MMP Proposal

MMP Outline:

Multimedia Proposal: Coding for Elementary Literacy

Overall Goal: 

Designing an online classroom for elementary students to use elements of coding to learn literacy. It will be a google classroom where students will work with video that include tutorials, scratch activities, literacy activities, and stories. I will provide students with an introductory video on what coding is as well as what scratch is.  My goal is to have students supplement their early literacy learning with fun activities that develop an understanding of how key components of an effective successful code mimic the key components of a successful sentence, word, or paragraph.

Audience: 

The audience includes students in elementary school who are trying to master elements of literacy with the help of coding. I plan to focus on elementary grades 1st through 3rd in this particular classroom.  Students will be able to access most of the resources through google classroom. Activities and resources will be available to students for use in learning literacy as well as coding.  I will also incorporate some supports for parents of younger learners so that they can find out more about coding, scratch and how literacy is connected to coding.

Objectives:  

My objective is to teach students literacy which includes reading skills, writing skills, understanding story elements, word composition, sentence composition, paragraph compositions and how to comprehend different stories by using elements of coding to model how critical the elements are to creating words, sentences, and paragraphs. Students will learn very basic elements of coding to learn more critical elements of language.

Student Goals:

Students who complete this program will have a stronger understanding of literacy and using specific elements to create language elements such as words, sentences, and paragraphs as well as build stories. Students will understand how a word is formed, the proper phonemic components and how they work together, sentence structure, and paragraph elements. 

Multimedia Tools and Technology:

Google Classroom: This is the format in which assignments will be assigned to students. Students will be able to access all their resources as well as the activities or assignments assigned for the lesson of focus.

Scratch: This software will be the primary engine in which to practice creating coded statements and viewing the results right away. 

Videos: Students will have access to videos available online for scratch software to introduce them to the use of the software.  I will also create my own videos that will walk students through the connections between the activity and literacy. Each video will focus on one component of scratch first and then end the video with a tie in to literacy. For example, the “move x steps” can be used to mirror the length of a word.  A word requires a certain number of letters and proper sounds to build it. In a similar fashion, a character requires a number of steps to meet their goal. I can add steps to the code just like we can add letters to a word to change it. My videos will be created by screen cast-o-matic.

Activities: Will be assigned through google classroom and will tie in to the video that was viewed prior to the activity. Students will have to make a submission through google classroom in response to the prompt or activity. Students can also submit links to their revised projects on scratch to reflect the activity they completed.

Stories: Students will be given access to stories  from read-aloud videos or with visuals and text to practice decoding what they are given. Students will also practice reading the text they are given.

Timeline

Begin Implementation of Google Classroom: February 26^th

In this step, I will be creating the google classroom, deciding on the layout, and the order in which the material will be given.

Find and add external resources for students to use Scratch: March 5^th

I will look for the resources that can support my learners in their understanding of how scratch works. I will mainly provide tutorial videos for students to complete. Since I am looking at three different grades, I will focus on finding at least one tutorial to support each grade level I will be focusing on in this project. I will post them to google classroom.

Create 1^st Video for Students in 1^st grade: Words and their sounds: March 12^th

This will be the first video I create for students. This will focus on words and their phonemic compositions. I will also have students work on building their own words as well as decoding those words using scratch as a support. I will also develop the supporting activities for these videos.

Create 2^nd Video: Sentences and their words: March 19^th

This will be the second video I create for students. This will focus on sentences and their proper components as well as the words that encompass them. I will also have students work on building their own coherent sentences.

Create 3^rd Video: Paragraphs and their sentences: March 26^th

This will be the third video I create for students. This will focus on paragraphs and their proper components as well as the sentences that encompass them. I will also have students work on building their own paragraphs. I will also develop the supporting activities for these videos.

Polish, add stories and their Activities, Review all Activities: March 30^th

Prior to April 1^st submission, review and clarify the videos and respective activities. Also, add stories and their respective activities. Finally review the overall classroom for ease of use, accomplishment of the objective, and effectiveness of teaching material to students.

Revise as per Recommendations and Continue Revisions as needed: March 30^th to April 24^th

Revise, edit, and polish according to peer recommendations. Add more supplementary materials to the classroom. Review videos and revise as needed.

Research to support my project:

"IT-Literacy for language Arts: Should it include programming?" by Faramarz Amiri

"Using Coding Apps to Support Literacy Instruction and Develop Coding Literacy" by Amy Hutchison, Larysa Nadolny, Anne Estapa

Explanation of online communities:

The communities I chose support my implementation of creating such a program. My first group discusses interdisciplinary curriculum and the implementation of that. By looking at recommendations on how to create interdisciplinary curriculums, I can improve my project to reflect teaching of both content areas and not just primarily one. I don’t want to only teach literacy but also coding. I also find that the ELL group will help me realize how to change my project to accommodate and support students who are learning English. By using these various supports I can further enhance my project and make sure it  meets the needs of all the learners that maybe exposed to it.