Today kids started writing their fan fiction projects.
We started by revisiting our board of writing projects. Kids decided whether to keep their current idea or change it to something that they were more interested when they first posted last week.
After they chose according their interests today, we ended up with the following project goals between both classes: 2 alphabet books, a collection or anthology of short stories and comics, a dictionary of Minecraft blocks, and some song lyrics.
I told the kids that it was a moment that is sometimes scary for a teacher because they would be defining their jobs, marking their progress, and determining when they were finished. I was not in control of their work--they were.
They filled out a planning document so I knew what their ideas were, who they were going to work with, and what resources they would need to complete their work. The room buzzed with energy, but in many different ways. Some students worked independently, and there were also eight working together on one of the alphabet books. Some students collaborated in a shared Google doc, some are sat at a table and wrote drafts independently with paper and pencil. Some also worked in pairs building things in Minecraft that will serve as settings for their stories or comics.
Since we are planning on publishing our work in book format, we talked about fair use, copyright, and plagiarism. We are not using any Google images or open source images in this project. Everything will either be student-drawn or created and captured within Minecraft. One of our best friends today was the F2 button, because it allows you to take a screenshot of what you are doing in your Minecraft world.
It was chaotic at times, but we leaned into the uncertainty and it was OK. I was proud of them.
We started by revisiting our board of writing projects. Kids decided whether to keep their current idea or change it to something that they were more interested when they first posted last week.
After they chose according their interests today, we ended up with the following project goals between both classes: 2 alphabet books, a collection or anthology of short stories and comics, a dictionary of Minecraft blocks, and some song lyrics.
I told the kids that it was a moment that is sometimes scary for a teacher because they would be defining their jobs, marking their progress, and determining when they were finished. I was not in control of their work--they were.
They filled out a planning document so I knew what their ideas were, who they were going to work with, and what resources they would need to complete their work. The room buzzed with energy, but in many different ways. Some students worked independently, and there were also eight working together on one of the alphabet books. Some students collaborated in a shared Google doc, some are sat at a table and wrote drafts independently with paper and pencil. Some also worked in pairs building things in Minecraft that will serve as settings for their stories or comics.
Since we are planning on publishing our work in book format, we talked about fair use, copyright, and plagiarism. We are not using any Google images or open source images in this project. Everything will either be student-drawn or created and captured within Minecraft. One of our best friends today was the F2 button, because it allows you to take a screenshot of what you are doing in your Minecraft world.
It was chaotic at times, but we leaned into the uncertainty and it was OK. I was proud of them.