Lesson Objectives
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
Navigate the Stopmotion platform confidently to create a video to convince
Develop a well-informed plan to facilitate their video creation in their assigned groups
Integrate visual and audio semiotics proficiently into their video creation
Lesson 2 (60 mins)
PLANNING FOR VIDEO PRODUCTION
FAMILIARIZATION OF DIGITAL PLATFORM
Setting Context for Learning (10 mins)
For today’s class, the entire class will be divided into 2 big groups. Group A will be Team Pig while group B will be Team Wolf. Students from each group will be further divided such that they work in groups of five. The following scenarios will be narrated by the teacher to students, setting the context for students’ participation and learning.
Due to complicated family dynamics, the piggies often fight and quarrel about various matters. This has led them to making the difficult decision to live apart. However, the piggies often notice a dark figure lurking about their houses. Terrified and fearing for their safety, they start to gather and have an intense discussion on how to improve their security of their houses.
Due to the wolves’ antisocial personality, hardly anyone knows how the wolves are truly like. In reality, they are capable geniuses. They have amazing mathematical and scientific abilities – Houses made of straw and sticks are no problem for them to bring down. However, the piggies are getting smarter each day. Thus, the wolves gather and develop better plans on how to break into the stronger houses built by the piggies.
Living in a visually rich world does not mean youth are naturally visually literate (Serafini, 2011). Ubiquitous software for text production and media platforms offers a wide range of semiotic resources, with built-in regimes regulating how these resources should be co-deployed in particular semiotic and social practices (Djonov, Tseng, & Lim, 2021). Since students may be navigating a considerably new platform that they may not be familiar with, they may require greater scaffolding and guidance to produce an effective video that is representative of their plans. Thus, the teachers will provide students with step-by-step instructions to help them with the video creation process. To accomplish this, the teacher will also introduce students to the important functions of Stopmotion and explain they can be used to make their video more convincing.
From interviews and investigation websites to press releases and gossips, new types of engagements are emerging. Each platform can provide a different type of story engagement. Thus, the teacher has planned to introduce different technologies like Stopmotion, which has the ability to (McIntyre, n.d.):
Engage audiences in the act of storytelling and story creation
Tell stories in different ways
Disseminate story to audiences around the world
Familiarization with Digital Platform (10 mins)
THE TEACHER WILL GUIDE STUDENTS ON THE FUNCTIONS OF STOPMOTION
Character Cutouts
Students can use these cutouts designed by the teacher for their video making.
Video Tutorial
A video tutorial familiarizes students with important features of the application.
Course for Beginners
The teacher introduces specific functions of the digital platform, allowing students to account for visual and audio semiotic modes in their video creation.
Task Delegation (35 mins)
AFTER HELPING STUDENTS GAIN FAMILIARITY ON THE DIGITAL PLATFORM, THE TEACHER WILL EXPLAIN THE TASKS FOR TEAM PIGGIES AND TEAM WOLVES.
Team pig – Design house to reinforce structural integrity
AFTER LEARNING THAT THEIR FRIEND GOT EATEN BY THE WOLF BECAUSE HIS HOUSE OF STICKS COULDN’T HOLD WELL UNDER THE WOLF’S BREATH, YOU WILL HAVE TO GATHER WITH YOUR PIGGY SURVIVORS TO USE STRONGER MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES TO BUILD A STRONGER HOUSE. YOU SHOULD EXCHANGE TIPS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR HOUSE SO THAT YOU GET BETTER PROTECTION AGAINST FURTHER ATTACKS BY THE WOLVES. YOU MAY ALSO SHARE HOW YOU WOULD BUILD THE HOUSE.
Team wolf – Design ways to blow down house
AFTER HEARING ABOUT THE PIGGIES’ PLANS TO STRENGTHEN THEIR HOUSE, THE WOLVES HAVE DECIDED TO GATHER AND BRAINSTORM IDEAS FOR THE NEXT ATTACK. YOU SHOULD CONTRIBUTE AND INCLUDE INFORMATION, STRATEGIES AND MAPS THAT MAY HELP WITH YOUR PLAN TO BREAK INTO THEIR HOMES.
PRELUDE TO LESSON 3 (5 MINS)
To enthuse them, students will be told that they will be sharing their videos with their friends in the next lesson. They will also be voting on which groups they think have the most reliable plans for success.
The ultimate aim is for students to employ these different semiotic modes and combine them into coherent multimodal texts. In the process, they will appreciate how multimodal literacy brings an aesthetic dimension into everyday forms of communication that were formerly purely functional and monomodal (Van Leeuwen, 2017).
By providing students full reign over the creative expression, teachers avoid overfocusing on alphabetical literacy and undermining the importance of other semiotic modes, which are evidently becoming increasingly important now. The consequence is students’ development of synesthesia as a product of their creativity.