Thanks Mindconnex/Shakespeare in Bits! Plus 'Determining Importance"...

William Shakespeare

First, a big thank you to Mindconnex in Dublin, Ireland, for skyping with us today. We met Jer, Michael, Fergus and Fiona. They showed us the features of their software program, Shakespeare in Bits, told us a bit about the company, and answered some of our questions.

Many thanks to Mindeconnex for taking time out of their busy day to chat with us! I, too, hope to prove that Shakespeare can be interesting and easy to understand by using your fabulous software! We'll let you know how it goes in a couple of months!

But this morning wasn't just about chatting with people from half way across the globe...it was also about using the information from this chat to learn an important skill...DETERMINING IMPORTANCE.

During the skype session, I asked students to take notes, jotting down key words and phrases. Afterwards, we did a 'determining importance' activity.

As I've noticed in student's reading comprehension activities, they are getting better at pulling specific details from texts, but could use some support in determining which details matter more than others. What are the MOST IMPORTANT details!?

To start this off, we did the ol' 'What are 10 items you need to survive on a deserted island for a year' activity! Students worked in groups to determine their Top 10 lists. Then they had to pare it down to 5...then they had to pare it down to 1... Students had to explain their answers.

We then took our jot notes from the skype session. Students were asked to pick their Top 3 important details from our talk with Mindconnex. They then had to narrow it down to the Top #1 most important detail...and explain why...

Every group was able to justify their most important detail...and generally speaking, they were all quite similar. The most important detail regarding today's session...is not the fact that Michael is the CEO, or that they obtained the voice actors from a library of Shakespeare audio recordings, or that it took 6 months for the finished product...though these, of course, are all interesting facts...

...but rather that Shakespeare in Bits makes Shakespeare easy to access/understand by, for example, translating it into modern english at the click of a button!

Students were able to zero in on the essence of the project, and the main point of the Skype session today...and the reason why we are using this software...so we can easily access the amazing, creative, beautiful, funny, clever writings of Shakespeare.

I am very much looking forward to January when we launch this project!

Skyping with Ireland!

This Monday morning (Dec. 12th) we have the good fortune to Skype with a software company in Ireland...Mindconnex! They are the developers of Shakespeare In Bits, the software we are going to be using to study Romeo & Juliet in January!

Here is the agenda for the session, which will last about 30 mins, as mentioned by Fiona in her latest email to me:

• Introduction to team - Mike (CEO - he cracks the whip and makes sure we do our jobs!!), Fergus (Chief Product Officer - he looks at the product from an educational point of view), Jer (Creative Director who does the animation)
• Quick overview of the company
• Demo of Romeo & Juliet - showing animation, original play text, notes, translation, analyses, character maps and biographies
• Open the floor for comments/questions (we can include questions about our jobs here).

This is a bit different from our other Skype session...first of all, we will not be interviewing them, rather they will be telling us things and we will be taking notes. Secondly, this time there will be more than 1 person on their end of the screen. Finally, we will have a chance to ask them some questions (like about their jobs), but not everyone will get the chance to ask. There will be limited time for questions.

We are the only Gr. 7/8 class in Canada that is doing anything like this!  I think we are also the only Canadian class (of any grade level) that is a  part of their Educator Partnership Program!

I can't wait until we can start using this software after the holidays!

If you'd like to read more, check my previous post on SIB and the Educator Partnership Program!