Quickfire Analysis

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Quickfire Analysis:

How Online Tools Can Engage Students in Meaningful Analysis

Presented BY: Jennifer Ward

Digital Literacy Conference

Saturday, October 13, 2012

West Chester University

http://bit.ly/QuickfireAnalysis

What is a QuickFire Challenge?

Pulling from an idea that started on the television series Top Chef, many teachers are now using Quickfire Challenges in the classroom as a way to introduce potentially complicated material in a way that engages students by asking them to play with ideas in a limited format. Blogger and teacher Leigh Graves-Wolf explains, "In a nutshell, in each episode, the chefs are challenged to cook a dish with certain constraints (i.e. ingredients, themes) within a tight time frame. As I watched the show, I thought, mmmm, I should remix/co-opt this for my teaching!"

COMPONENTS OF A QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE:

Adapted from the Brigham Young University Wikipage for Teaching Spanish

1) Talk less, plan for students to do more

2) Simplify instructions (Words, words, words!)

No more than 5 steps
No more than 7-10 words per step
Model FIRST
Write key words on the board, handout, or PowerPoint slide
Use images to support comprehension

3) Scaffold

Where is the activity likely to break down?
What supports can you add into the structure and processes of the activity to maintain "flow" for students?

4) Don't pre-teach vocabulary--let students learn it through the activity

5) Activities should build to a final creative product that invites self-expression

A SUCCESSFUL QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE CONSIDERS...

How the key elements work together to produce a meaningful learning experience

PURPOSE drives the content, process, tools, and final product
CONSTRAINTS support creativity by establishing specific limits re: "ingredients," theme, time, tools
CONTENT CREATION a critical element of synthesis and personal integration of content knowledge & skills
SOCIAL SHARING promotes sharing of expertise with authentic audiences, along with expansion of personal learning networks

Our QuickFire Challenge

We will break into small groups. Each group will be given the same poem - "Nothing's Changed" by Tatamkhulu Afrika.
Pairs will randomly select a presentation tool and randomly select a literary device.
The groups will have 30 minutes to create a presentation using that tool.
The presentation should incorporate:

a definition of that literary device with hyperlinked citation,
application of that literary device to poem "Nothing's Changed", and
images or video to support the analysis.

Your purpose is to entice fellow educators to think about how technology can aid in student literary analysis.
When you are finished, your presentation will be linked to this page.