Technology and Instruction

Laura El ChamiCatherine Kors

Kate Lukasavage Aiysha Sajjad

Lesson Overview

Objectives:• Students will be able to describe the daily lives

of Algonquin men, women, and children. • Students will be able to explore the Algonquin

culture • Students will be able to demonstrate effective search practices

Nota• Nota is a collaborative web platform that

allows users to create, share, and collaborate on presentations and virtually any other form of online material

 • Interactive Whiteboard • Can integrate:

o  texto videoso mapso  clip art/imageso photos

Application of Nota 

Students will work in groups to create notas describing and showing the daily lives of Algonquian men, women, or

children using images, texts, and other resources. Students can present on clothing, food, and daily tasks or rituals of

their assigned faction. Students will each work at their own computer either at home or at school and delegate jobs

among themselves to productively and simultaneously add to their group's nota. 

As they view what their partners have done, they may add comment boxes to give feedback. Students can then use that feedback to improve the group's presentation, as well as the

students' understanding of the content.Finally, students can embed their notas into a class blog, wiki, or other medium in order to present to the class. Seeing each

group's nota side by side, students can easily compare the differences in the daily lives of Algonquian men, women, and

children.

Example Nota

http://notaland.com/asajjad220/85426?

authkey=45368773bd 

Xtranormal• Online movie maker • Free subscription

o Teacher creates one log-in account for each group

 • Allows students to be creative and

accountable for their own work 

Xtranormal Features

Users can choose:• Theme• Characters• Setting• Gestures• Facial Expressions• Verbal Dialogue Movies can be saved and published/shared online

 

Application of XtranormalAfter comparing the daily lives of Algonquin men, women and

children with the help of their notas, students will begin to think about how each faction might interact on a regular basis. Do men have different daily responsibilities than

women? When do they come together? How might they speak to each other? 

Working in groups, students will use the historical figures theme on xtranormal to create a short movie of two

Algonquins from the different factions studied interacting. Students will work together from a shared account using cooperative learning skills to brainstorm, implement, and

edit, using the many tools xtranormal provides. When finished, students will present their movies to the

class. They will save and publish their movies on a class blog or wiki, which fellow classmates can react and comment on each others' movies, noting common themes in their movies

to reinforce content and strengthen the learning experience. 

Example Xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/xnmm/edit_movie/?

collection=hst&template=%2fxnmm%2fstory

%2f12550166%2f&movie_id=12550166

Tool #1: "Nota"

Nota is a collaborative web platform that allows users to create, share, and collaborate on presentations and

virtually any other form of online material.  

Using Nota’s toolset, users can instantly integrate text, video, maps, clip art, photos from web album or on the local computer, or license-free images from Flickr, and

material from an ever-expanding array of sources.  

Users can then instantly embed their work in Facebook or blogs, and can share and collaborate with friends.

 Adapted from: http://notaland.com/about

   

Tool #2: "xtranormal"

Xtranormal is an online movie maker. 

Working from a single account, users can choose from an array of themes - from historical figures to

superheroes to classic stick figures - and create short movies with one or two actors. Users can add text (which can be spoken in a variety of languages and voices), gestures, images, and sound effects to make their characters and their stories come to life.

Users can preview, save, and publish their movies online, sharing them with fellow xtranormal users

as well as the larger internet community.