Autumn SchafferDigital Video: Planning Document

Spring 2010FRIT 7230

StandardThe AASL Information Literacy Standards that will be the focus of my digital video project will be:

Pursue Personal and Aesthetic Growth

4.1.3- Skills: Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.

4.1.8- Skills: Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning

Summary of the Theme to My Video Project

I am on the certification track, so the theme of my digital video project will be based upon promoting literacy within the media center. I decided to create an instructional video explaining how a “Character’s Café” would work within the school. In order to prepare for the “Character’s Café” each student would need to read/be read to a variety of books. They will then pick their favorite character from the books and analyze him/her. They will take note of what he/she dresses like as well as how he/she behaves. On a certain day, the students will dress up like this character and meet in the “café” (which will be a location within the school). The other classes will be invited to tour the “café” and talk to the “characters” (who are really the students embodying their favorite character.)

Target Audience

My target audience can actually be put into two categories. The first and initial group will be the primary school students who will hopefully be participating in the activity. The students are in kindergarten, first, and second grade. This means they range from the age of five years old to eight years old. Being able to read fluently is not a requirement for this project. Instead, students must be able to pick a favorite text, particularly a fiction storybook, and read it either by themselves, with a

friend, or with an adult. The students will also be required to choose their favorite character from the story.

The second target audience will be the parents and teachers of the students within the primary school. These individuals will vary in age and educational level. The only requirement is that these adults can read a children’s book with the student. They will be required to help the students choose their favorite book as well as their favorite character from that book.

The cultural background will match that existing within the primary school. It is mainly composed of middle to low class Caucasian and African American students and parents. There are a small number of Hispanic families, but the majority of them, at least the students, speak and read English. The teachers, who are also involved in the activity, all have bachelor’s degrees and are of a Caucasian or African American decent.

The focus learning styles of this project include verbal/linguistic learners, visual/spatial learners, interpersonal learners, and possibly musical/rhythmic learners. Using the information processing approach, the abstract sequential learners will highly benefit from this activity. These learners will benefit from the relationship built as they read the book and identify with a certain character. They will also visually create a costume in order to look like the character. The students will use their interpersonal skills to analyze the character and determine how he/she acts. They will also present themselves to the audience and speak to them as if they were the character themselves.

Using the ARCS model, the student’s motivation will be increased through this project by:

Attention: The students will be allowed to play “dress up” and become/embody one of their favorite characters. They will get to have conversations as if they were that character. This should be interesting to the student and therefore keep their, as well as their audience’s, attention.

Relevance: The end goal of this activity is that the students will be able to analyze a character in a story and determine his/her point of view and personal characteristics. In this case, they will also have to create a visual demonstration using their creativity (ie- how they present themselves during the Character Café presentation.)

Confidence: The instructional video (ie-the digital video I will be making for this project) will serve as the explanation of expectations of this project. By the end of the video the students should have the confidence that he/she can complete the project based upon the explanation.

Satisfaction: The obvious extrinsic reward of this project will be to present oneself in the Character Café to the other students in the school. The intrinsic reward will be the praise and admiration of their classmates as they complete the Character Café presentation.

Objectives

After watching the instructional video, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students will correctly apply the explanation of the specific activity within their classrooms by following the guidelines provided in the video.

Given their choice of an age appropriate text, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students will read and analyze a specific character, correctly defining the character’s point of view and obvious characteristics.

Given appropriate materials, the kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students will create a costume that correctly fits the specific characteristics of their chosen character.

Within a specific location (The “Character Café”) the kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students will correctly verbalize and embody these characteristics within conversations held with the audience, which is made up of teachers, parents, and other students.