Teaching Fiction Writing in Software Engineering Class: A Perfect Marriage of Learning Opportunities.

By Mark Gura and Dr. Rose Reissman

By now, many of us have heard of instructional programs in ELA that embrace technology to enrich and expand the subject, and above all to engage students. Great stuff for 21^st Century Learners! And, no doubt we’ve at least heard of Technology Education programs that do the flip side of this, foster some literacy learning along with the technology skills acquired there. It’s encouraging to see that students who learn within each of these two worlds are offered a view into the other, deepening their learning in both, while see the interconnectedness of subjects that are crucial.

At Ditmas Intermediate/IS 61, an inner city, Title 1 School in Brooklyn, NY, Angelo Carideo, who teaches technology as part of the school’s participation in its district’s SEP program (Software Engineering Program) straddles the two worlds in a highly effective and meaningful way. What follows below is a glimpse into how his program is structured and implemented and what so many colleagues may take away from it for the benefit of today’s students.

Let’s begin by noting that Mr. Carideo keeps himself aware of what his students do and learn with other teachers; their ELA learning is an area he’s keenly aware of. And he structures his technology program to mirror its curriculum and pacing for the benefit of their technology learning, which, in turn, also provides rich opportunities to enhance and reinforce their literacy learning.

At Ditmas by October/November students have been reading novels and dissecting characters in their English Language Arts class. Seeing this as an opportunity, he pairs his own subject’s curriculum to it to take advantage of the rich possibilities it offers.  In his Computer Science class he preps his students for learning to code using a program named Scratch.  The activities he presents them with for this are directed at learning a series of tech skills that they apply to writing stories and provided a real world context for the tech learning. The students’ growing understanding of The Novel that begins for them in their ELA classes, functions in his class as a focus.  The Scratch-based coding challenges he assigns them involve their developing a model, the construction of which makes visualizing the efficacy of their coding skills come to life in ways they find compelling. 

Mr. Carideos has developed a long form, extended project for his students in which he has them create a video game of their own, coding it using SCRATCH.  Video games have established themselves as a unique story telling genre as well as publishing medium, thus the connection between learning to code and deep understanding of The Novel as a literary form.  During the course of the project he has them examine plot, setting, and character, as well as other key elements of storytelling they see in the novels they study in their ELA class.

In simple terms he explains to his students that in their project their protagonist needs to defeat an antagonist they’ve created to save a 3rd character. For instance, the character Pacman, in the game by the same name, would need to eat the Dots (power pellets) to defeat the Ghosts in order to save Ms. Pacman.”

His students generally work in small groups. Each creates 1 character.  They first create an avatar (illustrated image of their character) and then develop a backstory. They are required to address and satisfy the following required prompts:  What is the origin of the character?  What are the attributes and characteristics of the character?  What dramatic incident happened to this character that made this character who he/she/it is today?

Once all the individual characters are created, then the students can share one another’s characters and insert them in their Game.  This makes the game more interesting to the students.

The project actually involves simple script development.  Students work from guide sheets Mr. Carideo provides them as they create charades and  To concretize these character profiles, he pairs students into dialog teams which write and then act and record their lines; learning ELA skills in the area of narrative writing.

Students alternate writing lines as they collaboratively write a one act play.  Setting becomes a focus, too.  They place their characters in a specific setting and are prompted to ask themselves what their characters would say to one another?  This makes their literacy learning even richer as not only do they explore their characters and the characters behavior in different settings, but they learn to reveal things through developing dialog.

Historically the students always enjoy this.  Their script is descriptive prose and simple dialogue.  And without getting lost their first time out as fiction writers they need delve deeply into the structure of a three part play. They simply deal with the core story of a game something that engages them in wrestling with the important elements of a novel or play, but in a context they are comfortable with and that engages them deeply.

Not forgetting the targeted technology learning, something that gets accomplished well, let’s not that along the way the students learn file management and sharing (in our collaborative work culture this is essential) and the intricacies of coding.

Key to Mr. Carideo’s way of directing and motivating students are the rubrics and guide instruments he creates for them to use as they work on their game projects.  A number of examples are included below.

The examples shown provide easy to follow prompts that help students develop a profile of their characters’ likes and dislikes and past history which informs the character’s goals and rewards. 

Unlike other Software Engineering programs which exclusively focus on designing and coding games per se, Mr. Carideo’s at Ditmas digs deep into the storytelling aspect of popular digital games; a format that students are familiar with and find fascinating. How better to teach  Software Engineering (coding and programing) than to parallel the storytelling curriculum required in English Language Arts? ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Below are few examples of guide sheets that Mr. Carideo developed for his students to use as they develop their project elements. In the first characters’ avatars and back story details are entered. Below is a series of focus questions/prompts designed to foster deeper thought to elicit details about character back stories. Finally, further down, still we see the student, as writer, first describe the story’s setting and then create dialogue that reveals it to their audience.

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Angelo Carideo has taught Social Studies and Technology at Ditmas Intermediate School (IS 61 – Brooklyn, NY) for 15 years; currently teaching the school's Software Engineering Program. He is a cofounder of the Ditmas Network News, the school’s web-based television show.

Principal:  Marielena Santiago

Assistant Principal:  Michelle Buitrago

Superintendent: District 20  Karina Costantino

Mark Gura taught in public schools in East Harlem for two decades. Afterwards, he spent 5 years as a staff and curriculum developer for the central office of the New York City Department of Education. He established the Department’s Office of Instructional Technology, and held the position of Director for 7 years, supervising professional development in the use of technology, citywide. After retiring, Mark joined Fordham University’s Regional Educational Technology Center, organizing citywide education conferences and events. He has taught graduate Education courses for Fordham, Touro College and New York Institute of Technology.  Mark has written books and created materials for ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), Information Age Books, Scarecrow Books, Corwin, and Teacher Created Materials. He has been an education writer for the New York Daily News and contributed numerous articles to Converge, T.H.E. Journal, and EdTech magazines. He is the co-producer of the popular podcasts The Teachers Podcast, Talking Financial Literacy Podcast, and host/producer of Literacy Special Interest Podcast. Mark has spoken on the subject of Instructional Technology throughout the U.S.  Contact: markgura@verizon.net

Dr. Rose Reissman is the founder of the Writing Institute, now replicated in 200 schools including PS 205 in The Bronx, New York City.  She is a featured author in New York State Union Teachers Educators Voice 2016 and was filmed discussing ESL student leadership literary strategies developed at Ditmas IS 62, a Brooklyn public intermediate school. Ditmas IS 62 is under the leadership of Marielena Santiago Principal and Michelle Buitrago AP. The Writing Institute Team are: Michael Downes, Angelo Carideo, and Amanda Xavier.

Contact: roshchaya@gmail.com