about the size and types of pictures the children choose. Jpeg format works best. We did have some trouble with the Blabberize website. It may have been that our server wasn't strong enough, but sometimes the characters didn't play back after the students inserted the audio portion. I should also caution that there is objectionable material on that site, so teachers need to be aware of what the students are doing.

I plan to use these lesson plans again, but the students will be given more time on the computers to complete their projects. The students who receive Academic Intervention Services needed a lot of help. Next time I will have the AIS teacher come into the library to work with them.

Related Academic Standards

New York State

4R3 

• In literary texts, describe a character, setting, or event, drawing on specific details in the text. (RL)
• In informational texts, explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts, including what happened and why, based on specific evidence from the text. (RI)

4R6 

• In literary texts, compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations. (RL)
• In informational texts, compare and contrast a primary and secondary source on the same event or topic. (RI)

4W3a Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters.

4W6 Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge through investigating multiple aspects of a topic.

4SL4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace and volume appropriate for audience.

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