The Requirements:
As detailed from Teach Writing, the best part about the requirements is that they're malleable to suit your needs. All four of my classes needed to include quotations, focus on a specific character and include multiple pictures and sketches of these ideas. But depending on the class, there were different elements that changed the focus. 9th graders were tasked to choose a metaphor from the text that thematically links to the one page. Think about what is the literal and figurative metaphor. Show it in visuals and describe it in text. My American Wilderness (upper level 11th/12th grade students) needed to demonstrate an understanding of an applied theory/criticism using some sketches, quotations, and words of your own; meanwhile my Ethics (11th/12th) need "to make real world connections."
The flexibility to make the One-Pager is what makes it great not just for elementary and middle grades, but high school students too.
Going Beyond Text
What I love about the one-pager is that students are forced to go beyond the text. It requires time to visual and organize ideas. In many ways, students found the process both more laborious and more rewarding.
Too often, teachers and colleagues assume if we're not writing literary analysis we're not analyzing the text. But a cohesive and powerful one-pager can demonstrate more thought in the process. Additionally, I find myself more engaged as the reader as I'm forced to reexamine details to form connections. The way I tell my students, "A good one-pager captures my attention, but a great one-pager allows me to discover something new on each view."
The Digital Element
In order to really go beyond the text, students were tasked with providing a QR Code that linked to an audio recording they created. I expected rambling thoughts or a poem, what I received exceeded even my highest expectations. Students used this as an opportunity to embody characters, compose musical pieces or, in one instance, write an entire song inspired from A Streetcar Named Desire.
Some students went overboard with multiple QR codes; frankly, I was thrilled. Students tried to defy the constraints of the one-pager. And if our students aren't stretching our scope and understanding of the task, then was the task really rigorous in the first place?
The Technology That I Wish Was There
What I see for the one-pager is that the piece ultimately becomes a multimedia piece. Unfortunately, I don't think our technology is quite there. With the AR technology boom, many AR technologies are making the mundane come alive. Imagine holding your camera up to a one-pager as fire or water submerges the page—imagine the page coming alive. No matter where I look, it's clear that this technology is only just coming to fruition and can't quite do what I need it to do. Here's hoping that in a few years, more AR will be programmable with students.
What I Would Do Different
In truth, not much. Many of my upper-level students started to create sub-themes and motifs throughout their one-pager. I may emphasize and encourage this for next time. I also want to honor the process and have students explain what they did. That said, how I do that is a big question mark. If they write it out, isn't that the antithesis of what I'm trying to create? I'm thinking a quick FlipGrid might be the answer, but maybe—just maybe—the one-pager can speak for itself.
Daniel Valentin teaches American Wilderness, Ethics, and English 9 at Horace Greeley High School. He is currently reading 1919: The Year that Changed American by Martin W. Sandler and listening to Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. He wants his students to feel empowered through books. Follow him @DaValentinCCSD
The flexibility to make the One-Pager is what makes it great not just for elementary and middle grades, but high school students too.
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| In this 9th grade piece inspired by A House on Mango Street, I want you to take a moment and notice how color is essential to the piece. With each new view, you can find more connections. This is layered and complex in ways that are often surprising. |
What I love about the one-pager is that students are forced to go beyond the text. It requires time to visual and organize ideas. In many ways, students found the process both more laborious and more rewarding.
Too often, teachers and colleagues assume if we're not writing literary analysis we're not analyzing the text. But a cohesive and powerful one-pager can demonstrate more thought in the process. Additionally, I find myself more engaged as the reader as I'm forced to reexamine details to form connections. The way I tell my students, "A good one-pager captures my attention, but a great one-pager allows me to discover something new on each view."
The Digital Element
In order to really go beyond the text, students were tasked with providing a QR Code that linked to an audio recording they created. I expected rambling thoughts or a poem, what I received exceeded even my highest expectations. Students used this as an opportunity to embody characters, compose musical pieces or, in one instance, write an entire song inspired from A Streetcar Named Desire.
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| In this piece, the student links to a composed musical piece (see below) |
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| Listen to her song here |
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| On one level, it's too much. But as you spend time with it, it reveals its layers, forcing the reader the reexamine each piece with each scan of the 5 different QR codes. |
What I see for the one-pager is that the piece ultimately becomes a multimedia piece. Unfortunately, I don't think our technology is quite there. With the AR technology boom, many AR technologies are making the mundane come alive. Imagine holding your camera up to a one-pager as fire or water submerges the page—imagine the page coming alive. No matter where I look, it's clear that this technology is only just coming to fruition and can't quite do what I need it to do. Here's hoping that in a few years, more AR will be programmable with students.
What I Would Do Different
In truth, not much. Many of my upper-level students started to create sub-themes and motifs throughout their one-pager. I may emphasize and encourage this for next time. I also want to honor the process and have students explain what they did. That said, how I do that is a big question mark. If they write it out, isn't that the antithesis of what I'm trying to create? I'm thinking a quick FlipGrid might be the answer, but maybe—just maybe—the one-pager can speak for itself.
Daniel Valentin teaches American Wilderness, Ethics, and English 9 at Horace Greeley High School. He is currently reading 1919: The Year that Changed American by Martin W. Sandler and listening to Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. He wants his students to feel empowered through books. Follow him @DaValentinCCSD
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