Voices and Visions: Exploring Language and Literacy · 4th Year (TY)

Active learning ideas

Planning Simple Digital Presentations

Active learning works well here because digital presentations demand hands-on decision making with text and images. Students need to test, revise, and justify their choices in real time to grasp how multimodal elements interact.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Writing: Creating and Shaping
• NCCA: Primary - Writing: Exploring and Using

• 25–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Project-Based Learning
• 30 min · Pairs

Storyboard Pairs: Poem Slide Plans

Pairs choose a short poem and sketch three slides: one title with image, one key line with supporting visual, one closing message. They label each image's purpose and audience fit. Pairs present one slide to the class for quick feedback.

Analyze how images can help explain a message in a presentation.

Facilitation Tip

In the Whole Class Demo, model how to simplify text on a slide to avoid overcrowding, using a poem line as an example.

What to look for

Provide students with a short poem and a set of diverse images. Ask them to select three images that best represent the poem's mood and write one sentence for each explaining their choice. This checks their ability to connect visuals to meaning.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Project-Based Learning
• 25 min · Small Groups

Image Hunt Small Groups: Relevance Challenge

Small groups search digital libraries or magazines for five images matching a poem's theme. Each member justifies one choice for a specific audience, like peers or parents. Groups vote on the strongest and explain why.

Design a simple plan for a digital presentation using text and pictures.

What to look for

Students share their presentation storyboards with a partner. The partner reviews the storyboard and answers: 'Are the images clearly related to the text?' and 'Would these images help someone understand the poem better?' Partners provide one suggestion for improvement.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Project-Based Learning
• 35 min · Small Groups

Feedback Carousel: Plan Reviews

Students display sketched plans around the room. Small groups rotate every five minutes to review one plan, noting strengths in text-image balance and one suggestion. Creators revise based on notes.

Justify the choice of images for a specific message or audience.

What to look for

Ask students to list one way an image can help explain a poem's message and one potential challenge when combining text and images in a digital format. This assesses their understanding of image impact and presentation design.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Project-Based Learning
• 40 min · Whole Class

Whole Class Demo: Simple Tool Walkthrough

Demonstrate a free tool like Canva or Google Slides with a sample poem presentation. Students follow along individually to build one slide, then share via screen projection for class input.

Analyze how images can help explain a message in a presentation.

What to look for

Provide students with a short poem and a set of diverse images. Ask them to select three images that best represent the poem's mood and write one sentence for each explaining their choice. This checks their ability to connect visuals to meaning.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this topic by modeling the planning process step by step, showing how to ask: Does this image explain or enhance the text? Avoid assuming students intuitively know how to balance elements. Research shows explicit modeling and guided practice improve multimodal composition more than independent work at this stage.

Successful learning looks like students creating balanced slides with clear connections between text and images. They should explain their choices, give feedback to peers, and revise based on that feedback.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Image Hunt Small Groups, watch for students who pick images based on visual appeal rather than relevance to the poem's mood or meaning.

  Ask each group to set a mood word as their filter before choosing images, then have them explain how each image matches the mood in one sentence.

• During Storyboard Pairs, watch for students who treat images as separate decorations rather than parts of a cohesive message.

  Have partners trace arrows from each image to the text it supports, then ask them to rewrite any slide where the connection isn't clear.

• During Feedback Carousel, watch for peers who only comment on design without addressing how images enhance meaning.

  Provide sentence starters like 'This image helps because...' or 'I'm unsure how this image fits because...' to steer feedback toward content connections.

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Methods used in this brief

• Project-Based Learning