Comic Life

At the moment the students in my top reading group are involved in a "Dragon Study". They are reading a range of chapter books and sophisticated picture books during class and for homework. Their activity is to design their own dragon comic using 'Comic Life'. The children have been highly motivated by this activity. They have been making props using cardboard and taking digital photos of a blown-up dragon. The pictures have then been downloaded onto the laptop and used in 'Comic Life'. The children have then added their own cartoon speech bubbles. I am hoping we will be finished by the end of the week and I am looking forward to seeing their final creations.

Interface Magazine

I have just been doing my professional reading of the latest Interface Magazine. I love the "File Share" pages where it shows you lots of great websites which are suitable for kids. I have just been testing out a site called "Math Attack". It is a fun interactive game to practise basic facts with a mad scientist twist. I have added it to my maths wiki and I am sure it will become a favourite.

New Bookworm Wiki

This week, while my third year student has been on control I have started developing a wiki to electronically organise my reading activities. These activities are for my top reading group involved in my action research study. I think this will be a valuable resource as I will be able to add more to it and use it again next year and hopefully beyond! I have added the link to my new blog in Miss B's links.

Inspired By Disa

I had a great session with Disa yesterday who was not only a great help but very inspiring! We discussed my Action Research in depth and Disa showed me her awesome wiki which gave me lots of new ideas. I also found that I had completely forgotten about the program Comic Life. I have not used it since 2007, but since my recap session with Disa I am keen to use it again. I already have plans to integrate Comic Life into my next independent reading study on Dragons.

Two other aspects also came to light. I want to add some more reflective learning activities into my independent reading studies, especially Kath Murdoch formats as I find her material fantastic. I am also pondering exactly how I will measure the success of my action research. I know already that the children are more motivated and that I have tested them with Probe and their reading level has improved. This is great but I want to measure the depth of their understanding further. Disa and I discussed the idea of having a control group of students not involved in my study and compare the depth of their responses to that of my students. I will ponder this a bit longer and make a decision soon.

I loved how Disa had her reading activities on a wiki. I currently have my activities on a sheet which is working well but I can see the bonus of having everything on a wiki, especially adding links. This would be so much faster and easier than the children typing in web addresses from a sheet. Next week, when my third year student is on full control I am going to create a new wiki and try out this new approach. Thanks Disa!

Survey Results

I was pleased with the answers the children gave in relation to their attitude towards their current reading activities. In general it was quite positive. I was very interested though with the children's reponses of which activities make them learn the best. Have a look at the results and see what you think!

RESULTS FOR QUESTION ONE - How much do you like the reading activities we do in class?
* Writing answers to questions in your book
I love it = 1
I like it = 2
I dislike it = 0
I hate it = 1
* Filling out a book report form
I love it = 1
I like it = 1
I dislike it = 1
I hate it = 1
* Completing wordfinds, wordsearches or crosswords
I love it = 2
I like it = 1
I dislike it = 1
I hate it = 0
* Making something eg bookmark, life cycle
I love it = 2
I like it = 2
I dislike it = 0
I hate it = 0
* Using the computer to read or research information
I love it = 3
I like it = 0
I dislike it = 1
I hate it = 0
* Using the computer to see pictures or video clips
I love it = 4
I like it = 0
I dislike it = 0
I hate it = 0

RESULTS FOR QUESTION TWO - Which activities help you learn the best?
* Writing answers to questions in your book
I learn lots = 2
I learn quite a lot = 0
I don't learn much = 2
I don't learn anything = 0
* Filling out a book report form
I learn lots = 0
I learn quite a lot = 1
I don't learn much = 0
I don't learn anything = 3
* Completing wordfinds, wordsearches or crosswords
I learn lots = 2
I learn quite a lot = 0
I don't learn much = 1
I don't learn anything = 1
* Making something eg bookmark, life cycle
I learn lots = 1
I learn quite a lot = 1
I don't learn much = 1
I don't learn anything = 1
* Using the computer to read or research information
I learn lots = 2
I learn quite a lot = 1
I don't learn much = 1
I don't learn anything = 0
* Using the computer to see pictures or video clips
I learn lots = 2
I learn quite a lot = 0
I don't learn much = 2
I don't learn anything = 0

My conclusions:
* The children have varied opinions about their reading tasks and how much they learn from them
* Using the computer to see pictures or video clips was the most popular reading activity
* Making things was also popular
* Interestingly most of the children did not think that they learn very much from a traditional written book report
* In general, because my sample size was so small and the children's answers were so varied it is difficult to make any strong conclusions from the results of this survey. Oh well! It was an interesting learning exercise.