This week, our class had the privilege of working with the Grade 5/6 students at Gordon Terrace Elementary School to immerse students in storytelling using Virtual Reality (VR) technology.
Before entering the classroom and leading the students through the VR storytelling experience, we had the opportunity to work with Ryan Mackenzie at the SD5 Design Lab to familiarize ourselves with both the story and the technology. The story we worked with for this in-situ was The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman. It’s an ominous story, rich in descriptive language, that was perfect for immersing the upper elementary learners in a fun VR experience. Last year, Josie, Kenna and I worked with this story to create a story drama for one of our other courses so we were quite familiar with the story. After reading through the story in small groups, we learned how to set up the technology, including fitting the headsets, creating boundaries, and then took turns working through the VR story. The technology/ VR experience was very user-friendly and engaging with it helped to build our confidence for the next session!
Gordon Terrace – In-Situ
The following day, we arrived at the school and five pairs of teacher candidates were assigned to read in different spaces throughout the school, each with a chunk of the story. This approach incorporated movement to breaks, giving students the chance to move during the longer story. It also gave learners the opportunity to explore parts of the school that are typically less accessible to students, helping them connect to the story mood and setting. The remaining teacher candidates stayed in the classroom to help students work on literacy packages that connected with the story. As the text had some challenging vocabulary, I helped students in learning the meanings of brandish and sustain doing definition and context work, supporting their comprehension before listening to the story.
As students started to return, we fitted them with the headsets and they were fully immersed into the Wolves in the Walls VR experience. In this interactive setting, students are able to support and interact with Lucy, navigating the story from start to finish, getting a true feel for the plot and characters. The students were all very engaged in the VR experience and thoroughly enjoyed the activity. I was amazed at how quickly they learned how to use the new technology!
As the other students returned, we had intended to continue working on the post story workbooks until they had a chance with the VR headsets. This however did not quite go as planned because we had set up iPads which allowed us to monitor the VR experience. The other students were so eager to watch their peers navigate the story, the joy and engagement they were experiencing as viewers was palpable in the classroom. All in all, students got to experience the setting of the story, live the plot, and deeply engage with the text as participants and as supportive peers!
BC Curriculum Connections – Grade 5/6 Focus
ELA -Big Idea: Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy.
ELA – Curricular Competencies:
Grade 5 – Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to guide inquiry and deepen understanding of text.
Grade 6 – Understand how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning.
ELA – Content:
Grade 5 – Story/text – text features, literary elements, literary devices, perspective/point of view.
Grade 6 – Story/text – text features, literary elements, literary devices.
Cross-Curricular Opportunities: Drama!!
This experience showed me how valuable VR technology is in bringing abstract concepts to life, boosting engagement and promoting deeper understandings. I would love to one day bring it into my own future classrooms!