One of the biggest challenges in education is time. There never seems to be enough time for deep learning or skill building, so I have created a way to make time using projects that students mostly work on at home. I have been teaching for almost three decades, and my Building Outside the Blocks projects (BOBs) are part of the legacy I leave behind with my learners and share with fellow educators because they are so powerful for building skill, autonomy, connection, and community. The class audience has an active role and give feedback in the form of questions, comments and critiques. Each year, I facilitate anywhere from 5- 10 BOBs, and my 5/6 class has just finished the Master Storyteller 2 (MST 2) to build verbal, visual, written, and digital storytelling skills.
The three iterations of Master Storyteller form what I call a tri-BOB- a three part Building Outside the Blocks project that spirals and adds a dimension with each revisit. The students go from reading a story of their choice to the class, which helps me gauge their fluency and expressiveness while also inviting them into the project in a user-friendly way. New English language learners, multilingual learners (MLLs) can read in their first language, and text selection can be a great way to help learners read from where they are at the start of the year. I launched Master Storyteller (MST) after their What’s in a Name (WIN) projects were presented- around October. I give the students a few weeks from the launch of a BOB before the first presentation date.
From Nov- Mid-December, my students read a picture book wither to the whole class, or a small group, or just to me. This is a great way to help shyer students work their way up to a whole-class presentation. Students selected different books for various reasons such as it being their favourite when they were little, the beautiful messages, the fun or humourous text, or one that it meaningful to them. The first iteration of MST is user-friendly and a great way to gauge where they begin and readers and presenters. Not everyone is ready to read in front of an audience so there are accommodations for that, when needed. The MST 1 is a great way to listen to many books, get to build an understanding of the structure of a story, and hear how telling a story impacts the massage of the book. This takes minimals class time, and students practice at home.
I always introduce Master Storyteller 2 (MST 2) a few weeks before the Winter Break so that students can use their breaks purposefully if they need something to do or use the thought time over the holiday while they relax. MST 2, combines story and visuals. Students move from reading a story of their choice to telling it. They may choose to use puppets, a dramatic presentation, a slideshow, a digital or analogue mediums for comic strip, a video, or any other visual medium to help them tell the story they have selected. One student last year made a mask of my face to represent the teacher in their story. That was a first and quite unexpectedly hilarious. Another student chose an adoption story to share that his sister was adopted. He also made a connection to gender equity in the SDGs as he explained why girls are more likely to be put up for adoption in India than boys. Master Storyteller 2 allows students to explore mediums of their choice and show more about themselves in their selections. Here are some of the mediums my students used for their MST2's this year:
video and animation in Canva
animation
drawing
book creation
acting scene with slides background
Google slides
Fortnight
comic strip
In the newly revised Ontario Language Curriculum, it states:
Digital Media Literacy A2.4
demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, consider the impact on the audience, and apply this understanding when analyzing and creating texts
Composition D1.1
identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create, and explain why the chosen text form, genre, and medium suit the purpose and audience, and how they will help communicate the intended meaning
Here is some of the unedited feedback from my students:
I'm most proud of how much courage it took for people to present their MST 2 books and the time it took them to make it. (Gavin)
I like how we got to see other peoples storys and I am proud of the mst 2 I did because it took me a long time. (Vera)
Something I liked and am proud of about MST 2 is how every single person did something different and our projects all stand out. (Yeva)
I enjoyed experimenting with the new mediums from MST 2 the best! I say this because I've learned so much about Canva , and I had a great time creating the video and exploring Canva in general. I am proud of the amazing work I have done in Canva and I am proud of the overall result of the video that I created! (Adriana)
What I liked most about the MST 2 is all the different things you could do. You could make an animation, you could make some slides, you could make a canva video, et cetera. I like that it's different from MST 1, where you only read a story, but the best thing about MST 2 is that the story is interactive. (Benjamin)
I am proud of myself for doing my best and doing my MST2 in front of the whole class I am also proud of myself for practising and I am also proud of that I spoke up what I liked was acting because I like drama and I love acting I also like making slides because I like looking at pictures and finding good pictures and look at how I want my presentation to look making slides helps me see how I want my presentation to look. (Noya)
I really enjoyed the experience doing the MST 2. It allowed me to be imaginative and learn a new skill on how to create a video with my ideas. I am most proud of how the video turned out. I tried my best to make each slide stand out by picking the right colours, fonts, and images. I am also proud of learning a new skill on how to edit a video. (Jazlyn)
Im happy with the medium I chose on my MST 2 because I was experienced in it and I found joy in making it on google slides. (Samuel)
The MST tri-BOB helps teachers set students up for a meaningful, recursive learning experience that helps them enact next steps in learning, build fluency, analogue and digital storytelling skills, and contributes to a class community who supports and champions each other. There are so many ways that this project can promote student voice and identity.
I launched MST 3 before March Break, and many of my students are already deep into writing their original stories using the medium of their choice. I will share more once those BOBs are presented by mid-May. To give you a sense of where this fits into my BOBtastic year of teaching and learning, here is my BOB timeline for this year.
If you have questions or want a copy of the outline, just reach out to noa@buildingoutsidetheblocks.com.