Team Teaching Practice Lesson: Set the Table

Originally prepared for EVO VW&LL 2009
February 13, 2009 at EduNation II Sandbox
Teaching team: Barb, Scott, Otis & Rumi

Materials: several colored tables arranged in the sandbox before class, lights of the same color suspended above the tables to make them easier to see at a distance, one or two additional tables with a variety of copiable and modifiable food and beverage items, speakeasy HUD to back up initial instructions, notecard reader, 2 notecard givers, notecard taker, color coded badges to assign groups (match table colors)

Lesson Summary
In small groups, students decide upon and collect three or more food or beverage items. They then “drag” the objects from inventory to the top of a table, and use editing tools to arrange the items on the table. Students will take and post to the EVO VWLL Ning a snapshot of their finished arrangement, and create a notecard describing the arrangement. Finally, students will evaluate their own performance.

Language review: food and beverage vocabulary, location vocabulary (in the center, next to, to the right of, to the left of)
Language tasks: discussion, negotiation, following directions, cooperation, reading to get information and writing to share information
Second Life skills focus: avatar movement, voice & text chat, right-click/touch/, drag and drop to rez, editing tools to position and rotate object, snapshot, create, rename, save and give notecard

Multiple Intelligences: interpersonal (group work), verbal (reading & writing notecards & discussion), spatial (snapshot, arranging items), kinesthetic (using mouse to move objects to specific locations), math/logical (movement tools in edit), intrapersonal (self evaluation)

Language Objectives
Students will:
understand instructions in voice and text chat.
read and understand instructions on notecards.
discuss and negotiate with group to choose three food or beverage items from a table display.
discuss and negotiate in order to agree on where to place the items on the table.
write a group notecard describing the arrangement using food and location vocabulary (e.g., The pizza is in the center of the table, etc.).
complete a notecard evaluating participation in the activity.

Second Life skill objectives
Students will:
accept a badge given as an inventory offer, find the badge in inventory and wear it.
click/touch to get an instruction notecard from a notecard giver.
click/touch to copy three or more items and save to inventory.
drag items from inventory onto a table.
use tools from the editing menu to position to rotate items into a group-determined arrangement.
use camera tools to take a snapshot of the final product, including group members in the picture.
Post the picture to the EVO VWLL Ning.
Create a group notecard, rename it, save the completed card, and give it to a notecard taker.
Edit text on an feedback evaluation notecard, rename and save it, and give it to a notecard taker.

Procedure
1. Group students so that at least one member has basic SL skills (chat/voice, manipulate inventory, rez, edit, and camera). Assign initial groups and “give” color coded badges to group members. Assign additional students on day of lesson. (HUD notecard text in notes)
2. After students have all put on badges, found other members of their group (members wearing same color badge) and found their table (also same color), direct student attention to notecard reader for initial instructions. (notecard reader text in notes)
3. Set a time limit (10 minutes) for students to find, decide on, and collect items.
4. Students return to their group table and drag the objects from their inventories to rez them on the table. Students work together using voice, text chat (and IM) to agree on item placement, and use their editing tools to achieve the desired positions. Set another time limit for this portion of the lesson (10 minutes).
5. After the objects are in position, students get a notecard from a notecard giver, with instructions for the snapshot and written description. (snapshot instructions text in notes)
6. Students create a group notecard describing their arrangement (e.g., The taco is in the center of the table. The soda is next to the taco, to the right of it. The ice cream is to he right of the taco., etc.). The saved postcard should be returned to a notecard taker, and/or posted along with the photo on the EVO VWLL group Ning (in the comments section).
6. Next, students take a photo of the completed arrangement using their camera tools, including group members in the picture, and post their photo to the group Ning.
7. Finally, students get a feedback notecard from a notecard giver. They edit the text on the notecard to evaluate their own performance in the lesson. They rename and save their completed feedback notecard, and return the card to the notecard taker. Again, be sure students include names. (text of feedback survey in notes)

Teaching tasks:
Teacher A: give verbal directions and answer questions over voice chat
Teacher B: monitor text chat, and give written directions to back up voice chat, as necessary, and answer questions that come in on chat
Teacher C: help students who are having technical problems with communication or editing tasks (IM?)
Teacher D: take photographs during the lesson

Assessment: Written description of arrangement matches the items in the posted snapshot.

Post lesson observations:
We lost one teacher when Rumi had to work, and teaching tasks became more fluid. Essentially, while I did more voice instructions, we all used voice and text to work with students. Eventually, we divided up so that one teacher pretty much remained with each of the three groups because otherwise we had difficulty hearing students. Distance between tables worked well to help cut out cross chatter between groups, but it also cut out “cross listening” by teachers. We had students drop in who weren’t part of the EVO group—they noticed us in passing and came to join us. Since this could happen in the open areas of SL, it would be good to consider the possibility when writing instructions (reference to Ning were unfamiliar). All students seemed to complete all tasks—even the group notecard. We underestimated people’s desire to do every activity in the lesson, even when only one group created product was required. Might have been better to streamline—at one point, the number of open notecards could have felt a bit overwhelming to some students. It was also interesting to note that once the lesson was started, students were just like students in RL classes. There were students who panicked when they didn’t receive badges immediately, others who frequently checked for clarification, others who figured they understood and took off on task, and even one who felt the need to divert the teacher’s attention (in private IM during the lesson). Groups also had distinct personalities—one group jumped right in, another had difficulty getting past the item choice, and the third resized its items (the giant chocolate bunny). Aside from the fact that both students and teachers were avatars working in a virtual sandbox using tools not available outside of a virtual world, it was a lot like a regular class.

Notes:
Speakeasy HUD notecard text:
Welcome! Thank you for coming today. You should have received an inventory offer for a colored badge when you arrived. If not, you will soon receive a colored badge–red, blue, green, or yellow. When you receive the badge offer, click on the “keep” button in the blue pop up box. This is the color for your group. The badge should now be in your inventory. Open your inventory and find this badge in your Recent Items. It’s called “Set the table: (color) badge”. If you don’t see it, type “badge” in the search bar at the top of your inventory. It should show up. Right click on the badge, and Select “wear”. Find other people wearing the same color badge. These are your group members. You will be working together for the remainder of this class. Your group table is also the same color as your badge. After you find your group, and your table, go to the large notecard reader. Read and the folow the next set of instructions. If you have questions, please ask ask Olam, Scottlo, or me. (We have Asia TTT over our heads)

Notecard Reader text:
1. Accept the badge that we give you. Find it in your inventory (type “badge” in the search box if you don’t see it), right click, and choose “wear”.
2. The other people wearing the same color badge are in your group. Get together with your group.
3. Go to the large table, and decide (with your group) which items to take for your table. Choose at least three items.
4. Left click on the item and click on “keep” in the blue pop up box.
5. Go to the table that is the same color as your badge. Drag each food item from your inventory onto the table. Decide as a group how you want to arrange these items on your table.
6. Right click on each item, and use your editing tools (position and rotate) to move the items where you want them.
7. When you’ve finished, left click on the treasure chest to get a notecard called “Set the table: Snapshot Instructions.” Read and follow the instructions.

Snapshot Instructions text:
Congratulations! You did it! Only a few steps left.
Take a snapshot of the items on the table. Include all of the members in your group in the photo. Save the snapshot to your hard drive, or email it to yourself (don’t save it to inventory or you’ll have to pay $10 to get it back). You won’t do anything with this picture until after you finish this lesson.
Next, open your inventory, and left click on the Create menu at the top of your inventory and select New Note. Now in your notecard folder, you should see notecard called “new note.” It should be the topmost item in your Notecard folder. Now Right/Command click on New Note and choose rename. Give your notecard a new name such as Blue Group: Graham, Dennis, Nergiz, Nick.
Open up this notecard. Write a description of your arrangement. Use location language. For example:
The pizza is in the center of the table. The coffee cup is to the right of the pizza. The ice cream is to the left of the pizza.
You only need one notecard for your group, so work together on the description. Include all of your names on the notecard.
Left click “save” on your notecard before closing it. It’s now in your inventory.
Drag your group notecard from your inventory onto the mailbox to “give” it to the mailbox.
Left click and touch the pink and yellow box to get a feedback survey. Please complete the survey, save your notecard, and drag it from your inventory onto the mailbox to also give this to the mailbox.
Finally, post your snapshot on our group Ning page.
Bonus point: include the description on your notecard in the comments section for your photo.
Thanks!

Feedback survey text:
Feedback Survey. Please complete both sections, Save the changes to this card. Drag the card from your inventory onto to the mailbox (to give it to the mailbox).
Thank you!
——————-
Name:
One thing I did well during this lesson:
One thing I’d like to work on more: