Group Portrait meets once a week for eight weeks (8 hrs. total). It is designed for students ages 7-12 who have successfully completed Drawing with Pedro. Classes are taught by a Plugged In staff member and require the presence of an adult "sponsor" (i.e. a teacher, parent or social worker who is familiar with the children). Class size is limited to eight (8) students.
GP is drawing and storytelling course using mixed-media and the Macintosh computer. Students learn about the creative and technical aspects of storytelling through hands-on activities that emphasize collaboration and teamwork.
Classes are story boarding activities organized around concepts (words) taken from the formal vocabulary of literature and film arts. Examples from literature and film will be used to illustrate concepts. These examples represent frames of reference that students can use to create, think and/or discuss their work.
Group Portrait proposes to assist in the cognitive development of children (ages 7-12) by providing content rich, creative learning experiences in a highly structured informal setting. The course is designed to:
Students learn about the types of projects and stories they can make by watching a number of finished projects. Students are then introduced to the concept of a Group Portrait. Examples of different approaches to the portrait are used to illustrate the possibilities:
What is a Brainstorm?
Students learn about how topics for projects and stories are developed.
Examples of brainstorming are introduced, such as:
Ask the students to brainstorm 10 different uses for lemons.
Ask the students to brainstorm 10 different birthday party games.
Discussion and Brainstorm Activity:
Students discuss/critique the demos and brainstorm to create a list of possible elements to include in their slide show (drawings, poems, ideas/opinions, photographs). Students then choose (by vote) three elements that they will all include. This allows students to learn:
Students learn to think through the elements and choose/identify specific examples they want included. Students then organize the different elements and discuss how they can be organized into scenes to tell a story. Examples from finished projects, movie and video "stills" and cartoons are used to illustrate the concept. This allows students to:
Discussion/Brainstorm Activity:
Students work as a group to choose up to three elements (per student) they want to use to tell their story and list them. They then determine an order for these and create a diagram where they order them in time. This exercise enables students to:
Students begin writing the text for their story using the order of the scenes as an outline. At this point, students make decisions as to the number of characters and their relative importance in the story. Examples to illustrate the concept are drawn from:
The Writing Activity:
Students discuss and vote on how long their story should be (in terms of lines/sentences. Students work in pairs to write their story. Each student is responsible for developing and writing at least two lines. This allows students to:
Students learn how to use the story board technique to further develop and integrate their scenes. Examples that illustrate the process are:
The Story Board and Drawing Exercise:
Students create the story board lay-out for their story and begin filling it in with their story. They also begin to illustrate/import their scenes using KidPix. This allows students to:
Students continue working on filling in their story board and illustrating the scenes. They discuss their progress: what they have accomplished and how much they have left to do. This enables the students to become self-conscious of the steps involved in developing the story and what form/structure it has taken. The narrative plot, theme and characters are discussed and their correspondences reviewed. This enables students to:
The Discussion and Story Boarding Exercise:
Students work in pairs and as a group to further fill in their story board and illustrate the scenes. Students collaborate in fine tuning the text for the scenes and any changes to the scenes. This allows students to:
Students learn to consider their activities as participants and directors of the project. They explore how their decisions have shaped their story. Students also consider how their text and characters each constitute a different voice within the story and learn to identify themselves with the one(s) in the story that is (are) telling the story. This enables students to:
The Editorial Meeting and Drawing Activity:
Students hold an editorial meeting to discuss their progress and discuss their goals and timetable. Using their story board, they identify the different characters and narrative voices. They discuss how the order of the scenes contributes to the overall clarity of the story. After the meeting, they finish their story board (including text) and continue working on their drawings using the computer. This allows students:
Students prioritize and set firm deadlines for all unfinished work. They discuss how much they have accomplished and how little time there is left. Students divide their illustration and typing tasks equally and take turns finishing them. This allow students to:
Students integrate sound into their story using the audio function of Slide Show (record their text-voice over) and generate a title and credits page. Students divide the work to be done and take turns recording the audio for text and credits, and creating the title and credit pages. At the end of the session, students watch their completed slide show and compare/contrast it to their story board.
Students receive a copy of their drawings and notes (portfolio), a final evaluation and are awarded graduation certificates.
Act totally confused, as if you were not expecting the students today. Explain that there must be some mistake. That, in fact you were not expecting them until next month. That you are not prepared. That you don't have a plan and you don't know what to do. Miraculously, you find, in the corner of the room, your plan and you are saved.
Ask students if they know what this class is going to be about. Explain that this is not a computer class. In this class, for the next eight weeks, you are going to write a story and use the computer to tell your story. Explain that the most important part of this class is to have a plan. That with a plan anyone can accomplish anything. That having a plan will guarantee that they finish their project and that it will also allow them to have fun because they will know exactly what to do and have nothing to worry about. Remind the students of what happened at the beginning of the class.
Students need to become aware of the parts that make up a finished project. Explain that it is important that everything have all its parts to work.
Use examples: a car without wheels/motor, an explorer without a map, a book without a title. You are guiding them to develop a "plan" by providing them with a checklist to use as a reference.
Give students the checklist and tell them you are going to show them how to use it. That they are going to watch some finished projects and others that were never completed.
Read the checklist and ask the students to help you figure out exactly what each item means. Repeat, asking students to give you an example (use Socratic method, i.e. assume that they know but have forgotten). Ask the students if they want to see some finished projects.
Explain to the students that they have to pay very close attention to the "show" because you are going to ask them some questions after each one. Tell them that this checklist you gave them was written by your boss, and that you are not sure that it makes any sense, and that you need their help.
Watch one project. Ask the students to go through the checklist with you. Ask them if they liked the show and if they want to watch another one.
Repeat this procedure with three shows. Make sure that you show student's story boards at different degrees of completion. This will allow the students to become more familiar with the process and steps involved in finishing a project.
Explain to the students that they should consider themselves master builders/ that they are going to make something- the project and that like responsible builders, they need a plan and maps/charts to make sure that they work quickly and can finish their work.
Ask the students if they are still interested in making a project. That it takes some work but that it's a lot of fun. Explain to them that they can have many things in their projects. Run through the check list of possible elements: text, pictures, sound.
Explain to the students that their projects is a story about themselves- and that this is called a self-portrait (a picture of themselves, in this case: a story). This can include their family and friends. But that they have to work together because its ONE project. Ask students how many projects they are making: 1.
Use the board. Explain to the students that they are going to brainstorm and that all of them will help you come up with a list of possible things to include in their project. Go around the table and ask each student to choose several things they are interested in (sports, favorite foods, games, parks) from the list or add something different. Have students vote on 3-4 items to include in the project.
Explain that everyone is going to help make this happen. That they are going to have to share the work, and that they are going to meet during the class to discuss their progress.
Tell students that you have a present for them. That they are going to have their own special notebook for the class and that, in the end, they are going to get copies of their project. Ask students to write two sentences about what they learned today in class. And ask them to write one word to describe the teacher, the class and another to describe their classmates. Walk them through a checklist of the things they learned today.
Welcome the students to the class and tell them you have something to show them. Act out a series of activities you do every day. Try to act out your morning at home (wake-up, brush teeth, take shower, eat breakfast, lock door). Have as little continuity between scenes as possible so that they can see them as isolated incidents (perform these activities in random order). Ask students to guess what you did. Draw a quick picture on the board to illustrate their explanation (the scenes). Tell the students they get an A for guessing but that they still didn't help you make a story out of it. But you are going to give them another chance- because you know they know.
Have students order the scenes 1-5. Then, ask the students what would happen if they change the order. If, for example, you got out of bed last. What kind of story would this be (a dream). If you get out of bed in the middle (a memory). Second (a dream and then a normal day).
Explain to the students that they are going to start working on their project. That they are going to work together to figure out what kind of story they are going to tell about themselves. Remind the students that the order of the scenes is very important.
Show students different examples of scenes:
Explain to the students how scenes are just like a snap-shots. That, similar to your acting job at the beginning of the class, they tell a good story if they are organized. That scenes need to be put in good order to tell a story. That, if you change the order of the scenes, you can change the whole story.
Using the pictures that you drew of the activities you performed at the beginning of the class, remind them how the story changes when the order changes.
Explain to the students that they are now going to start working on their story. That they need to have a pretty good idea of how they want to tell - they need to choose their scenes and the order for them.
Show students a list of possible strategies for storytelling:
Have students vote on one. Write this up on board next to the things/activities they want to include. List all of this on the board. Ask students to help create a list of possible scenes to talk about each item they've chosen. There should be a total of 9 scenes/frames, plus a cover and credits page.
Work with students to order the different scenes. Give examples of how the different orders may work- what effects they create. Make a table/list with different possibilities. Explain that in the next class, they are going to write out their story.
Students fill out their journals which include:
Explain to the students that your mother always told you not to talk to strangers and that you feel a little uncomfortable talking with them because you really don't know very much about them. In this game they have to go around and say what they really like to do, eat, play. Also, what they are really good at and what they would like to be when they grow up. Once you know what they would like to be you ask them to behave like that person/character. Then, you ask them to behave like each other (in the present)- talking and walking like another member of the group and they all take turns guessing who they are impersonating.
At the end of this exercise, explain to the students that in their story, they will also have characters- themselves and that they have an opportunity to express their personalities.
Remind the students how their own voices and the way they talk is unique and special (low/high pitched voices, words they use often, things they talk about, what they like to wear, what their favorite foods are).
The students need to see different types of characters. These can be people, animals or things. This should allow students to choose, if they want, to represent themselves in a symbolic way: like an animal, plant or other thing. Show:
Work as a group to decide how many characters they want in their story- especially who is going to tell the story (one student, two, all?).
Show the students a list with options. Have them narrow the list down to three choices. This way, they can experiment with different narrative options.
Discuss with the students if they feel that any one of them is more important than the others. No. Based on this conclusion, explain to the students that each has to have the same number of lines in the story (keep reminding them that they are the characters of their story).
Ask them how many lines each person will have. They should each have no less than 3 lines. The title and credits are separate.
Based on the list of scenes, the students choose the scenes they will write by picking a number out of a hat and write out the text for their scenes. Have students write their lines under a lot of time pressure.
Walk in with a staff, like some sort of prophet, and proclaim that you have seen the writing on the wall. Proclaim that this writing is not only beautiful, but that inspires visions. That now, you can just as easily see into the future as the past. You have of course brought with you a great roll (a story board), and you proceed to unroll it before their eyes. Then, you explain to them that this is a story board- because it's like a story written on a board- get it, story-board. Walk them through this story board and explain how it helps you see into the future and the past. Explain:
Use the lottery system to determine which scene each student will illustrate (draw). Each student is responsible for illustrating one scene. Roll out a large piece of paper and have students sit around the sheet in the order in which their scene appears in the story. Explain to them how they can make squares to represent each scene and have them begin their illustrations.
Repeat to them the explanation that they each represent one moment in time. That all of them are parts of their story and there is a beginning and end. Students should work quickly. The key of the exercise is that students should fill in the picture plane within the first three minutes and then work on the details.
Have students explain what they have drawn and follow up with questions concerning the order of the scenes, what the story is about, what they like most about the story, and when they are going to start writing the text into their story board.
* These same questions will appear in a questionnaire form in their notebook- IF THEY HAVE ALREADY ANSWERED THESE QUESTIONS IN THEIR CHECKLIST AND QUESTIONNAIRES FROM LESSONS 1-2, THEY SHOULD USE THE ADVANCED STUDENT JOURNAL ENTRY.
You are totally confused. You can't determine if you are dreaming, if you woke up this morning or still have to wake up and get here. The order of events is not making sense to you. You can say things like: if you already had breakfast, then you shouldn't be hungry. Well, that's OK. because you are not hungry. But, if you did not have breakfast, then, you should be hungry and you got a problem, etc. Sit down with the students and run through your day, as it should be. Then , at the end, you are convinced that everything happened the way it should have and draw up a plan for the rest of the day. The students should begin to understand that this was an exercise in organization and giving form and structure to your day. Ultimately, the structure of your day is the story of your day- what your day is about.
Explain to the students that they are going to do something similar today. That they are going to be looking at their project and find out exactly how the different scenes/parts of their story contribute to the telling the story.
Sit students down around their story board and in front of a board. Use the board to map out the different parts of the story. Recreate the story board on the board. Ask students to identify the different elements that make up their story (sounds, text, pictures, order, title and credits pages) and ask the students how every part contributes to telling the story. What would happen to the story if any one part was missing, or out of order.
Divide students into two groups. Half of the class will be story boarding while the second half will begin to translate their drawings into KidPix. Explain that during the next class, the students that didn't get to draw on the computer will take their turn. Students on analog materials should start writing in the story board the text for their story.
Walk around the place complaining that nothing is getting done. Point out a bunch of problems in the building and the classroom (computers crashing, dirty carpets, poor lighting, etc.) Then turn it around and compliment on the condition of certain things and how the problems are in fact being taken care of very conscientiously by everyone that worked there. Explain to the students that there is always room for improvement but that everyone has to know exactly what to do- what is expected.
Explain to the students that they are going to think about ways to make things run more smoothly (in their operation/project).
ID what the problems of the group are- in terms of working together. List these up on the board.
Use the story board to guide and ground the discussion. Also, use your lesson plans to reinforce that everyone is doing their job. Give students a checklist for the discussion. Walk through all the steps the students have gone through.
Ask them what would happen if they would have done something out of order or if they would have skipped one or several steps. Help the students to think through these problems. They should be able to grasp the logical implications of sequences.
Use the story board and guide them through what they have yet to do. Explain to the students that they have only two more classes to finish the project and that they need to have a good plan to get everything done. Walk the students through a checklist (included in their journal). Help them set some goals- to finish all of these steps. Work with the students to clarify the order and time frame for each activity ( show them your future lesson plans- your plan).
Students should continue working on their drawings (analog and on the computer). The students who worked analog should be working on the computers this time around. Explain to the students that they must work quickly and that they only have two more classes to finish-up.
You are very upset because you have just 5 minutes to talk to them about your life, your future, and you don't even know where to start. You wish that you had more time. However, since you cannot change the rules, you have to figure out what the most important things are. Use the board to list the possible ways you could discuss your dreams. Your list is: Dates, things you want, what you have. Proceed to list three things you have/want and the dates by which you want to accomplish. Then, proceed to judge the merits of this arrangement- call these your goals and accomplishments. Act very happy once you are out of time- because you finished what you set out to do. Tell students that it was writing things down and talking about them that allowed you to use your time better.
Review with the students all the tasks they have accomplished and how all these parts are but pieces of their story. Count them (this should be a large #) have the students count to this number. This should be very special- a big number.
Ask students to look at their check-lists and to list the items they have yet to complete. Use the board to map this out. Work with students to set deadlines (times/dates) for every remaining task and also determine how they are going to share the work. Assign a # to each and every task. This will give students a very clear idea of why they have to work quickly.
Divide the group in two. Ask the first group to work on typing out the text while the second group works on the illustrations. After twenty (20) min., this order should be reversed. By the end of the session, all illustrations and text need to be finished.
*Students write down the list of their deadlines.
Show the students a pile of books that you found. Tell them that these books look very interesting, that in fact you have read one of them. That you wanted to read them all but that you got discouraged because you don't know what you are reading. Show the students that the books have no covers so you don't know who wrote them or what their titles are. Ask the students if they can believe that someone could possibly write a book, tell a story without including a title page or a list that included the author's name and where she came from. Ask them if they can come up with such an example. If they haven't figured it out yet, you should explain to them that their project needs a title page and credits page. Ask the students to brainstorm with you to come up with the layout of these pages.
Use the board. Ask the students if they want to include their names, ages and school they attend. Also ask the students if they want to dedicate their project to someone. The students should generate three possible titles and they should vote on the best one. Students should also decide if they want to have a drawing in their cover and credits pages. If so, they need to work together to describe exactly what they want to draw. Write this on the board. These will be directions for students to follow once on the computer.
Ask the students what else they have to do today. Have them look at their checklist of accomplishments. They should all quickly come up with the answer: sound. Ask them if they want to learn how to record their voices into the computer. After they've agreed, ask them how they are going to decide who is going to speak and when.
Use the board to list the scenes and the number of lines assigned to each scene. Ask the students how they can all take part. If they don't figure it out, explain that they can take turns reading different lines. The readings should be assigned by means of a lottery. If the students are particularly dissatisfied, then they can swap. However, they cannot be forced to swap lines.
Divide the class into two groups. One group should be recording their lines while the other is drawing and typing out the title and credits pages. The voice-over of these two pages should be done by the whole group (chant), or each student can record his/her own name.
Work with 2-3 students at a time to assemble the slide show (recording lines).
Give a little speech about how well the students worked, how smart they are, etc. Bring out in the open a few of the problems (no more than two anecdotes). Stress that they worked very hard at solving their problems and that the results are incredible. Everyone should gather around one of the large monitors to watch and comment on the show.
Diplomas. Address the group and explain that this is what everyone has been waiting for. Call out the students one by one, shake their hand and present the diploma, a copy of their notes (journal). If parents are present, have the student come forward with their parent (s). Eat...
Within one week of graduation, students will receive a video-tape copy of the show they've produced.
1. What are the parts of your story?
_______Story board
_______Scenes
_______Characters
_______Text (words)
_______Sound
_______Drawings
_______Drawing Folder/files
_______Assembled Project
_______Finished Project
_______Brainstorms
_______Fun Games
_______Graduation
_______Rules for working together
2. What is our topic:
What are 3 parts of a finished project?
1.
2.
3.
How do we brainstorm for ideas?
What did you learn today?
What is a scene?
In a cartoon book, you see a lot of pictures separated by thick lines. Each picture is inside a frame- just like a painting.
A scene is one frame of your story.
PRACTICE ARRANGING THIS STORY:
Order these scenes. Which one comes first, second, third, etc., etc.
Put their number on the time-line below. Look at where now is.
1. In the morning
2. In the afternoon
3. At night
4. Tomorrow
5. Yesterday
6. The day after tomorrow
7. Five minutes later
8. A week ago
9. Next summer
10*Now
11. Three days later
12. A long, long time ago
*
(Time Line)
What two things can the order of scenes tell you about a story?
1.
2.
What did you learn today?
1. What characters might you find in these types of stories?:
Fairy-Tale
Western
Science Fiction
Comedy
(MAYBE...)
A talking tree
A grumpy king
A friendly bear
2. Who (or what) are the characters in your story:
Main Characters (most important):
Secondary Characters (less important):
3. How many lines will each character have?
4. What are the lines for your character to say?
First character:
Second character:
Third character:
Are there other ways a story can be told without words?
1.
2.
What are you going to do in class next week?
What did you learn today?
Why is a story board called a "story" board?
List 4 Scenes in Your Story:
Order
1.
2.
3.
4.
What did you learn today?
What 3 things does a story board include?
1.
2.
3.
What did you learn today?
What one problem did we encounter with the story?
How did we solve the problem?
What did you learn today?
What is a "deadline"?
Why is it called a "deadline"?
What did you learn today?
Why is sound important to the telling of your story?
What did you learn today?
1. What are 3 parts of a finished project?
a.
b.
c.
2. What two things can the order of the scenes tell you about the story?
a.
b.
3. How do we brainstorm for ideas?
4. Why do we need to have a plan for each activity?
DATE:
LESSON NUMBER:
1. WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?
2. WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR NEXT CLASS?
3. WHAT THREE THINGS DID YOU LEARN ABOUT TODAY?
4. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE CLASS?