Over the past five years I’ve partnered with a teacher in one primary school in Trinidad and with one in England. All three of us were teaching at the first year infant level. We had students write to each other about themselves, compose poems and also write about our respective islands, Trinidad, Tobago and England. Our packages to the Arima school were collected in a matter of days but we waited for weeks to receive any from the School in England and our package to them also took a while in getting there. However, the teachers and I contacted each other regularly via e- mail while waiting on our respective packages. The moral? Why use the internet of course!
While pondering on how to implement some of the exciting strategies and skills in my class this upcoming term, it only just dawned on me that I can up the ante, make the project a lot more exciting and interactive for the students. Microsoft Photostory is an excellent medium for a project such as this. The tedium of waiting for a package and sending one off, then waiting for a response can surely be avoided.
Our project usually incorporates a lot of artwork and drawings to help tell the stories. Our drawings this year will definitely be replaced by photos brought together to tell a story! How is this connected to reading? Reading and writing are inextricably linked and involve the same processes-particularly at stage three- responding, deepening meaning, clarifying misunderstandings and expanding ideas.
Some ideas already coming to mind for the project are:
· All about me
· A day in the life of Ms. ( teacher’s name ) class
· Places of interest in my country
· Our national festival
· Poems
· Favourite story (re) telling
I know there are additional themes which can be used in this project. Feel free to offer if you have any suggestions. I think too that it can be used as a wonderful form of assessment. Imagine the excitement which would be generated this year for this project!
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