(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)
We’re in the midst of our unit on Digital Life, and we were talking about online identity and the many ways people represent/misrepresent themselves in online spaces for all sorts of reasons: privacy, acceptance, gender, etc.
Before launching into an online activity around building avatars with different sites (and considering using what they made for their school Google Accounts), I had my sixth graders create Sticky Note Avatars and put them on the window as a sort of public display of representations.
They looked pretty neat, all there on the glass.
Peace (imagine it),
Kevin
Peace (falling),
Kevin
Sticky note avatars? I LOVE these! They look great hanging on the windows!
I know .. the only one that seems out of place is the emoji turd that someone (a boy, of course) created as a joke.
🙂
Kevin
What a fun idea! Creating avatars must be so exciting for the students, and now you’ve created a way to “show” the diversity of the group.
I love the step the visible steps that build to virtual work. There is something about seeing the work altogether that is intensely satisfying.
I enjoy the whole idea of representations, connecting to symbolism & hidden meanings from a literary device perspective. I had kids come up with personal avatars when I taught a summer math camp – helps with the algebraic thinking, too. And yes – these are very cool in the window with the light shining through.
Everything about this is cool! I almost wish I taught older kids…almost. You’ve got me thinking about how I might be able to do something similar to this with my younger kids. Thanks for the idea and thanks for sharing!
Nifty concrete entry point into slippery, abstract notions about identity — digital or otherwise. Thanks for the inspiration in pictures and words.