Building relationships in an arts based classroom is essential to the success of your students and your program. This year at West Hills, I am team teaching an eighth grade Musical Drama class with Anissa Whetstine (@anissawhetstine) for the first time. Previously, the thespians have created “Me Stars” and decorated them with facts, info, and tidbits about themselves and shared it with the class before auditioning for the big musical. This creates an environment in which auditioning and performing in front of each other is a little less terrifying.
Download the ME Star file
The above file was adapted from Sara Morgan Laminack’s “Me Star” activity from a theatre meeting in Mesquite ISD, Texas.
In previous years, the actors enjoyed creating their stars and sharing with the members of their class. This year, we used Aurasma to augment our “Me Stars” with virtual presentation. Just like in previous years, we hung them in the hallway. Their videos can now be enjoyed by many more people. Parents, friends, administrators and other teachers can now augment the actors stars to enjoy whenever they find time. This also allows time for actors who may have been absent or would like to see their friend’s presentation again, or friends from other classes presentations, they can enjoy them too. The only thing they have to do is download a free app, Aurasma.
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To augment your star:
1) Ask actors to create “Me Stars”
2) Record the actors presenting their “Me Stars” which will be the “aura”.
The best way we have found to give ownership to the learners of this project and this process is to break them into small groups and allow them to record and create the auras themselves. We become the facilitators and help desk.
3) Take a picture of the “Me Star” to act as the “trigger image.”
Connecting the “aura” and the “trigger image” is what will bring the analog star to augmented life. This is a tricky process if you want your trigger image to be recognizable by other devices. Create a public channel in Aurasma and save the “aura” into your public channel. After downloading Aurasma, follow the channel to have access to everyone’s “auras”. Our channel is WH Musical Drama.
4) Enjoy the learners’ excitement as they see their creations come to life!
We owe it to the learners in our classrooms to design opportunities for them to be present in the digital world. These are real-world and life-long tools. Create something new today.