Regan multitasking – teaching and capturing some good moments on video

Leila – also with teaching and capturing some memorable moments

I spent most of my time in this group with Regan Baker (Film and TV), Leila Gashe (Film and TV) and Michelle Stephens (Film and TV). QUT staff – Carly Lassig, Zarina Shahban, Kathy Mills, and Geoff Portmann also spent some time with this group.  Carly also spent more time with the schools in the second week. We worked with children in Classes 3 and 6. Our main objective in this activity was to enable students to create digital story books using the app Book Creator on ipads. This activity was probably a first for Fiji.

Just explaining something here

In class 3, students were asked to write a story that was based on their own experiences as they walked around the school. This activity involved the arrangement of digital images (taken with an ipad) with appropriate text. This activity addressed the following achievement indicators in English: (a) Discuss a topic for ideas; (b) Plan and draft writing; (c) Arrange facts logically, and (d) Use correct sentence structure.

Students at the Sabeto District school engaged in their digital story book activity

This is good stuff

Kathy engaging with one of the groups

In class 6, students also created a digital storybook. However, the approach was different. We discussed and engaged students across the key aspects of story writing including developing a storyboard. From this foundation, they sketched the pages of their story. Digital images of these pages were captured using the ipad for creating the story.  This was an activity that focussed on the English curriculum and targeted the following achievement indicator: Use vocabulary and expression.

The finale – a group presents their story to the class

Despite the fact that the children used an ipad for the first time, they rapidly developed their skills to take photos, then selected and imported appropriate ones for their stories. In addition they also got used to using the digital keyboard on the ipads and most of the groups were able to create their stories. Some needed more help than the others. Our group – especially Regan, Leila and Michelle worked very well as a team to deliver this activity. They showed excellent leadership and teamwork skills from time to time and scaffolded the activities appropriately. A great effort – well done team. Our collective efforts did bring a smile to many children in the two schools.

At the end of the day happy students and…

…happy teachers