Assignment week 8 “Presentation Through Story Board.”

By Babar Maqbool Khan.

MKFC teacher-training course brought a great change in our traditional school education system. My colleagues and me came to know about latest technologies and different methods of teaching. This training attracts students and teachers for accommodating children’s psychological and pedagogical needs. It also helps my school to develop modern management systems in the light of latest educational and pedagogical methods. Week 8 assignment, which is about storyboard, we did not know more about it before this.

For this assignment, my colleagues Theminah, Sadia and I got more information about what is storyboard and how to write it and what its benefits are, Through ICT tools like Google and Youtube etc. A storyboard is a plan for teaching and learning activities. It can be a combination of outlines and visual sketches (e.g. flowcharts) that map out the contents our sequence of ideas. Storyboard takes many different forms. A simple storyboard may be a flowchart, an outline while a more complicated storyboard for multimedia development may include a detailed description of the visual elements such as text, graphics, video and animation. In fact, “a storyboard may enhance creativity, productivity and problem solving among groups” (Larkin 1996).

I also educate the learners about storyboard through ICT tools. So one day I told a story to class two, which is in their English textbook. There is no picture given in the story.

When I asked the learners, we will present this story on storyboard and also perform it in our classroom, they were so excited to hear this. The theme of the story is “Kindness to Animals”. First of all I break the class in groups and gave them different tasks. I tried to involve all learners in this activity.

So, after everyone seems to understand the focus of the exercise, I divided the story in different scenes and ask students to draw them. For this I provide each of the six students in the class with a large, flip chart size piece of paper, pens and variety of colors. Because color often depicts important information, I provide many colors to choose from and advise students to use the colors that “feel right” or have meaning for their work.

Scene # 1 Scene # 2

Scene # 3 Scene # 4

Scene # 5 Scene # 6 To do this, I gave about 30 minutes for students to complete their drawings. After this, I asked the second group to present the story on the classroom blackboard, draw the first scene’s background with colored chalk.

Act out the play in front of the blackboard! For each scene, simply erase the blackboard and quickly draw the next background while the actors prepare for the scene! The third group will be responsible for their own dialogue and scenery. Act out each scene in front of the class and see if the story still makes sense with each group’s adaptations. As an educational tool, I have student groups use story boarding as one of the means to successfully complete a video assignment. In this situation, groups have chosen a topic and are at the point where they need to develop the story to be told.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwLVBHk6gVI

Benefits. The first time I used this technique, I felt the need to move on to other issues so only those randomly chosen had the opportunity to present. Those who did not verbally share with class felt they missed out and that their experience was incomplete. In this activity, students work together as a class to rewrite a story with their own twist and transform the story in to a play. They also organize themselves and delegate tasks among the class. They generally enjoy it a lot, when they draw and color the pictures. They also communicate with one another and with teacher to represent this story in their class by action.

Learner’s view.

One said, “I love this activity which let us think about ourselves and get to know each other”. The other said, “ It was good to remember where I came from and how I got here”.

I think the storyboard is very effective activity for learners because the whole class took participate in it. Through this way, learners can represent their unique talent and multiple intelligences. Their creativity will be improved. They will work in groups because group tasks present practical activities that engage students in an enjoyable and active learning process. During this activity group discussion improved the learner’s reflective and communicative skills. It also helps the learners to guide their imaginative writing. We will continue this technique in all sections.

“The experience of drawing rather than writing often serves surprisingly well to cue people into many childhood memories.” (Sargent 1984)