Produsage Assignment

 So I know this assignment is due on Sunday, and today is Thursday, and I haven't started yet, but I've been thinking about it NONSTOP and now I've gotten myself to a point where I've thought about it so much that I can't physically act on it (which honestly I feel is pretty common amongst high-achieving severe procrastinators) so I'm going to use this blog post to try and work past my mental blocks around this project. Originally, after we did the Vision Board Pinterest challenge, I couldn't stop thinking about how cool it would be to do that at the end of a novel study as a way to focus on characterization. Like, "pick a character from the xyz novel we just read, and create a board that reflects a theme the character experienced or interacted with over the course of the novel." Which, I still love that idea. But, then I couldn't decide what novel I would want to use, because obviously the kiddos would need to be able to stretch the assignment and use text evidence from the reading to explain the theme they were trying to depict. And I haven't been reading lately, so I got really hung up on that and I kind of ditched that idea. 

Now, I'm thinking I'll do a scaled-back idea that involves a lot of student choice. If anyone has ever used Wakelet, it's kind of like a souped-up Padlet but it allows for some different uses of features. I was thinking that this assignment could be on the end of a poetry study, where students could self-select a poem of their choosing (or a song) and complete a visual analysis for tone and mood. This would still hit on the visual aspect that I'm kind of obsessing over, still require them to incorporate evidence from their poem, AND it would also require a little mini lesson over attribution (we'll assume the teacher did that prior to the start of this lesson, and I would compile the links to unsplash, pixabay etc.) because they shouldn't be slapping random Google images together. So this part would be like 65% of the grade, and then the other 35% of the grade would require them to view their classmates collections and respond, either in writing or in Flipgrid, to their classmates' projects. So I could compile all of the necessary materials and host it inside of Wakelet, and that's also where students would compile their collections. 

Anyway, if you've made it this far, thank you for reading my jumbled up ideas! I feel like I am SO close to getting this idea where I want it. 

Comments

  1. cathcosgJuly 21, 2022 at 7:01 PM

    I love this idea! For a song there could be the potential to compare their idea to the music video (if applicable). I agree that it's not as engaging to just find stock images on Google. I'd love to do this project :)

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  2. The Tired TeacherJuly 23, 2022 at 3:30 PM

    Hi Rachel. I actually think we ran into the same issue. As teachers we tend to think too specifically about assignments. Your assignment is great and letting the kids have a choice is an awesome idea. I will probably borrow(that sounds better that steal) your idea for my 6th graders. I get the need to limit their choices because it makes it easier on everyone but maybe I will give them a few books to choose from. As for your assignment, I would write it in general terms and then just pick a book you love for the example.

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