This chapter takes composition
and creation as its theme and focuses on the power of ICT in enabling
creativity and innovation. However, here we wish to highlight the way in which
ICT can be harnessed to incorrect or enable new material, innovative texts and
imaginative creation – rather than re-creations.
Sometimes, ICT is perceived by teachers of English as
antipathetic to creativity and imagination, perhaps because of its genesis in
binary code and the world of the technology and mathematics.
This chapter will show that far from being the enemy of
creativity and flights of fancy, ICT can bring all sorts of new opportunities
into play and can be especially useful in helping students who see themselves
as less able or less imaginative to re-evaluate themselves.
The chapter will consider ways in which ICT can help
· In
generating ideas
· Organizing
and re-organizing those ideas
· In
experimenting with composition
· To
broaden horizons by opening a the possibilities of non-linear composition
· To
over creative options through the use of mixed media/multimedia.
Generating Ideas
How do you get ideas? Some people are lucky: ideas just
seem to swim into their consciousness in shoals. Others stare around at a vast
empty ocean. What we do know, as teachers is that generation of ideas and
alternative aided by variety of stimuli and the opportunity to play.
Sound and image
At the most basic level, teachers have found that using a
projector to display interesting, arresting or sometimes simply random image is
a helpful starting point.
One of the simplest ways to do this is to display pictures
from a selected folder on the computer connected to the projector. From control
panel select screen saver and choose my pictures slideshow from the drop down
menu. You can browse to a specific folder into which you have place appropriate
images. You can also choose how long to display its image and how long the
computer needs to be idle before the display begins.
Most on file players will display abstract pictures while
music or other sounds are played. Such image might not be useful when trying to
help the generation of ideas but may come in handy at other times.
Some use music in the same way. Type “random music” into
a search engine and see what comes up.
Ideas from words
Random words
For most teachers of English ideas are generated by words
is there any point in this playing random words? Possibly, depending on the
context of your lesson or if you just wish to incorrect, encourage play, which
as we known is one of the ways in which we experiment, explore - and learn.
Random word plus allows the user to select from noun,
adjective, adverb, verb (transitive or intransitive), interjection, or
preposition. It also allows a choice from “very common” through to “obscure” if
you choose obscure interjection, be prepared for “willikers!” while common nouns
will provide a more familiar fare.
Of the other options, I have found the random sentence
generator the most likely evoke responses, whether “how can a fume save the
oriental owner!”. Or a host of others. Random paragraph generator could also be
of interest. With these kinds of results you always need to try them and see
what use they might have.
The random word generator at fourteenminutes.com
interpret “random in a different way, creating new words for you (http://bit.ly/te_14). You have the option of suggesting the initial letter
or letters. For example; if you are looking for random words begining with “bl”
you might get:
Blact
blisel
blunctried
Bloomy
blanc
blamanther
Blams
bloccultings
blacher
Blacknichles
blumsive
blassabite
Blesthamentionalless
blanly
Blably
bluringly
Possibilities for jabberwocky-related creation
immediately spring to mind, as do activities where students are invite to come
up with definition for this words.
Words in context
Many teachers will be familiar with “word clouds” where a
group of words is displayed, generated from a specific context such as a poem.
Wordle is perhaps the best known of this and can be found at www.wordle.net.
The instructions are simple and the result attractive:
There are a view variations which mainly affect the
appearance of the word cloud. It is possible, however, to fine tune the process
so that common words are omitted, as in the given example
Organizing ideas
In adapting random lines of poetry, we have begun to move
on from ideas generation to the organization of ideas. This is a fruitful area
too – though
There is a lot to be said for the spidergrams and similar
proven aids on paper or flipchart, or whatever comes to hand. Many teachers
make use of the interactive whiteboard software which allows them to capture
quickly written spidergrams, list or random bullet points: a useful facility
and saving on flipchart paper. What can ICT offer in the area organizing /
structuring ideas?
· Interactive
whiteboard software to capture handwritten suggestions
· Word
processor to re-arrange items into different groups/alter priorities
· Powerpoint
slides which can be re-arranged like index cards.
· Programs
which are designed to facilitate ‘visual thinking” and the organization of
ideas
Word Processors
A word processors is a highly flexible tool for the
management of ideas once they are turned into words. While they do not allows
words to float anywhere on the screen, word processors do offer a simple way to
organize a range of items into an order. They also provide straightforward ways
of signifying importance subsidiarity.
The first stage is to separate the pros from the cons. We
might use a highlighter
(red and green would be appropriate) or any other texy6t
format tool. Having done that, we could drag and drop the items so that they
from two distinct banks. A useful shortcut is shift + Alt and the up/down
cursor (arrow) keys. Just position the mouse caret in the line you wish to move
and use that combination of keys.
This kind activity is crucial for students to be able to
develop into competent writers and needs modeling again in as many different
ways as possible.
Power point
Power point is seen ( and often criticized ) as merely a
way making lecture notes visible and encouraging irritating special effects. It
is true that it can be used badly – booth by students and by those who should
know better. However, that should not prevent us from appreciating some of its
very useful functions. One of these is the way in which in can help us to
crytallize our thoughts and then to arrange them. Slides should only ever
contain a summary of what is to be said.
Once ideas,thoughts,points for and against have been
jotted down onto slides, the slide sorter view can be used to decided the order
in which they should be arranged. This is the case whether there is to be a
spoken or a written out come : the slide sorter is equally useful for both
situations and is a facility with which students many not be familiar.
Mind-Mapping Application
There are a number of commercially available software
packages which will enable students to carry out what have come to be called
“Mind-Mapping” activities. Its probably as good a term as any .Bubbl.us (www.bubbl.us).
Should we wish to develop one strand of the argument in
particular , or change our mind completely about something, it’s easily and
immediately possible to alter it. Its worth creating an account, though, so
that you can save your work.
Other mind-mapping applications work in similar ways and,
as you would expect, those which have to be downloaded and or paid for tend to
offer more facilities but also to be more complex.
Non-linear composition
A non-linear text can be read in more than order, usually
at the reader’s discretion. It is possible, but difficult, to construct these
using traditional means the choose your own adventure books which were popular
in the 1980s and still have a readership are probably the best example of
non-linier texts in printed form.
Create a story based on familiar tale such as ‘jack and
the beanstalk’. Just concentrate on a small part of the story. The plan might
look like this.
This plan is straight forward in that there are no
multiple links. It might , for example , be useful to insert a link from a
particular poem back ‘Conditions in the trenches’ or from a poem by Sassoon to one
by owen: that, after all is the point of having a hyperlinked text.
Anything of value created in this way becomes a resource for the future , of
course.
Mixing Your Media
Much has been made in the world of ICT of the term
multimodality, often to impress others. It means a combination of modes of
communication, for example, combining graphics
The concept is not new. We have been combining words and
pictures for as long as we can remember .what is new? Three important aspects :
· The
ability to include sound and moving images
· The
ease with which all of these things can be accomplished , even by very
young users
· The
ease with which the component and their relationships to each other can be
changed
We are already familiar with the ways in which power
point and other presentational software can combine words and graphics in a way
which is more dynamic than the mere insertion of graphics into a text document.
Multimodal possibilities
Film is the most abvious example which comes to mind when
considering multimodality, as it can embrace sound and moving images, together
with text and music.
Video (and related media) can be employed to create, for
example :
· A
group interpretation of a poem
· A
presentation of an episode from a novel
· A
scene from a play
Moving words and moving images
A class of 14-15 year-old students, studying poetry, used
windows movie marker to in interpret poems from the other cultures section of
an exam anthology. Rather than work on a whole poem, the teacher
wanted them to focus on language in a more concentrated way and suggested
that they select a few key lines and use images to bring out the meaning.
The application was not hard to use for students familiar
with other windows software, they could also refer to a guide created by CLEO,
the original broadband consortium cumbria and Lancashire education online
(http;//bit.ly /te_16)
The Reporter Report
A Secondary comprehensive school was looking for a way to
raise standards in literacy, to engage and motivate boys and to educate
students and staff in the use of ‘New Media’. They employed a film-maker with
experience of working in educational environments who worked with students aged
121-13 create short (2-4 minute) films on topics of their own( moderated)
choice.
Pros and Cons
The advantages student engagement was high .even who were
initially shy of appearing in front of a camera eventually wanted to participate.
Literacy skills improved in the areas of focused research, writing to I from
(especially non-chronological report writing) and confidence and clarity in
speaking.
Animation
Animation is a form of film-making which seems to engage
students of all ages. If you have a digital camera and the right software, you
can make an animated film. There are a number of pupil –friendly programs
available and for the purpose of the English classroom .those designed for
primary use will be more than adequate.
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