Demonstrating Learning through Technology
Selecting alternative options to a standard book report
Choice, autonomy, and the ability to make connections between academics and the real world are all critical to engaging students at school. Below are three examples of ways students can incorporate technology into an assignment to demonstrate their learning while also practicing agency over the types of assignments they choose to complete.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Literature+Pop: Playlist
For this assignment, I selected songs that I determined to be related thematically to George Orwell's classic, Animal Farm. Each slide in this slideshow highlights one song, its artist, and the rationale for aligning the music to the novel.
Scratch Coding: 3-2-1 About Me
Animal Farm by George Orwell
In this assignment, I built a digital story about one character from Animal Farm. I used the coding platform Scratch, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to introduce Orwell's tragic character, Boxer. Requirements for the story included describing Boxer as a team member; sharing his two favorite subjects and his short and long-term goals; and incorporating coded sound and background elements.
Digital Storytelling
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
For this assignment, I took advantage of the "free choice" option offered for integrating technology into a literature assessment. Specifically, I chose to use the web-based comics platform Pixton to retell Shakespeare's timeless play through digital storytelling. The free content available through Pixton may limit backgrounds and characters, but it also encourages greater creativity because the user is often called to leverage unexpected or unique backgrounds relative to the story being told.