What the Dickens was going on in the LMS Media Center last
Monday morning? Our superintendent of schools walked through my media center and
not a single child noticed him (unusual as he is 6’ 6” tall). They were all
engrossed in reading Charles Dickens’ A Christmas
Carol using Padworx Digital Media’s A
Christmas Carol app on iPads. The superintendent was so intrigued; he
stopped to peer over the shoulders of a few of the children to see what had so
completely captured their attention. Steampunk Charles Dickens, who would have
guessed?
Students in this seventh grade language arts class had just
completed a novel study of Dickens’ A
Christmas Carol. Today’s lesson centered on each child re-reading a section
of text in the app and exploring the interactive features. Each child was
randomly assigned a stave so that the entire text was explored. After reading,
students wrote about the interactive features and how that feature enhanced the
reading experience. They were then were asked to design an additional interactive
feature they would like to see in the app and explain how it would deepen
others’ understanding of the story.
I was so impressed with the ideas that were batted around
the room. Students were reluctant at first to share, but once the first one or
two shared, suddenly many hands were up and I could hardly keep order. The discussion
included the imagery of the language and how students wanted to see certain
pieces of it illustrated. Mood, tone, emotion, and period language were all
brought up and dissected. The sound effects and music were lauded for adding to
the “creepiness” of certain passages. I learned quite a bit about how my
students approach reading a story and that, in truth, they do not want to see
every last bit of the story illustrated – a refreshing surprise!
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