QR Codes Tool: Native-American Unit

Background Information

I am creating a unit on Native-Americans and focusing on literacy by using two anchor texts. The anchor texts for the unit include two books, Conrad Richter: The Light in the Forest, and Happily May I Walk by Arlene Hirschfelder.  The Light in the Forest is written as historical fiction but it is based on true events of Native-Americans holding captive White settlers as well as White settlers holding captive Native-Americans. Happily May I Walk is a non-fiction book about Native-American culture and the examination of the multiple aspects of Native-Americans in the 21^st century. Students will be comparing and contrasting fiction and non-fiction readings in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics. Students will also draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research in the form of short essays and personal narratives. This unit is intended for sixth graders. It meets the Illinois common core state standards for reading #9, and writing #9a standards for sixth grade.  

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QR Codes

QR code is an abbreviation for quick response code. They are a type of matrix bar-codes that can encode information whether it is a link to a URL, text, image, or video. QR codes can be decoded through smartphones, tablets, and other devices that have a camera and a QR code app. They are not easy to make nor are they complex to create. With some basic technological knowledge one can find a QR code generator website and follow their steps to create a QR code. Some websites charge to generate QR codes, while others don’t. It took me awhile to find a FREE QR code generator website. The FREE QR code website that I prefer is QR Code Maker because it has detailed steps to help one create QR codes and it’s FREE. After one makes a several QR codes I suggest to make a Word document and then upload it to Scribd to share it with others for free. With some guidance, teachers and students should be able to create them within thirty minutes. QR codes bring a sense of excitement to lessons because they have a mysterious aspect since student feel like detectives using gadgets to decipher the hidden answers linked within the QR codes.

QR Codes: Native-American Unit

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Click here for the link to my QR codes activity for this unit

Since this unit centers around Native-Americans I decided to arouse the students’ curiosity by using QR codes in an anticipatory activity. Before we begin reading either of the books, this activity will allow students to explore and engage them in learning about Native-Americans. This activity will prompt students to answer questions about Native-Americans such as “how did Native-Americans travel?” and “ did all Native-Americans speak the same language?”. These previous questions will help immerse students in the unit’s topic. Another question that they will answer via a QR code will be “name one reason there was conflict between the Native-Americans and the new settlers” will help set up the class dialogue leading to The Light in the Forest. This QR code activity took me forty minutes to make because I took time choosing which questions would best fit into this activity. The QR codes generating process was easy once I became accustomed using the tool after the third QR code I generated. Teachers can formulate other questions and or images/videos that can direct students to informative links via QR codes for this unit and other units/topics so don’t feel restricted using this tool. As mentioned before students will love the mysterious detective aspect of QR codes which will surely engage them in any topic.

*My link to this QR codes anticipatory activity is right below the screenshot of the worksheet.*

*If you have any other ideas for which QR codes could be integrated in this unit please share them with me via the comments section.*

Wordle Tool: Native-American Unit

Background Information

I am creating a unit on Native-Americans and focusing on literacy by using two anchor texts. The anchor texts for the unit include two books, Conrad Richter: The Light in the Forest, and Happily May I Walk by Arlene Hirschfelder.  The Light in the Forest is written as historical fiction but it is based on true events of Native-Americans holding captive White settlers as well as White settlers holding captive Native-Americans. Happily May I Walk is a non-fiction book about Native-American culture and the examination of the multiple aspects of Native-Americans in the 21^st century. Students will be comparing and contrasting fiction and non-fiction readings in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics. Students will also draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research in the form of short essays and personal narratives. This unit is intended for sixth graders. It meets the Illinois common core state standards for reading #9, and writing #9a standards for sixth grade.  

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Wordle

Wordle is a word cloud generator. This web 2.0 tool allows one to input text and from said text it creates a visual illustration of the words and enlarges the most repeated words. The word clouds can be modified to a preferred layout and color scheme. This tool is very easy to use. It took me ten minutes to copy and paste the text that I wanted to use and then generate it into a Wordle. This web 2.0 tool is FREE at Wordle’s official website. This tool should be fun and easy for students to use. Students and teachers can then share their Wordle by sharing their Wordle web link.

Wordle: Native-American Unit

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Click here for the link to The Light in the Forest summary Wordle example

 

Since the students will be reading The Light in the Forest I decided to write a summary of the book and then create a Wordle from it. As you can see from the image above there are a few words that stand out from the rest such as True Son (the main character), John (True Son’s biological name), and White (his race) to name a few. This Wordle can be presented prior to reading the book as an anticipatory activity by having the students write predictions of what they think the book will be about through inferences using the Wordle example. This Wordle can also be used to show students how they will convert their writing assignment into a Wordle to share with the class. Instead of having students present their writing assignments via an oral presentation they can use their Wordle illustrations to present it. This web tool does not take a long time to use. Once student have their writing assignment typed they can simply copy and paste it into the Wordle generator. Overall, this should be a fun way to help students engage in their writing assignment and be eager to share it with the class in the form of a Wordle.

*My link to my Wordle example on Wordle’s official website is right below the image of my Wordle.*

*If you have any other ideas for which Wordle could be integrated in this unit please share them with me via the comments section.*

Blabberize Tool: Native-American Unit

Background Information

I am creating a unit on Native-Americans and focusing on literacy by using two anchor texts. The anchor texts for the unit include two books, Conrad Richter: The Light in the Forest, and Happily May I Walk by Arlene Hirschfelder.  The Light in the Forest is written as historical fiction but it is based on true events of Native-Americans holding captive White settlers as well as White settlers holding captive Native-Americans. Happily May I Walk is a non-fiction book about Native-American culture and the examination of the multiple aspects of Native-Americans in the 21^st century. Students will be comparing and contrasting fiction and non-fiction readings in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics. Students will also draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research in the form of short essays and personal narratives. This unit is intended for sixth graders. It meets the Illinois common core state standards for reading #9, and writing #9a standards for sixth grade.  

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Blabberize

Blabberize is a web 2.0 tool that allows users to upload images, manipulate the mouth of said image, and integrate one’s vocal so that it appears that the image is talking. The tool is FREE at Blabberize’s official website. I found this tool easy to use. I spent altogether fifteen minutes locating the image I wanted, uploading it to Blabberize, manipulating the mouth, and uploading my vocals. This tool should be fun and easy for students to use.

Blabberize: Native-American Unit

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Click Here for the link to this Blabberized image of True Son

Since the students will be reading The Light in the Forest I decided to Blabberize the main character True Son. I decided to show students that they can show their creativity and imagination by Blabberizing conversations that occurred in the book, or what they think could have occurred. This Blaberization is my creative interpretation of what I think True Son would have said to his cousin Half-Arrow during his stay with his biological family. The book explains that True Son was unhappy at his biological family’s home, and explicitly stated that he wanted to return to his Native-American family. Thus, I used this textual information to create this Blabberize of True Son conveying a message to his cousin Half-Arrow. Students can use this tool and recreate scenes, conversations, as well as imaginative self-talks to illustrate their learning and comprehension of the text. However, these are just examples, encourage students to be innovative with this tool. As I said before, this tool was not complicated to use, and usually takes less than thirty minutes to create a Blabberize. Once all students have created a Blabberize, they can share them by sharing the link.

*My link to my Blabberize example is right below the image of True Son.*

*If you have any other ideas for which Blabberize could be integrated in this unit please share them with me via the comments section.*