From Avatars to A-Ha Moments An innovative approach to student participation
In Kathryn Gibson's 8th Grade Spanish class at George Middle School, students worked hard to learn the basics of Spanish all year. For their final project, they were asked to give a short presentation about themelves...entirely in Spanish. When the project was announced, some students were hesitant...others resistant...no one was thrilled with this end of year task.
As early drafts were written and speeches were practiced, it became very clear that the students had really great Spanish skills to show off. The REAL ISSUE became equally clear.....students were uncomfortable with speaking in front of their peers. Students felt vulnerable being in front of their classmates and trying something new. Students had a case of major stage fright!
Enter Adobe Animate-From-Audio. A user-friendly avatar generator that creates a character to do the 'speaking' for the students. Even the most reluctant middle school students loved making an avatar and were more likely to try different Spanish phrases and vocabulary when they had their avatar do the talking for them!
Using Avatars in this way, let the student's Spanish skills shine. Students were engaged and excited to show their classmates what they had made and because it was so easy to create, students made several versions and decided which one to submit for their final project. What a great, positive experience for students to do something out of their comfort zone and showcase all they have learned.
Here are some other ways to use avatars in the classroom:
- Summarize a book, give a book review or share information
- Explain the steps of a math problem.
- Tell an original story
- Guess Who: the avatar gives the clues, and the audience guesses!
- Make a news report for a historical event