Updated! ~ Students Design their Own Book Covers
This is inspired by a lesson I did with 7th grade students at the LearningWorks summer program, where I had students reading The House on Mango Street and
create vignettes about their own lives inspired by the text. At the end
of the summer, they revised their favorite pieces of writing and
compiled them into a book - their own version of The House of Mango Street.
This lesson is about creating a book cover that highlights the tone and
themes of their books using visual images. Hope you enjoy and find it
useful!
I really enjoy thinking of ways to engage students' creativity and personalities in lessons, so expanding on a lesson I've had success with in the past and incorporating new ways for students to engage with the material was really fun. The greatest challenge I had with this lesson while teaching it was struggling to reach students who didn't feel confident creating their own artwork.
Using Canva and opening up the possibility of students using media they can find online would make the project more approachable and exciting for those students. I can certainly see myself using technology to achieve that goal whenever possible.
I'm not entirely sure where and how I would use instructional videos like this one in my future teaching, especially since there are so many tutorial videos online already that I can refer students to when needed. I would feel more comfortable creating a step-by-step document with screenshots (like the assignment using Adobe Spark we made for this class). I also think that mode would be more helpful for students since they can easily scroll to the step they need help with rather than needing to watch the whole video. However, I can imagine some scenarios in which using screencast recording would be helpful, and so I am grateful to have had opportunities to grow more comfortable with that technology.
The aspect of this assignment that I struggled with the most was creating the rubric (can be seen below). The fact that I will need to be constantly evaluating and attaching number values my future students' work really frustrates me. That resistance to the concept of rubrics in the first place makes my process for creating rubrics evasive and unenthusiastic. I have no problem with writing out or explaining expectations and am eager to support students in their own creative processes. However, I am struggling with my tendency to be vague as a way to avoid attaching value to different potential products that students make. I know that my vagueness will likely only frustrate students who need more clear, specific criteria from which to work.
I really enjoy thinking of ways to engage students' creativity and personalities in lessons, so expanding on a lesson I've had success with in the past and incorporating new ways for students to engage with the material was really fun. The greatest challenge I had with this lesson while teaching it was struggling to reach students who didn't feel confident creating their own artwork.
Using Canva and opening up the possibility of students using media they can find online would make the project more approachable and exciting for those students. I can certainly see myself using technology to achieve that goal whenever possible.
I'm not entirely sure where and how I would use instructional videos like this one in my future teaching, especially since there are so many tutorial videos online already that I can refer students to when needed. I would feel more comfortable creating a step-by-step document with screenshots (like the assignment using Adobe Spark we made for this class). I also think that mode would be more helpful for students since they can easily scroll to the step they need help with rather than needing to watch the whole video. However, I can imagine some scenarios in which using screencast recording would be helpful, and so I am grateful to have had opportunities to grow more comfortable with that technology.
The aspect of this assignment that I struggled with the most was creating the rubric (can be seen below). The fact that I will need to be constantly evaluating and attaching number values my future students' work really frustrates me. That resistance to the concept of rubrics in the first place makes my process for creating rubrics evasive and unenthusiastic. I have no problem with writing out or explaining expectations and am eager to support students in their own creative processes. However, I am struggling with my tendency to be vague as a way to avoid attaching value to different potential products that students make. I know that my vagueness will likely only frustrate students who need more clear, specific criteria from which to work.
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