Unit 5 Application Task - Bruce's Group
Activity 7
Comic Book Creative Writing.
Read a passage in Eejit Street and find a particular character/story you enjoy. In that style create a new comic strip. This gives the children a foundation and some of the language ready to use.
Proper Lesson Plan for Scots Creative Writing using Eejit Street to create our own Scots Comic Strips (2nd Level)
Resources
Eeejit Street 1, 2 & 3 Comics. Blank Comic Strips.
Literacy : Reading
I regularly select and read, listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain texts and authors. LIT 1-11a / LIT 2-11a
I can select and use a range of strategies and resources before I read, and as I read, to make meaning clear and give reasons for my selection. LIT 2-13a
Children to be given copies of Eejit Street to read and enjoy.
Literacy : Listening & Talking
When I engage with others, I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, show that I value others’ contributions and use these to build on thinking. LIT 2-02a
Children will discuss their favourite story with their peers and the Scots words they found and enjoyed within the story.
Literacy : Writing
I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience. LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a
I can spell most of the words I need to communicate, using spelling rules, specialist vocabulary, self-correction techniques and a range of resources. LIT 2-21a
In both short and extended texts, I can use appropriate punctuation, vary my sentence structures and divide my work into paragraphs in a way that makes sense to my reader. LIT 2-22a
Children to now create their own version of an Eejit Street Comic using the Characters and Style of writing that was in the comic. They will also use the words that they have read in the comics.
Activity 9
What do you think worked particularly well in your classroom application?
Children thoroughly enjoyed reading the comics. It introduced them to some new Scots words and gave them an idea of what words meant through the pictures in the comic.
The children enjoyed creating their own comics as it was seen as a creative, arty lesson it wasn’t necessarily seen as “writing” by the children. As the focus was quite funny a lot of the Scots they already knew played into this and they were to able to apply this without being stifled into hunting the correct Scots words.
As it was also within the structure of a comic book there was less pressure on punctuation and grammar which can often cause problems in a writing lesson never mind with the nuances within the Scots language.
Is there anything you would do differently if you were to repeat this lesson?
I would possibly link it more with the prior lesson on creating actions for a Scots song and see if the children could create their own Scots song rather than their own comic. My worry with initially doing this was stifling their creativity with children having to try and create rhymes using Scots which they may find rather tricky.
What are the next steps for your learners?
The next steps for the children will be to slowly push them into using Scots in a more formal way. The logical next step would be to turn the comic they created into a written story which means rather than simply speech being in Scots they would have to describe in Scots etc.
How will you provide further opportunities to practise and reinforce the use and awareness of the Scots language?
Scots has become a way of discussing things in our classroom and is practiced daily through discussion, presentation and simple teaching.
Unit 5 - Activity 7
LITERACY: Listening and talking
Following on from the previous sessions where the language was discussed, re-cap on words we know in Scots.
Introduce the stimulus for the lesson ‘The Gruffalo’ in Scots – what do we know about the Gruffalo in English terms – listen for words and compare, give ‘Tod’, and show picture in book for reference
Once story has been completed discuss vocabulary used and reinforce Scots vocab Tod, Hoolet, moose, etc.
Do they know the Scots words for any other animals? Eg puddock, coo and dug from previous lessons
Discussion around the character of the Gruffalo and the mouse. What were they like – using adjectives in Scots to add depth – sleekit, smert, feart, muckle etc.
CfE -Es & Os LIT 0-01a
LITERACY: Writing
Children create a story about one of their favourite characters from the story. Extend story by posing questions about where the characters may have gone or have been doing after meeting the wee moose.
Children have limited literacy skills and cannot yet write independently. Teacher can scribe story to accompany pictures drawn
CfE - Es & Os LIT 0-21a
This lesson was based on the book ‘The Gluffalo’ in Scots translated by James Robertson. The book is widely known in English, by all the children in the class and one pupil with complex needs who does not usually engage in stories has had this book as a favourite and can recite the book by heart. I knew by using this book that it was an easier transition and crossover of vocabulary may be easier to demonstrate the difference in vocabulary. As the children are at early writing stages, a familiar text was a good introduction.
Next time I am doing a creative writing lesson, I would like to incorporate technology to allow the verbal learners to record their voices and allow children to see how this can be scribed. On reflection I believe this may leave space for more of a ‘free flow’ of ideas and allow the possibility to capture more use of Scots from their speech, rather than trying to repeat back to them and then scribe what has been said. Next time I could maybe use an app like Chatterpix or book creator to capture language and stories. The next steps would then be to upskill learners on using the apps and allow time to build familiarity with their use.
On reflection of this lesson, the lesson went well overall. The children were able to draw a representation of their favourite character and tell me a word to describe the character which I then had to translate for them. I was hoping that more of the children would use the Scots words learned, which had to be prompted again and again. This re-enforced what I already know about working with learners with ASD; that we cannot expect instant results and that new things have to be repeated and consolidated in different contexts and time has to be given for processing information learned. I find myself speaking in English most of the time in class. I think about times I can ‘fit’ Scots in. I should not be thinking in this linear form and embrace it more spontaneously.
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Hiya Diane
This is a great lesson! Particularly for this age range. I really like how it is direct and fun, whilst also has depth and is tailored to suit any complex needs. Between the wide variety of Scots vocabulary involved and the way it encourages them to continue their early steps of learning to write, then I think it offers a great deal of learning opportunities to the bairns in your class. I would absolutely endorse using technology to capture their Scots speech. (When do bairns not love to hear recordings of themselves talking!) I agree it will give them a real boost in terms of creativity and flow. And let’s not forget that if you do get them using the apps themselves then your lesson isn’t just ticking language and literacy boxes through the use of Scots and English – but also many skills relating to technology as well.
It's lovely to hear that this went well, you are doing some great work as part of this course. I am sure you will find your stride in terms of using Scots more spontaneously – it definitely takes a moment to acclimatise though – but don’t ever get disheartened. You are embracing Scots and planning your lessons in a way that makes it fun and relevant to those in your class, which gives me complete confidence that you will keep reporting back on more great lessons as we go through each Unit of this course.
Well done,Bruce
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Hiya David
Another wonderful post! Thank you for sharing so much of what you’ve been working on!
It’s great to see how much you were able to do. You certainly utilized Eejit Street. Out of interest, do you feed that back to them? I’m sure they would be delighted to hear what a fantastic resource it has been for you – and for the children in the class. The way it has been used to inspire the bairns to create their own comics will spread plenty joy too. The fact the class had so much fun and didn’t see it as “writing” shows how much joy and creativity was in the room. There was clearly a real flow to the Scots side of the work that I’m sure is a sign of how you’ve built up to this across the lessons you’ve delivered so far.
You are on a brilliant path for where you want to go next too. Do you think all of the class will write their full story in Scots for the next lesson? It would be perfectly fine for some to take a similar approach as the comic and have only their spoken dialogue in Scots and the descriptions within their story be in English. But if it is the same plot and characters as is in their comic then I see why you’d like to aim for the whole thing being in Scots. Which is fantastic! You are clearly a very committed and driven teacher and are getting excellent results within the classroom from the bairns. I always love to hear how “Scots has become a way of discussing things in our classroom and is practiced daily through discussion, presentation and simple teaching.” It goes to show how important that aspect is when embarking on a Scots language journey such as this.
Thanks again for a great post,
Bruce
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