The Project Outline 2011



Teaching Teamwork through Gaming, Reading and Response

World of WarCraft is a MMOG or Massive Multiplayer Online Game which many schools worldwide are currently using as educational platforms to support teaching and learning utilising 21st century skills.

Resources
  • Graphic Novel Study:The Arctic Incident. Adapted by Eoin Colfer Andrew Donkin (Artemis Fowl Graphic Novel) (10 copies)
  • WoW Trial version
  • Parental Letter and Permission Slip and student accounts
  • ABC WoW Blog

Maximum Number of Students: 9
Purpose
The purpose of this unit is to engage students in reading and response activities, which encourage them to draw parallels between online gaming activities, involving teamwork in a virtual world. Through quests, students will interact with other players. They will reflect on their experiences in written form as well as through discussion and draw parallels between their quests and the readings.
Each of the lessons will include a blog post which will reflect on readings and the gaming experiences students have had.
Overview
  • The project will take place over a 10 week period* as an extra curricular activity for middle school students (to include reluctant readers and/or writers), utilising a, gaming and learning environment combined with reading and response.
  • The project will include the use of the online video game and virtual world, World of Warcraft, as well as the graphic novel The Arctic Incident. Adapted by Eoin Colfer Andrew Donkin (Artemis Fowl Graphic Novel) and a blogger.com blog set up for this purpose.
  • The following themes will be addressed as key components of the project: reading and responding, teamwork through gaming and social interaction.  The ISTE Nets addressed through the project are 1,2,4 and 5.
  • The following
* It may be decided to extend the project for 10 additional weeks at this point.


Procedure
Over a 10 week period, students will engage in weekly quests, discussion and reflection in the Learning Resources Centre, during extra curricular time. Parallels will be drawn, in reflective blog posts, between student experiences in-world and the experiences of the characters in the novel. Readings and/or blog responses will be assigned as homework each week.
Skills and Processes
ISTE Nets
The ABC uses the ISTE Nets for Students in guiding teaching with technology. While this program does not pretend to encompass all Nets for Students, it is designed to target a great many.

Net 1:
Demonstrating creative thinking,

Net 2: 
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, contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems,

Net 4:  
Identify and define authentic problems, plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

Net 5:
Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity,

Net 6:
Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies. Understand and use technology systems.
 

KS3 English
Through the reading and writing elements of the project students work on the following essential skills and processes in English, from British National Curriculum

Game Play Language
1.1
Being adaptable in a widening range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts
within the classroom and beyond.
e Making informed choices about effective ways to communicate formally
and informally.

Graphic Novel
2.2
a. extract and interpret information, events, main points and ideas from texts
f. recognise and discuss different interpretations of texts, justifying
their own views on what they read and see, and supporting them
with evidence
i. understand how meaning is created through the combination of words,
images and sounds in multimodal texts.
4.2
a. develop independence in reading
b. engage with whole texts for sustained periods
c. develop reading skills through work that makes cross-curricular links with other subjects
d. meet and talk with other readers and writers whenever possible

Blog Writing
1.2 
 Making fresh connections between ideas, experiences, texts and words, drawing on a rich experience of language and literature.
1.4
Engaging with ideas and texts, understanding and responding to the main issues.
2.3
Write clearly and coherently, including an appropriate level of detail
g. structure their writing to support the purpose of the task and guide
the reader
k. consider what the reader needs to know and include relevant details
o. form their own view, taking into account a range of evidence and opinions
q. use planning, drafting, editing, proofreading and self-evaluation to shape
and craft their writing for maximum effect
4.3
a. develop independence in writing
d. move beyond their current situation and take on different roles and viewpoints
e. evaluate and respond constructively to their own and others’ writing
f. draw on their reading and knowledge of linguistic and literary forms when composing their writing
g. develop writing skills through work that makes cross-curricular links with other subjects
i. write for contexts and purposes beyond the classroom.


Feedback and Editing:
t. use the conventions of standard English effectively
u. use grammar accurately in a variety of sentence types, including subject-verb agreement and correct and consistent use of tense
v. signal sentence structure by the effective use of the full range of punctuation marks to clarify meaning
w. spell correctly, increasing their knowledge of regular patterns of spelling,
word families, roots of words
a  the principles of sentence grammar and whole-text cohesion, and the use 
of this knowledge in pupils’ writing 

Lesson and Homework Expectations
Week 1 The Psychological Assessment , Prologues, Family Ties and Chix
Read:
 the Psychological Assessment on Artemis Fowl, Prologue and chapters one and two
Discuss and identify unfamiliar words in the prologue.


WoW:
Partner up with another member of our group. Go off together on an adventure possibly involving a quest. Share your experiences so far in WoW and teach each some of what you have learned.

Blog: 
Each student is to write a short blog post which includes an explanation of one unfamiliar word from the reading, an opinion about the main character Artemis Fowl and on element that the book and WoW have in common (quest, lore, mythical creatures, special powers such as healing). Please make sure to add labels to you blog post and separate each label using a comma.
Week 2: The Scrolls of Capalla, Going Underground and Fowl is Fair
Here is the work for this week.
Read:
 Read the Scrolls of Capalla, and chapters 3 and 4. Think about the warning in the scrolls and how it is related to the living situation of the fairies.
WoW:  
Group quests (If under level 15) and/or dungeon (If you are level 15 or higher). If running a dungeon, use the dungeon finder in your toolbar. For more information on how to participate in a dungeon, click here.
Blog :

Record a post that explains what you perceive to be the relationship between the fairies and the mud people(humans). Describe your first group quest/dungeon, and how the various characters and their relationships in your group made a difference.

Week 3: Dungeons
Read:
 There is no reading this week.


Wow:

Dungeons: You should all be at level 15 or higher by now. The time has come! We can participate in Dungeons together! Talk to Sebastian and David and any others who have already participated in Dungeons, and if the necessary players are available (tank, a healer and three DPS), form a dungeon group, if not use the dungeon finder to find a dungeon you can participate in. Remember teamwork is the key to success. You must coordinate amongst yourselves and work together to be successful.
 
Blog:
Your job this week is to reflect on your experience in the dungeon you participated in. What did you find challenging about it? How did teamwork help you to meet your objectives? Give an example when answering each question. 

Week 4
Read:
Daddy’s Girl and chapters 5 and 6

Wow:
Visit points of interest for achievement points using griffin masters and flight points, the gnome built tram, boats and dock masters. Go off in pairs and explore using the map. Then spend some time working together to complete quests and leveling up. Partner up and help each other find and complete quests or work as a part of a dungeon if you are level 15 or above.

Blog:
Is Opay Kobal considered dangerous? Why? Who are “The People” that Capitan Short refers to? When Capitan short says “Thank Frond” who might Frond be? Who do you think Luc Carrere is working for? Did you encounter any dangerous characters while exploring? Who were they? What did you find out about them? 

Please make sure that you use correct punctuation and spell check your work carefully. You are expected to write at least two paragraphs for this blog post.
Week 5 Chapters 7 and8 Facing the Bad Guys and Communication
Read:
Chapters 7 and 8. Who are the “bad guys”
WoW:
Continue working together on group quests and/or dungeons.
Blog:
Reflect on your experiences during the journey. How were you able to better plan your routes and overcome adverse conditions as a team? How might your journey have differed if you had struck out on your own?
Week 6: Lore
Read:
To Russia with Gloves and Trouble and Strife

Wow:
Search out different non-player characters in WoW. Try to find out as much as you can about each one. Can you find any of these ones?

Blog:
Read through the descriptions of some of the most important non-player characters in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Think about what you have learned about the characters in the novel. Plan and write a short (1-2 paragraph) lore description for one of the main characters in Arctic Incident.
Week 7 Character To do Lists and Autobiographies
Read:

Read through General Scalene’s Documents which were recovered from the upstairs of the Second Skin Nightclub.

WoW:

Continue working on your group quests and dungeons this week.

Blog:

Using what you learned from reading General Scalene’s Documents.  create a “To Do” list for one of your own characters. Make sure you have at least 7 items on the list.  Now think about your character again. What traits does it have? Create a short biographical description for it.  What would you include about your character? You can use the bio from General Scalene’s description to give you some ideas.

Week 8: Betrayal

Read:
 Chapter 9 No Safe Haven

WoW:
 Your job today is to be a different kind of hero. You are to search out other players in need of help, possibly those whose XP level is lower than yours. Make an effort to work with them and help them out of difficult situations. See how many other players can you help out during the lesson?

Blog:
In Chapter 9 a betrayal takes place. Why did Briar Cudgeon betray Foaly? Have you ever encountered betrayal in WoW? Describe the situation and how you dealt with it.

In this same chapter Holly lost almost all her magic. Describe how she got it back and how teamwork was involved.

The following are the additional lessons for the second round of the club. We are still working with the novel for most of these lessons.

Week 9-Trouble and Strife

Read:

Read Chapter 10 - Trouble and Strife

WoW:

Building your network. Join up with others in the class and go off together to one of the large cities or villages. Approach other players in the game and ask them some questions. Some possible questions topics for conversation are jobs, school or grade level, where in the world they are from, what they like to do most in WoW etc…Be careful not to ask anything that is to personal or would make them worry about their online safety. You should try to share some of your group’s information as well. Again be careful not to share too much, and nothing too personal.

Blog:

In this chapter Holly says “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” What does this mean? What is she trying to tell Artemis? 

Look at both of Foaly’s text messages, which he sent to Artemis. Choose one are rewrite it in standard English.



Week 10-Mulch Diggums

Read:
Look at the Mulch Diggums document that was discovered in the penthouse suite of the Crowley Hotel. 

WoW:

It is time to do a bit of Maths. Approach a Griffin Master. Select a route and  ensure to make a note of the time it took you to get there. Now the difficult part begins. Work your way back, on foot this time. Try to stick to the roads and stay out of trouble. Time your journey back. Work out how much faster it is to travel on Griffin to that destination than on foot. Compare this with the information gathered by other members of your group.

Record your findings in the blog.

Blog:

·       Reread the NOTE: What do you find strange about it?
·      What kind of character is Mulch Diggums? How would you describe him?
·      Take a look at his shopping list. Think about what items your WoW character might shop for. Write up a short (4-5 item) WoW shopping list for your character. You will need it for the next lesson.


Week 11- Mulch Ado About Nothing

Read:

Read chapter 11 - Mulch Ado About Nothing.

WoW:

It is time to go shopping for the items on your list.  Where might you find them?  Work together to find the items and complete your list.

Blog:

·       William Shakespeare wrote a comedy with a similar title to this. What was the name of the play?
·                At the end of Chapter 11 Mulch says that dwarfs hate ice. How are dwarfs in WoW different from dwarfs in the novel?
·                Look at the information gathered by each member of the group last lesson. Work out the differences in time for each location. Were there different answers for the same locations from different people? If so why might this be? Was this was a fair test, yes or no? If not how might we make it more fair? Explain your answer.


Week 12-The Boys are Back

Read:

Read Chapter 12 The Boys are Back.

WoW:

Preparing for Dungeons- spend some time this lesson preparing for a dungeon. We will be participating in one together next week. Talk to some of your friends who have been on dungeons before, get some advice. Spar with each other and practice your skills.

Blog:

At the end of this chapter  it is said that Commander Cudgeon has been given a spine transplant. What does that mean? Is Cudgeon being brave when he says he is going to talk to the reptiles or not? Explain your answer.

Week 13-Into the Breach

Read:

Read  Chapter 13 Into the Breach.

WoW:

Dungeons: We are going on a dungeon together today. Using the dungeon finder select the dungeon your teachers has indicated and prepare for an adventure.

Blog:

On the second page there are several sound effects. There is a special name for  these kinds of words in English as well as in Spanish. If fact they are very similar. Go online and find out what that is. Define it here in your own words.

When the breaks into Koboi Labs it is similar to a dungeon in WoW. What role does each player in the novel play? If they were WoW characters, what class and/or race would each of them be?


Week 14-Father’s Day and An Epilogue of Two

Read:

Read Chapter 14 Father’s Day and An Epilogue of Two


WoW:

Being a Tour Guide
Choose one of your favourite destinations in WoW, take a friend there and show them why this is a special place. Use the MAC options to record the experience and your discussion. Put the movie in Student Shared Docs.

Blog:

Artemis and Holly were far from being friends at the beginning of the novel. How had their relationship changed by the last chapter? What do you think caused this change?

At the end when Dr. Po asks Artemis if he has found anyone worthy of his respect, he answers, “Yes, I believe I have.” What does he mean?

Week 15-The Elements of  a Quest

Think back to some of the quests you have been on. What type of language did the quest givers use? What sorts of rewards did they offer? Go back into the game if needed and read through a few quests.

Next write a quest that requires teamwork to succeed. Consider the reason for the quest, the language needed, the tone of the quest, who the quest giver is and the roles required to complete the quest.

Don’t forget to include geographical information and  offer a reward.

Weeks 16, 17 18 - Machinima

This week you will  plan a storyboard for a machinima. You will save a copy of your storyboard as a picture and upload it to the blog. Don’t forget to include narration as well as audio. You will also want to find a way to work in some of your tour guide video.

During the lesson, work out  what it is you will demonstrate in your video and practice, as you gather ideas for the storyboard.  When you are finished planning, and practicing use the mac option to record your video.

Your next step is to import the video clip(s) you recorded into iMovie and edit them.  Once exported we will upload them to our YouTube channel and you will be able to embed them in your blog post where you posted your storyboard.
* The finished video should not last longer than 2 minutes, so choose your scenes with care and edit out the parts that are uneccesary.

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