Writing task using Pixton!

Hello everyone!

In this new post I am going to describe a writing activity using Pixton. The activity is designed for a group of 4th grade Primary Education. The topic of the comic is ‘My daily routines’ because in the last Unit students have learned about it using the Present Simple.

Due to the current situation and the lack of time, the activity hasn’t been carried out in the class so I only can define the planning designed.

Here you can see one possible comic in Pixton: https://share.pixton.com/qjqecbc 

 

Now, it is necessary to express how I have organised the activity and the sequence of tasks to get the final product; the learning objectives and the contribution of Pixton to achieve them; the role of pupils’ creativity and imagination in this activity; and possible reactions of students.

Firstly, as for organisation, students are divided into groups of three members. The sequence of tasks and their organisation are the follow:

1. The whole class investigate about the structure of a comic and their characteristics.

2. Students get into groups of three. The teacher gives to them a blank comic in which they have to write their first draft. Before doing this, they have to discuss the content of their comic and the pictures they are going to do.

3. Once they have finished, the teacher shows them a tutorial about Pixton. Then, each group uses a laptop or computer in which they have to move their draft into Pixton. In that way, they have to create the scene, characters and dialogues using balloons and onomatopoeias.

4. Then, the teacher look for mistakes with the group and they correct them.

5. Finally, the groups present orally their productions to the rest of the class. The teacher can project their productions in the Interactive WhiteBoard. At the same time, the rest of the groups has a rubric in which they have to evaluate partners’ productions. In that way, they carry out a co-evaluation.

6. Pupils’ productions can also upload into the class blog. Thus, students can share them with family members or friends.

If the Covid-19 situation continues, this activity has to be developed individually.

Regarding the learning objectives, these are as follows:

§  To improve pupils’ writing skill.

§  To develop students’ creative writing.

§  To reinforce vocabulary about daily routines and Present Simple grammar structure.

§  To develop social skills and cooperative learning.

§  To improve pupils’ digital competence.

As for the contribution of Pixton, it is an useful online tool which provide students the opportunity to create a comic developing their creative writing. In that way, Pixton helps to achieve all the learning objectives since pupils have to write the dialogues in the comic improving their writing skill; students use their creativity and imagination while they are creating the comics; it reinforces the vocabulary and grammar because pupils have to use it in the dialogues; students develop their social skills and digital competence because they are working online in a cooperative way.

In relation to the role of pupils’ creativity and imagination, I think that along this activity students develop them since they have to create their own productions. Moreover, they have to design the comic including the scene, characters and dialogues. All of these processes help students’ imagination because they don’t have to copy a model, the tasks are all done by them.

Finally, as for possible reactions, I believe that students will be motivated and interested along the activity because they like technologies. Also, they have to write about their own life so it is familiar and meaningful for them.