What I’ve Been Reading:
- 7 Essential Skills You Didn’t Learn in College by Wired
- Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix by Brian Lamb
We’re Going on a Jaguar Hunt
In my grade 2 technology class, we’re doing a remix of the well known children’s book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. (I didn’t think any of my classes were doing anything remixish until I sat down today and thought about each and what they’re doing… the wonders of reflection.)
The name. Where do I start.
Grade 2 have been learning about rainforests in homeroom. They have also been learning about the animals that inhabit rainforests. And the jaguar is one of these (or at least I hope the jaguar is one of these……………….. Just checked. Yes, jaguars inhabit rainforests of Central and South America.)
What About the Book (the Real One)? What Is It About?
The real book is about a family that goes off in search of adventure (I think that’s right.) After venturing through some pretty inhospitable habitats, they encounter a giant bear in a cave that scares them, and chases them all the way home, through all those inhospitable habitats. I think that’s the way the story goes.
Anyway, in our remix of the book, a class of Saint Maur students go off on an adventure, passing through all these different habitats (including a rainforest) and then at some point, encounter a jaguar that scares them all the way back to their classroom.
Technical Stuff
We’re doing all the pages of the book in Paint. (I must say, the new version of paint that comes with Windows 7 is pretty nice. They’ve made some huge improvements to it, such as the variety of brushes on offer.)
Next, we’re uploading the pictures to VoiceThread, ordering them and then overlaying some narration.
I have two grade 2 classes and neither of them have finished the project yet (by the way, I’ve assigned one page to each student, including narration.) But, once they’re finished, I’ll be sure to link to them right here on my blog.
Image Credits:
- Stone Zoo Jaguar Pattern by photoholic1. Found on Flickr. Creative Commons Licensed.
