MR BIG – the tale of a literacy project!

Overview

Mr Big! Click to enlarge.

“What can Glow do for my pupils?”

One teacher’s question led staff tutor Graeme Reid down some quite unexpected routes, and developed into a literacy project encompassing early reading skills, functional writing and regular use of a gorilla suit.

Context

Over the last year, Angus teacher Graeme Reid has been seconded out of school three days a week to be a staff tutor. His remit includes supporting schools to use Glow to enhance learning and teaching.

On one of his school visits, Graeme was asked by the P1-P3 teacher how Glow could be used with, and by, young pupils.

As copies of the picture book “Mr Big” had recently been given to all P1 pupils by the Scottish Book Trust, Graeme decided to use the book as the focus of a literacy project.

“Mr Big”, by Ed Vere, is the tale of an enormous gorilla who finds it difficult to make friends, as his physical appearance scares people away. Little do they know that this big gorilla is actually kind and gentle in nature (and has hidden talents) ….

The Mr Big project focussed on developing pupils’:

• early reading skills
• listening and talking skills
• functional writing.

Glow was used to support the project by:

• providing a wider audience for pupils to share their learning
• providing pupils with opportunities to communicate with pupils and adults beyond their own school.

From the initial question from one teacher, has grown a project encompassing 8 schools.

Graeme Reid shows the ‘Mr Big’ Glow Group

Declan detective. Click to enlarge.

For each school, the activities have initially followed a common line. First, Graeme visits the school to work with the P1 pupils. Together they read and share thoughts about the book. Graeme uses a Powerpoint slideshow to discuss colours and emotions used in the text. The ‘Keys to Literacy’ characters – Declan Detective, Emily Emotion and Imran Illustrator – are also used to unlock the story’s themes.

The central theme of the story is that Mr Big initially has no friends, so pupils create ‘Plasticine pals’ for him. The models are photographed, and the photos displayed in Glow. Graeme uses the website Animoto to create a rolling display of the photos, along with a with musical accompaniment. One of the ‘How-to’ clips in the Recipe section below shows how this can be done.

While some pupils are creating their Plasticine pals, Graeme works with others on the Voki website to record their thoughts and opinions about the story. The Vokis created are displayed in Glow, enabling pupils to share their ideas with their peers, with other classes and with their parents.

Following on from Graeme’s visit to the school, the teacher sets pupils a functional writing task: to write a letter to Mr Big.

Mr Big's chat with Andover pupils. Click to enlarge.

Once Graeme has received and read the pupils’ letters, he takes on the character of Mr Big, and has a chat with the pupils via Glow. Angus schools do not use Glow Chat, so instead the ‘talk’ takes place using a discussion board. Graeme changes his display name, so that his messages on the discussion board are listed as being posted by Mr Big himself.

Mr Big posts a question on the discussion board and the class teacher responds, as directed by the pupils. Glow is projected up on to the class whiteboard, so that all pupils can see the messages being typed in, and the new replies being received. Rapidly the ‘chat’ takes off, and pupils are keen to ask Mr Big questions. The chat finishes with the teacher and pupils agreeing that they would like to invite Mr Big to visit them in school. Most pupils are very excited about the prospect, although one or two are rightly less keen about the thought of a gorilla turning up in their classroom.

Andover pupils meet Mr Big! Click to enlarge.

So, the next activity sees Graeme in costume as Mr Big visiting the school. This must be quite a sight for pupils, as Graeme is well over 6ft tall! Mr Big then enjoys a party with the pupils in the classroom, talking with them, answering their questions, and on occasions enjoying banana cake made by the class teacher.

Following the school visit, Graeme next links two schools together for another chat session, again using a discussion board in Glow. Pupils share and compare their experiences of Mr Big’s visit to their schools. The 3-way discussion moves fairly slowly, so Graeme adds Animoto displays of pupils’ work to the same page as the discussion board, so that pupils can view their own work and that of the other school, while waiting for their turn in the ‘chat’.

At this point in the project, Graeme would step back and allow each teacher to move forward with their class as they chose, whilst he would start the project again with another school. Graeme continued to provide support to all the schools through the ‘Mr Big’ Glow Group. This included uploading teaching resources, such as cooperative learning tasks, and guides to use the Animoto and Voki web sites. 

Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes

Through their involvement in the ‘Mr Big’ activities, pupils have been actively engaging with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. These include:

LIT 1-01a: I regularly select and listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain sources. I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to create texts of my choice. 

LIT 1-02a: When I engage with others, I know when and how to listen, when to talk, how much to say, when to ask questions and how to respond with respect.

LIT 1-07a: I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to and asking different kinds of questions.

LIT 1-15a: I am learning to make notes under given headings and use them to understand information, explore ideas and problems and create new texts.

LIT 1-16a: To show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text.

HWB 0-47a / HWB 1-47a: I recognise that we have similarities and differences but are all unique.

Ingredients

To support the ‘Mr Big’ project, Graeme created a Glow Group on the Angus Council site in Glow, so that all schools in the authority would be able to have access to it. He then:

• created new pages;
• renamed pages;
• removed any unwanted web parts;
• used the Text Editor web part to display information, such as the background to the project;
• used the Documents web part to hold teaching resources;
• changed his display name to ‘Mr Big’. (See Recipe section below);
• created new Discussion web parts and added these to the page for each school;
• added the XML web part to display photo displays created in Animoto. (See Recipe section below);
• added the XML web part to display Vokis. (See Recipe section below).

Recipe

* How to change your display name

* How to create a Voki and add it to a Glow Group page

* How to add an Animoto video to a Glow Group page

Impact

The ‘chat’ link-ups between schools were successful, but the teachers thought that much more could be achieved through using Glow Meet. Due to network restrictions, Angus schools have not previously had access to Glow Meet, but during the last few weeks of the school year 2009/10, classes were able to use it for the first time. Graeme could immediately see the benefits of this: for him, this meant less travelling, and needing only to wear the top-half of Mr Big’s costume. For some less confident pupils, the benefit was meeting Mr Big at a safe distance on a screen, rather than in the flesh (or fur).

Graeme Reid describes the impact of the ‘Mr Big’ project

The P1 pupils thoroughly enjoyed their involvement in the Mr Big project. They benefitted from using Glow to support the project, by communicating with Mr Big and with other schools, by sharing their work with an audience beyond their own classroom, and by sharing their learning with their parents.

The staff involved were very positive about the project and outcomes. Activities developed in a multitude of ways across the schools. As Graeme comments “you can get more from a book than just a story”. Staff who had initially been unenthusiastic about the use of ICT saw its potential here, thoroughly grounded in the context of a literacy project.

Staff have found the links established with other schools very productive and it’s hoped that these will continue into the new school year. If not, though, Graeme hopes that what all the staff will have gained from the ‘Mr Big’ experience, is how much a project like this can be facilitated and enhanced by Glow.

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