ELA#FoodSagas

About the Author

Amanda Fox

Amanda Fox is an award-winning teacher who has previously taught film, digital media, English, and social studies in the STEM setting and is author of Teachingland: A Teacher's Survival guide to the Classroom Apocalypse, The Canva Classroom, Markertown, and Zom-Be A Design Thinker. She is the founder of MetaInk Publishing, and the Creative Director of STEAMPunksEdu, an after school and summer camp program in Louisville, KY. Amanda speaks internationally on the power of EdTech integration, problem based learning, STEAM education, and the power of video. She offers professional development to schools all over the world. Amanda is an Apple Educator, PBS Digital Innovator, ISTE Emerging Leader, and her favorite classroom tool is the iPad.

Connect with Amanda on Twitter: @AmandaFoxSTEM
www.metainkbooks.com

What are

#FoodSagas in English Classroom:
This year we are compiling a book of #foodsagas as a class. To create a food saga you simply snap a photo of your food or find food in Canva, personify the food by drawing human-like features on the image, give your food hero or villain a name, and create a story! You can even take it a step further and use an app like Chatterpix to make your food talk, ComicBook! app to create a comic, or turn your images into an animated gif! This is a fun way of addressing language conventions such as punctuation, active and passive voice, figurative language, and narrative compositions. Through a sequence of photos and narrative storytelling techniques your #foodsaga will demonstrate your mastery of language and writing standards outlined in the rubric.

*Photo taken with AVO app

One meal at a time!

Criteria:
1. Each student should create and submit a visual narrative of at least 15-20 photos over the course the unit, lasting 3 weeks.
2. The photos should include figurative language, including but not limited to personification of food and onomatopoeia.
3. The narrative must be crafted in a well-structured sequence and communicated through dialogue that drives the plot forward.
4. The author's purpose should be clear.
5. The text must demonstrate proper punctuation and writing conventions as outlined in the rubric.
6. The narrative must contain examples of active and passive voice.
7. Students will use multimedia, book creator, to create a book on the FoodSaga book shelf. Join code: SB8DL8R
8. Each student must provide 2 peer reviews and a self assessment using the #FoodSaga rubric google form.

Level Up: Get uber creative with your #foodsaga narrative by using an app like Chatterpix, or Facetalk to make your dialogue spoken (must still include written text with proper punctuation). Use Giphy or Momento to turn your photos into animated Gifs.

With digital media becoming a more prominent form of communication using multimedia for visual stories is a necessary skill in today’s society. The purpose of the #foodsaga project is to engage students in creative narrative storytelling via the sequencing and personification of food using technology, humor, and figurative language, while also demonstrating proper writing conventions. The short comic narrative should be communicated through properly punctuated dialogue, paying close attention to pause and breaks. Both active and passive voice should be present in the narrative to emphasize the food and/or its action to achieve an emphasized effect. Using images, gifs, and short videos focuses on the art of creative storytelling in a visual format. As students plan, take photos, come up with creative characters and narratives, and combine visuals and text they will learn the technical side of producing and editing to learn and share with others.

Furthermore, students will self evaluate their writing and conventions and also have the opportunity to evaluate and be evaluated by peers. Leveraging the four C’S of STEM--creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication-- students will not only develop literacy skills within the domain of ELA, but become digitally literate through the sharing and publication of multimedia works .

English Language Arts Common Core standards are a perfect match for digital media projects. Each trimester the #foodsaga project will focus on introducing or assessing specific writing and language convention standards. With each new trimester the writing and language convention standards we focus on will change.

Additionally, students will use images to creatively sequence and craft a story. Their problem or dilemma is: How can I tell a story through a sequence of edited photos that personify food? As they venture through this creative process they will be prompted to think critically about elements of figurative language, punctuation, humor, and how to leverage digital tools to communicate.

This lesson is meant for students in grades 4-12 with standards specifically targeting 7th grade students.

Students will master narrative storytelling through dialogue while addressing specific language conventions as outlined in the rubric, while paying attention to author's purpose. They will photograph their food, edit and arrange the photos in a narrative sequence, and publish them to a classroom book.

Students will learn how to use irony in the context of a story.

Students will craft narratives around food.

Students will athropormorphize food, and give it a personality.

Students will learn how to properly use an ellipse and punctuate dialgue.

Suggested conventions and search terms : narrative, irony, humor, personification, active voice, passive voice, alliteration, purpose, audience, characterization.