The magic of ... Literacy
Using magic to support writing.
Knowing the secret behind a trick is not the same as being able to perform the trick well! To do that, you need to use your performance skills to create a sense of wonder. To really engage your audience you need an imaginative story. Not only that, in order to be able to perform the trick for the first time, you also need precise instructions - this is where good literacy skills really come into play! Let’s take the following example:
Knowing the secret behind a trick is not the same as being able to perform the trick well! To do that, you need to use your performance skills to create a sense of wonder. To really engage your audience you need an imaginative story. Not only that, in order to be able to perform the trick for the first time, you also need precise instructions - this is where good literacy skills really come into play! Let’s take the following example:
In the above example, the emphasis is to explore the importance of precise instructions when creating algorithms however, with a little tweaking, we could easily turn this into an instructional writing task.
The trick
Just as in the previous example, start be demonstrating the trick to the whole of the class. After completing the trick, challenge the students to see if they can re-create the trick, then to write step-by-step instructions. To help the students, give them a list of imperative verbs (bossy words) and time connectives for them to use in their instructions:
Just as in the previous example, start be demonstrating the trick to the whole of the class. After completing the trick, challenge the students to see if they can re-create the trick, then to write step-by-step instructions. To help the students, give them a list of imperative verbs (bossy words) and time connectives for them to use in their instructions:
Some Imperative verbs (bossy words) and time connectives for students to use in their instructions.
Alternatively, you could challenge students to write a new story to go with the magic trick.
Add some gamification
Want to add an extra fun element to the task? Then, why not add some 'gamification' to the lesson! To make the task more challenging, award points for each verb/connective used based on the complexity, for example: 3 points for the word 'Dark and 5 points for the word 'Ominous'. This will add a competitive element to the challenge with students receiving a total score based on the complexity of the language used in their stories.
Add some gamification
Want to add an extra fun element to the task? Then, why not add some 'gamification' to the lesson! To make the task more challenging, award points for each verb/connective used based on the complexity, for example: 3 points for the word 'Dark and 5 points for the word 'Ominous'. This will add a competitive element to the challenge with students receiving a total score based on the complexity of the language used in their stories.
Useful links:
Here are some more sites to help you get started:
- Hocus Focus: Magic tricks to support children with special needs.
- Teach by Magic: Magic tricks designed specifically for teachers.
- Magic Perspectives: A collection of magic tricks to use in the classroom.
- Shizzle Dizzle Magic: Magic tricks for teachers to use in their classroom.
- http://magic.about.com/od/science-magic-tricks/a/Teaching-Science-With-Magic.htm
