Don’t  Give  Up    augumented  e-­‐book      

 

 

 

 

Brief  background  on  the  school  and  classroom:    

Liceo   ‘Vico’   is   a   secondary   school   that   during   2013/2014   school   year   has  

undergone  a  deep   re-­‐organization  of  educational   identity  due   to  national   reforms.  

The  students  are  at  their  fourth  year  of  social  studies  and  at  their  tenth  year  of  EFL  

without  remarkable  goals,  it’s  my  first  year  of  EFL  with  these  students.  Moreover  the  

class  bears   long   term  conflicts  within   student’s   groups   (all   female)   included   cyber-­‐

bullying  habits   and     inadequacy  of     communication   strategies  within   the   student’s  

groups  and  with  the  teachers.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  technical  resources,  students  are  

working   BYOD   with   their   mobile   phones   and   with   the   Teachers’   tablets   and  

notebooks.  

Age  range  of  students:  17-­‐18    

Number  of  students  in  my  class:  16  

Subjects:  EFL  +  Social  Studies  

Key  challenges,  trends  impacting  your  work  at  the  school  and  how  they  link  to  the    

activity:    Lack  of  funding,  fear  about  own’s  job  stability,  overall  aging  of  teacher  staff,  

peculiar   context   of   social   and   cultural   deprivation,   proximity   with   L’Aquila,   an  

enclave  of  similar  and  misunderstood  problems.  

The  link  with  the  activity  must  be  found  at  a  metacognitive  level,  because  it’s  

all   about   poverty:   a   poverty   discovered,   perceived,   explored   and  narrated   starting  

from  a  cross-­‐curricular  project  and  weaving  personal,  social,  environmental,  cultural,  

emotional  aspects  with  the  student’s    EFL  learning  and  digital  life.  

Learning  timeline:  Dream  (2  lessons),  Map  (2  lessons),  Explore  (2  lessons),  Make  (3  

lessons),  Ask  and  collaborate  (ongoing),  Show  and  tell  (permanent).  

Evaluation   –   The   21st   skills   assessment   has   been   implemented   to:   determine  

meaningful   work,   reflect   on   students’   strengths   and   needs   to      

set    authentic  learning  goals;  let  students  see  their  own  progress  over  time  and  think  

about   ideas   presented   in   their   work,   identify   the   effort   they   put   forth,   feel  

ownership   and   pride   in   their   work,   realize   their   work   has   personal   relevance.  

The  product  itself  is  an  example  of  the  student’s  evolving  and  refining  linguistic  skills  

and  of  their  commitment  to  improve  their  learning  within  a  mixed  abilities  EFL  class.  

Learning  Activity:  Dream  

 

I’m  an  EFL   teacher   in  a  Social  Studies  curriculum.  My  Psychology&Sociology  

colleague  and  I  have  devised  a  learning  module  exploring  the  theme  of  Poverty  in  a  

multidimensional  and  cross-­‐curricular  perspective.  The  students  ask  for  an  approach  

less   linked   to   their   textbooks   and   more   involving   in   terms   of   social   qualitative  

research.  That’s  why  my  colleague  and   I  have  decided   to  challenge   the  girls   in   the  

work  about  poverty,  starting  from  the  reality  of  their  district  thus  letting  them  reflect  

on  the  nearer  poverties:  [youtube.com/watch?v=0EJ8WI87hX4]  

In  EFL,  soon  starts  the  research  of  ‘keywords’  and  short  texts,  to  be  used  to  

narrate  the  video  to  foreign  friends.  Meanwhile,  with  P&S  colleague,  students  work  

linking   their   previous   knowledge   and   school   projects   with   the   themes   of   Poverty,  

Sustainability,    Dignity,…  

Goals:    

§ To    learn  about  the  theme:  Poverty  

§ To  develop  collaborative  skills  

§ To  develop  communicative  skills:  listening,  reading  and  speaking  

§ To  highlight  positive  use  of  digital  media  

§ To  reflect  on  their  own  learning  

Digital  technologies  and  tools  :  Facebook,  YouTube,  TED  Ed  

Learning  Activity:  Map  

 

Students  make  a  map   in  Prezi  by  adding   the   relevant  English   texts,  built  by  

analyzing,  choosing  and  writing  collaboratively,  organized  in  small  groups,  brief  and  

focused  texts  [prezi.com/uslhxwvpf2sg/poverta-­‐parsimonia-­‐dignita/]    

At  the  same  time,  the  groups  start  to  sketch  a  wider  mind  map  linking  some  

of    the  resources  (texts,  videos,  infographics,  links,…)  gathered  around  the  keywords    

and  texts  chosen,  pertaining  the  ‘Poverty’  topic.    

A   further  work  of   research  and  selection  of   texts   is  done   in   their   textbooks  

and   in   Wikipedia,   too.   A   poster   ‘augumented’   with   post-­‐it   notes   and   student’s  

scribbles,  is  added  to  the  classroom  wall.  

 

Goals  .  

To  develop    communicative  skills:  reading  and  writing  

To  develop  planning  skills  

To  develop  information  organization  skills    

Digital  technologies  and  tools:  Prezi  

Learning  Activity:  Explore  

Students,   organized   again   in   small   groups,   or   individually,   start   a   research,  

and   share   outcomes   into   their   FB   class   secret   group:   music   videos   in   the   English  

language  related  to  the  vocabulary    and  the    key  concepts  in  the  ‘Poverty’  topic,  they  

add  the  links  of  the  lyrics,  too.    The  preferred  song  is  Don’t  Give  Up  by  Peter  Gabriel  

and   Kate   Bush,   that   is   chosen   by   the   girls   to   become   the   title   of   their   e-­‐book   in  

progress.  

 The   selection   of   links   is   shown   to   the   class,   discussed,   and   pinned   in   the  

ProffyTribe   –   Don’t   Give   Up   board   [pinterest.com/claudiavale/proffytribe-­‐

dontgiveup/]   along  with  additional   resources   I’m  pinning  while   I’m  observing   their  

outcomes   in   the   groups   during   lessons.     Students   explore   at   home   the   Pinterest  

board  and  come  back  to  school  with  a  selection  of  two  songs  and  their  lyrics,  related  

to  the  themes    explored  more  deeply  by  each  group.  

Goals:  

§ To  develop  collaborative  skills  

§ To  develop  communicative  skills:  mediation,  reading,  listening  and  speaking  

§ To  highlight  positive  use  of  digital  media  

§ To  reflect  on  their  own  learning  

Digital  technologies  and  tools:  Pinterest  ,  YouTube,  Lyrics  Central,  Wikipedia  

Learning  Activity:    Make  

 Each  group  writes  a  short  bilingual  text  on  the  chosen  theme,  types  a  section  

of  the  e-­‐book  and  chooses  the  content  that  has  to  be  triggered  by  AR  (Augumented  

Reality).   Students  write   their   section   in   Epubeditor,   they   add   the   pictures   and   the  

screen  captured  texts  from  their  prezi  map  and  export  the  e-­‐book  both  in  epub  and  

pdf  format.    

 

With  Aurasma,  on  the  cover  of  the  e-­‐book,  they  make  the  AR  version  of  the  

e-­‐book   by   embedding   its   link   and   weaving   interactive   multimedia   resources.  

The  QR  code  to  the  downloadable    e-­‐book  is  generated  and  shared.  

Goals:  To  develop  e-­‐text  production  skills  

To  develop  communicative  skills:  speaking,  reading  and  writing  

Digital  technologies  and  tools:  Open  Office,  Epubeditor  (epubeditor.it/)  

 QR  generator,  Aurasma,  Pinterest,  Youtube  

Learning  Activity:  Ask  and  Collaborate  

 Students  share  their  work  in  the  school’s    and  friends  networks.  They  are  very  

proud  of   it  and  ask   to   let   the  headmaster  know  about   it,   to  demonstrate   they  can  

use  in  a  meaningful  ,  cross-­‐curricular,  and  pro-­‐active  way  their  digital  skills.  

Goals:  To  highlight  positive  use  of  digital  media  

Digital  technologies  and  tools:    Aurasma,  Facebook,  Pinterest  

 

Learning  Activity:  Show&Tell  

 The   link   to   Don’t   Give   Up   augumentexd   e-­‐book   is   added   to   the   public  

ProffyTribe   FB   Page     [facebook.com/ProffyTribe/],   each   group   and   every   student  

show   and   tell   their   experience   to   their   friends,   parents,   communities;   the  

augumented  e-­‐book  participates  to  national  selections  and    competitions.  

Goals:  To  engage  with  a  real-­‐world  audience  

Digital  technologies  and  tools:  FaceBook,  Pinterest,  Aurasma