Communicate & Collaborate:
Egith Activities to Share Deep Understandings
ISTE NETS•S Standard 2 - Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students will:
- interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
- communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
- develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
- contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.
Eight Activities
Rather than individuals or teams simply creating reports, comics, movies, or presentations, refocus the activity on a specific category of deep understanding. Explore eight activities:
Entertain
• Visual Storytelling • Language Development • Creative Writing • Diary • Re-enactment • Speculative Project • Experiences •
Goal: Convey a story, imagine a world, illustrate an idea
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary Examples
- Stories: Snowy Day, Monster Stories: SchoolTube, Finger Puppet Projects: Vimeo, The City Mouse and the Country Mouse (first grade): Vimeo, Tales from the Yard (Grade 2): Vimeo, Tortoise Run! (Grade 5): YouTube
- Music Videos: The Ghost that Ate My Homework, Textin' and Drivin, Achoo
- Game Show Spoofs: Are You Smarter than a Book Character?
- If I Were... If I Were a Book?, Every Girl is a Princess
- Middle School Examples
- Boys in Skirts, Tag, A Day in the Life of a Nerd, and The Christmas Club
- Music Videos: Over You, Found, In Your Eyes, Destiny
- Historical Re-enactments: Choices. This historical project is set in 1944 Germany., Voices of Laurel Grove. Young people selected people buried in the local cemetery to bring back to life through monologues, Letters to Lincoln. Based on a true story, Minutemen: YouTube
- High School Examples
- Stories: An Unfriendly Visitor, The Salesman, Need an Idea, 99% Accurate, Internal Affairs and Stealing Graduation, and Visibly Impaired, Pink Eyed Zombies, The Stand is a mockumentary, Slick Rock Festival (YouTube) comedies, action/dramas, foreign language films, Bernajean Porter's DigiTales website contains lots of stories.
- Music Videos: What You Readin', You're Not Alone, They'll Never Know, Someday, Crank Dat Dental Floss, Detention Blues, Slick Rock Festival (YouTube) music videos, The Weapon featuring a youth band.
- Television Spoofs: The Tech Lab and The Classroom. Based on The Office.
- Re-enact History: The Package (Vimeo). Based on D-Day time period.
- Speculative: The 254 Year Old Boy. An African-American high school student meets a Revolutionary War soldier.
- Teacher Examples
- Music Videos: Science Rapper on YouTube. Check out Edgar Allan Poe Takes on Cancer, Sweet Primary Sources
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- The Museum Mystery. As a class, build a mystery museum. Write a mystery story based on an artifact.
- Choose Your Own Adventure. Share a Choose Your Own Adventure story.
- Free Verse Project. Share your poetry.
- The Last Book. Work collaboratively to add the last chapter to the last book in the universe.
- Chaplin Studios. Work in teams to create silent movies.
- Goofy Global News. Create and identify fact and fiction news stories.
Use Storybuilders to create entertaining projects:
- Interactive Story Builder Tools
- Story Builders
Emote
• Show, Not Tell • Share Insights • Connect to Emotions • Activate a Poem • Demonstrate Traits • Convey Concepts •
Goal: Express a feeling, illustrate an abstraction, move an audience
Explore movie making examples:
- All Ages
- Elementary Examples
- Middle School Examples
- High School Examples
- Hero Street USA
- The Picture Box
- Activate Poem: Breaking the Habit, Feet, Timed Thought
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- Build a Kingdom. As a class, build a medieval kingdom. Immerse yourself in the times. What would if be like to live in a medieval kingdom?
Civil War Lit. As a class, immerse yourself in the Civil Wartime period. - Revolutionary War Lit. As a class, immerse yourself i nhistory.
Read the book Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman to kick of exploration. Watch the YouTube book trailer. Build emotional relationships with animals. We often focus on the endangered animals, but what about those animals that have survived? Celebrate a local animal. Tell its survival story. Then, invent an animal. How would it survive in your community? Start with photos and use tools such as Wordle to help visually tell your story.
- Images
- Word Cloud Tools
- ABCya - young children
- Tagul
- Tagxedo
- Wordle
- Word It Out
Inform
• Documentaries • Histories • Databases • Photo Essays • Represent Ideas • Categorize • Show Patterns • Share Results •
Goal: Analyze information, explain causality, visualize ideas
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary Examples
- Documentaries: About Whales (Grade K-3), The Misunderstood Crow (Grade 4-6), A Day in the Life (Grade 4-6), History of Plate Techtonics (Grade 4-6), Batman Begins with Fruits and Vegetables
- Chronologies: The Great Depression
- Representations: Idioms - Paint a Funny Picture. Examples of idioms, Light Wars. An example of how light works, Sorry Pluto. Students use their bodies act out and talk about the solar system, We See Animals Hiding: Vimeo, Camouflage Jones, Private Investigator: Vimeo
- Middle School Examples
- Documentaries: The Life of a Type 1 Diabetic (Grade 7-8), My Journey with Celiac Disease (Grade 7-8), Public Education: Fine or in a Crisis, Documentaries: Vimeo, Concussions in Youth Football: Vimeo
- High School Examples
- Documentaries: Breaking News: the End of Civility, Underground Dances, Camp Purple, and Education for All, To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now (Grade 9-12), Road to Redemption (Grade 9-12), The Elastic Tree, Slick Rock (YouTube) 2010 Documentaries, Hydropower, Mountain Biking
- Family Stories: Our Wedding
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- What's for Lunch? As a class, build food chains for five different areas.
- We're Being Invaded Wiki. Explore invasive species.
Instruct
• Tutorials • Directions • Demonstrations • Presentations • Conduct Experiments • Demonstrate Procedures •
Goal: Show strategies, explain concepts, teach others
Watch how teens are Using the Flip Video in a High School Math Class (YouTube): Part 1 and Part 2. Addpipecleaners (Youtube) for some fun with graphs.
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary Examples
- Tutorials: The Cookie House Show, Can an Egg Bounce, How to Make a May Basket: YouTube, Bike Safety (Grade K-3), Getting Ready for School (Grade K-3), How to Get Rich by Recycling (Grade K-3), Kids Can Make Pancakes Too (Grade K-3), How to Draw a Really Cool Bird (Grade 4-6), Cell Phone Etiquette (Grade 4-6), How to Make 10-Minute Ice Cream (Grade 4-6)
- Demonstrations: How to Create a Field Journal
- Strategies: Keep Them Clean
- Middle School Examples
- Tutorials: Making Brownies with Chef Darren, How to Play Drums (Grade 7-8), How to Make Ice Tea (Grade 7-8), How to Ride a Bike Safely (Grade 7-8)
- Explanations: Snow White and the Author's Purpose. Learn about the author's purpose in writing.
- Strategies: Swine Flu Caper
- High School Examples
- Tutorials: The Journey of an Immigrant, How to Make Friends, How to Drive a Stick Shift (Grade 9-12), How to Make Slime (Grade 9-12), The Scientific Method (Grade 9-12)
- Comedies: How 2 Txt in Clas
- Experiments: What's the Matter?
- Explanations: Energy Transformation. Learn about science.
- Strategies: NeverBurn
Explore some comic examples:
Challenge
• Present Issue, Challenge Thinking • Visual Story Starters • Introduce Problems • Inspirational Examples • Extend a Story •
Goal: Create dilemmas, envision problems, kickstart projects
Explore movie making examples:
Watch a student video to learn more about inferring called Inferring and Visualizing.
Use the book Move! by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to get students thinking about how animals move. Then, choose an animal from the book and learn more about its movement. Use online video sources to see the animal move (see below). Then create their own video combining stock footage with your movements. Challenge others to move like an animal.
- Animal Video: video of animals
- Arkive: Images of Life: animals and biodiversity video
- Smithsonian: National Zoo: YouTube Channel
- ZooBorns (animal babies): YouTube Channel
- Zoo YouTube Channels: Oregon, Minnesota, Santa Barbara, Woodland Park Zoo, Houston Zoo, Monterery Bay Aquarium, Zoo Society of London,Vancouver Aquarium, Cincinnati, Denver, Georgia Aquarium.
- Elementary Examples
- Middle School Examples
- Challenge Thinking: One Nation Under God by middle school students to begin a discussion of this issue.
- Inspire Thinking: Edible Pencil
- High School Examples
- Challenge Thinking: Knowledge by high school students to begin a discussion of passing on knowledge.
- Story Problems: Graphing Stories from Dan Meyer for a great math example.
- Watch How to Make a Math Project winner of the CSTMF.
- Conflicts: Watch middle school conflict scenes atVimeo. These each end with a question about what you think will happen next.
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- Real World Problems. Create a story problem to share.
- Walk Across Utah Challenge. Participate in a history and fitness challenge.
Create challenge activities for others using DocsTeach from National Archives.
Engage
• News Programs • Visual Journal • Travel Logs • Yearbooks • Highlight Programs • Create Welcomes • Showcase Work •
Goal: Announce events, document experiences, reflect on lessons
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary Examples
- News Programs: Starship McKillop Daily News, The Morning Watch, CFN in 2010, Spirit Rallies, School Safety, Special Report - Bathrooms, Quality Commenting on Blogs (Grade 3): Vimeo, How to Compose a Quality Comment (Grade 3): Vimeo, 2nd Grade Blog Tutorial (Grade 2): Vimeo
- Topical News: Science Explorers News, Atlanta Flood 2009, Captain Underpants: YouTube
- Travel: TSZ News at Common Ground Park. Explore a local park, Where We Live. Notice how a map is used as part of the video.
- Special Programs: Lucille Ball: Behind the Laughter
- School Welcomes: Welcome to Third Grade, Teachers by Day...? By Night
- Yearbook: Echo Horizon Video Yearbook
- School Program: Prairie Garden Experiment. Students share their class garden.
- Middle School Examples
- News Programs: First Things 1st 2011, First Things 1st 2010, MMS News
- Topical News: "The C Word"
- Special Events: Happy Birthday B-TV, Morning Madness News: Celebrate Literacy
- Special Programs: Lucille Ball: Behind the Laughter
- Student Showcase: Tina Siao Portfolio.
- School Program: Feel the Burn. Students explain their physical education program.
- High School Examples
- News Programs: Storm Surge, Wolfpack TV, Music is Fun, NTV Morning News
- Topical News: Student Owns His Own Business, Fine Arts Update, Green Club (YouTube)
- Special Events: Fifth Star from Adobe Youth focusing on the one hundred years of women's right to vote. Notice how interviews, historical photos and footage, and personal narratives are incorporated, Step Up Youth Summit
- Teacher Examples
- Where's Boomer: Teacher-produced project for ELL using Comic Life: Vimeo
- Reflections: Beyond Anne Frank, Bungie Barbie, Monach Butterfly Life Cycle, Stand Up and Speak Out
Explore some comic examples:
Provoke
• Public Service Announcements • Stir Interest • Influence Thinking • Impact Behavior •
Goal: Arouse emotions, heighten awareness, change attitudes
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary School Examples
- PSAs: Know Where Your Kids Are, Don't Bully, Fitness, Stop Bullying (Grade K-3), Building School Spirit (Grade K-3), No Excuses Go to School (Grade 4-6), Smoking is Bad (Grade 4-6), The Power of One (Grade 4-6)
- Change Attitudes: Save the Rainforest, Save Our Future
- Middle School Examples
- PSAs: Buckle Up, Rumours Stick, Prescription Drug Abuse, Depression, Smoking Claymation (Grade 7-8), Don't Smoke (Grade 7-8), No Vote, No Voice (Grade 7-8)
- High School Examples
- PSAs: Unearthing Hope, Don't Be a Gutter Ball, 5210, Repercussion, Don't Sext: Just Text, Your Word Is..., Message Received, Sierra Suicide Prevention (You Tube), Suicide, Health Pass, Winning Pass from 2010, Step Up Anti-Violence campaign (You Tube) : Caveman, Dance, Kids, Pass from the Slick Rock Student Film Festival: Cyber bullying, Saving Energy, My Name is Hope, Cyclist, What Does College Have to Do with Me?, My Change, SPCA, Be the Power Of One, Be Healthy, Anti-bullying. Watch the winners from 2010. Throw Out the Habit (Grade 9-12), Second Hand Smoke (Grade 9-12), A Fairy Tale (Grade 9-12), Testing while Driving (Grade 9-12),
- Change Attitudes: I Need My Library (You Tube). Winner of the Why I Need My Library Competition, I'm Just a Book, Why I Need My High School, Adobe Youth Voices.
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- Banned Books! Convince others to read a banned book.
Persuade
• Illuminated Term Papers • Advertisements • Book/Movie Trailers • Apply Advertising Techniques • Promote Action•
Goal: Support arguments, show perspectives, convince others
Explore movie making examples:
- Elementary School Example
- Advertise: Buy My Cereal, Please!: Vimeo
- Book Trailers: Book Trailers for Readers, Trailee Awards
- Middle School Example
- Take Action: Repair the World. Begin a discussion of how young people can make a difference in the world.
- High School Example
- Take Action: Recycle Rap. Focuses on recycling.
- Advertise: Enchanted Playhouse (YouTube), Basketball Promo, The Santa Tracker. It's a moc-commercial., Slick Rock (YouTube) 2010 advertisement winners
- School Play Trailers: Scrooge Trailer, Play on Trailer and Younkers Trailer
Explore some comic examples:
Explore wiki collaborative projects:
- Made in Louisiana. Create a product and sells it at the virtual store.
- Characters in Literature. Nominate a book for an award.
- English Biz. Invent your own business and attract customers.
- Young Illustrator. Nominate an illustrator.
Try It!
Explore examples from each of the eight categories.
Choose one of the eight categories. Create an assignment that involves creating a movie, comic, or wiki.