Project Name
One Day in The Life / Alternate Reality
Global Project Theme
Grade/Age Level
Length of Unit
Arts & Media
Grade 5-12/Ages 10-19
5 weeks
Unit Content
Subject Areas
Sequence
Communication
Visual Arts
Technology
English Language
Arabic Language
Social Studies
Others (Science, etc.)
Week 1: “Where We Live”
Week 2: “What We Eat and Drink”
Week 3: “Our Community”
Week 4: “Personalities” or
“Alternate Reality”
Week 5: Presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Unit Description
Final Outcome
Content Standards/SDGs
Weekly Activity Plans
Project Presentation &
Community Engagement
Unit Description
This five-week unit encapsulates two iEARN projects: “One Day in the Life” and “Alternate Reality”. How can
students better learn to describe, both visually and in writing, their own lives from a global context? How can
students learn authentically about the real world - the ordinary as well as the extraordinary - through the eyes of
their peers? How can students learn to compare, contrast, communicate, and discuss their daily lives with
students from an entirely different culture?
​
Individuals or teams of students will make documentary photographs, short videos, or other artwork (drawings,
paintings, etc.) on an assigned theme, with a short written explanation. At the beginning of the week, students
will brainstorm ideas for specific topics to explore. Later in the week, students will upload the best, edited,
digitized work to the iEARN forum. Then, in groups or as a class, students will look at and discuss posts by their
partner schools. Students will be expected to comment on at least two posts for each new post they make.
Weekly Themes:
Week 1: ​“Where We Live” (Explore a small aspect about where you live, whether it's your room, your home, or
your neighborhood. What makes where you live unique?)
Week 2:​ ​“What We Eat / What We Drink” (What do you eat or drink with your family on a typical day? Do you
eat any meals at school? Where do you buy your groceries? Where does your water come from? Show us!)
Week 3: ​“Our Community” (What does your downtown look like? Are you near a commercial district? Are there
any stores, shops, or businesses? Show us life on your streets. Visit a shop and show us the store owner/clerk.
What does traffic look like?)
Week
​ 4: ​“Personalities” or​ “Alternate Reality” - Teachers may choose one of two options:
“Personalities” - Using photography, drawing, painting, or other media, students will depict a person in their
community, neighborhood, or family engaged in an activity: a parent at their workplace, perhaps, or a shopkeeper
behind a counter, or a policeman directing traffic. The finished images are then captioned, uploaded, and
discussed in the forum.
“Alternate Reality” - Students will photograph (or video) one or more volunteer students in their class posed
against a blank background and share it in the forum. Then, students will download a partner photo, and make a
photo composite (or "green-screen" video composite) using one of your background images of your school or
community. The finished composite are then captioned, uploaded, and discussed in the forum.
Week 5: ​Presentation – Students will prepare a final exhibit of their own work, their favorite partners’ work,
and/or some of their exchanges - from the first four weeks, to share online or with their local community.
Essential Questions
Driving Questions:
● What does life look like in my partners’ countries, and how can I most truthfully portray life in my own
community?
● How would my life be different if I lived in a different country?
● How would my partners’ lives look different if they lived in my community?
Examples of Final Outcomes
● Students may prepare local exhibits of their captioned photos, videos, and/or art - in a local gallery,
book, poster, or short video collection.
● Students may prepare an online exhibit, on the iEARN forum or elsewhere, as a slideshow, webpage,
video, or other medium.
Content Standards and Sustainable Development Goals
Content Standards:​ ​This project is essentially about visual and written communication, but depending upon the
direction teachers choose to take this project, native or advanced English-speaking students may participate
under many different content standards - Visual Arts, Technology, Social Studies, or possibly even Science.
Others - especially English language learners - may choose to center this project around English language skills.
Sustainable Development Goals:​ ​This project allows students to compare and contrast their lives, invites them to
imagine how their life might be different if they lived in their partners’ countries, and encourages them to ask
difficult questions and to discuss community issues and problems. Depending again upon the direction the
teachers choose to approach this project, almost any of the Sustainable Development Goals could be addressed,
such as #4 (Education), #6 (Water and Sanitation), or #10 (Inequality) as students compare their schools,
communities, and the challenges they each face. #16 (Partnerships) may also be addressed, as students educate
each other on problems and solutions in their own communities.
Project’s Contribution to Others and the Planet
This project promotes intercultural respect, breaks down stereotypes, and fosters empathy between students who
come very different communities, even as it provides direct, first-person education about life in other countries.
Week 1 Activities
This week’s task:​ Explore a few small aspects about where you live, whether it's your room, your
home, or your neighborhood. What makes where you live unique? Show us visually - with
photographs, a short unedited video, or a drawing or painting.
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to…
❏ Visually depict their home or neighborhood in an effective way.
❏ Prepare and share their work in the Collaboration Centre.
❏ Make good observations and ask good questions as they view their international partners’
work.
❏ Discuss what they see and learn in the Collaboration Centre with their international
partners.
Activities/Task Description
Classroom Activities
Students brainstorm with their classmates about topics and techniques to visually depict their
homes and communities. What aspects of their home and neighborhood lives do they want to
share? Which students will be responsible for which tasks?
1. As homework, students (as individuals or in teams) make photographs (at least 20 jpegs,
including mistakes!), video (a few unedited segments no longer than 30 seconds each) or
other artwork (drawings, paintings, etc.) on this week’s theme: “Where We Live”. Students
must make their own images, and NOT use images found online.
2. Edit the work - Which of your images or videos are the most effective? Which describe an
interesting aspect about life at home or in your neighborhoods? Each student or team
should edit their work down to no more than 3-4 photos or artworks, or 30 second of
unedited video per student or team.
Students prepare a small amount of writing - 2 or 3 sentences - to accompany each piece.
Use the writing to help explain what's not obvious. (Where is this? What’s going on? Who is
depicted? What are they doing? Is this an everyday scene or an unusual scene? Why did you
choose this image to share? Does it mean anything special to you?)
Collaboration Centre Activities
1. Students share their brainstorming ideas in the forum. (What do they plan to do?)
2. Students upload their finished images, video or drawings, together with their writing, to the
Collaboration Centre.
3. Students (individually, in groups, or as a class) carefully look through their partners’ new
work that they find in the Collaboration Centre, make observations and discuss. (“What’s
going on in this picture?” “What do you see that makes you say that?” “What more can we
find?”) Students may initially discuss and write down their questions, observations, and
reactions, but then they should share their best questions and responses in the
Collaboration Centre. For every ​one​ visual post they shared, they should respond to at
least ​two​ of their partners’ works. (i.e. If a student team shared three “Where We Live”
photographs, they should respond to at least six posts by their partners.)
4. Students answer questions, and continue conversations as long as they can.
Questions to Guide Student Feedback
Here are three good conversation-starting questions you might ask (and repeat!) when looking at
your international partners’ work:
● “What’s going on in this picture?”
● “What do you see that makes you say that?”
● “What more can we find?”
Materials and Resources
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Additional Unit Materials
How to Write a Caption handout
Week 1 - Photo and Caption Examples
Where We Live Guide
Preparing to Shoot - Photography Handout
Setting Up a Digital Camera - Photography Handout
How to Write a Caption handout
Extension Ideas
● Keep those conversations going!
● If students cannot, for any reason, create images about their homes or neighborhoods,
you may assign some to capture your school, instead.
● Student can select 2-3 different countries and compare/contrast the photos from those
countries.
Week 2 Activities
This week’s task:​ What do you eat and drink with or without your family on a typical day? Do you
eat any meals at school? Where does your food and drinks come from? Where do you buy your
groceries? Who prepares your meals? Where and how and with whom do you consume it?
Show us visually - with photographs, a short unedited video, or a drawing or painting.
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to…
❏ Visually depict their food and drink in an effective and interesting way.
❏ Prepare and share their work in the Collaboration Centre.
❏ Make good observations and ask good questions as they view their partners’ work.
❏ Discuss what they see and learn in the Collaboration Centre with their partners.
Activities/Task Description
Classroom Activities
Students brainstorm with their peers what and how to visually depict their food and drink.
What aspects do they want to share? Which students will be responsible for which tasks?
1. As homework, students (as individuals or in teams) make photographs (at least 20 jpegs,
including mistakes!), video (a few unedited segments no longer than 30 seconds each) or
other artwork (drawings, paintings, etc.) on this week’s theme: “What We Eat and Drink”.
Students must make their own images, and NOT use images found online.
2. Edit the work - Which images or videos are the most effective? Which describe interesting
aspects about your food and drink? Each student or team should edit their work down to
no more than 3-4 photos or artworks, or 30 second of unedited video per student or team.
Students prepare a small amount of writing - 2 or 3 sentences - to accompany each piece. Use
the writing to help explain what's not obvious. (Where is this? What’s going on? Who is
depicted? What are they doing? Is this an everyday scene or an unusual scene? Why did you
choose this image to share? Does it mean anything special to you?)
Collaboration Centre Activities
1. Students should continue responding to forum posts from Week 1. Keep the conversations
going!
2. Students share their brainstorming ideas - what do they plan to do?
3. Students upload their finished images (or videos) and their written captions or
explanations, to the Collaboration Centre.
4. Students (individually, in groups, or as a class) carefully look through their partners’ new
work that they find in the Collaboration Centre, make observations and discuss. (​
) Students e down their questions, observations, and reactions, and then share their
best questions and responses in the Collaboration Centre. For every o
​ ne​ visual post they
shared, they should respond to at least ​two​ of their international partners’ works.
5. Students answer questions, and continue conversations as long as they can.
Questions to Guide Student Feedback
• Where does your food come from?
• What does your local market look like? Who sells your food? Who buys your food?
• Where does your water come from?
• Who prepares your food?
• Do you eat or drink anything at school?
• What do you do with scraps and food waste?
• Consider simple snacks as well as big family meals.
• How do your international partners’ food and drink photos look different from yours and your
classmates?
Materials and Resources
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Peter Menzel’s “Hunger Planet” Project
Additional Unit Materials
Replying to an iEARN Post
Week 2 - Photo and Caption Examples
What We Eat and Drink Guide
Preparing to Shoot - Photography Handout
Setting Up a Digital Camera - Photography Handout
How to Write a Caption handout
Extension Ideas
● Keep the conversations going!
● Exchange recipes - prepare a dish recommended by your international partners.
Week 3 Activities
This week’s task:​ What does your downtown look like? Are you near a commercial district? Are
there any stores, shops, or businesses nearby? Show us life on your streets. Visit a shop and
show us the store owner or clerk. What does your traffic look like?
Remember: ​Actions​ make better subjects than inanimate objects... what's happening out there?
People make great subjects, too; just be sure to get their permission if you're photographing or
making video. Go downtown, or just take a walk down your street. Don't let bad weather slow you
down - bring an umbrella and keep your camera dry if you're using one.
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to…
❏ Visually depict their downtown or community center in an honest and effective way.
❏ Prepare and share their work in the Collaboration Centre.
❏ Make good observations and ask good questions as they view their partners’ work.
❏ Discuss what they see and learn in the Collaboration Centre with their partners.
Activities/Task Description
Classroom Activities
Students brainstorm with their peers what and how to visually depict in their community. What
aspects do they want to share? Which students will be responsible for which tasks?
1. As homework, students (as individuals or in teams) make photographs (at least 20 jpegs,
including mistakes!), video (a few unedited segments no longer than 30 seconds each) or
other artwork (drawings, paintings, etc.) on this week’s theme: “Our Community”. Students
must make their own images, and NOT use images found online.
2. Edit the work - Which images or videos are the most effective? Which describe an
interesting aspect about their community? Each student or team should edit their work
down to no more than 3-4 photos or artworks, or 30 second of unedited video per student
or team.
Students prepare a small amount of writing - 2 or 3 sentences - to accompany each piece. Use
the writing to help explain what's not obvious. (Where is this? What’s going on? Who is
depicted? What are they doing? Is this an everyday scene or an unusual scene? Why did you
choose this image to share? Does it mean anything special to you?)
Collaboration Centre Activities
1. Students should continue responding to forum posts from Weeks 1 and 2. Keep the
conversations going!
2. Students share their brainstorming ideas. ...What do they plan to do?
3. Students upload their finished visuals together with their writing to the Collaboration
Centre.
4. Students (individually, in groups, or as a class) carefully look through their partners’ new
work that they find in the Collaboration Centre, make observations and discuss. (​
) Students write down their questions, observations, and reactions, and share their
best questions and responses in the Collaboration Centre.
5. Students answer questions, and continue conversations as long as they can.
Questions to Guide Student Feedback
• Where is the busiest part of your local community? What happens there?
• What makes your community different from other communities?
• Who might you find on the street? What might they be doing?
• What kinds of unusual vehicles or traffic might you find on your street?
• What businesses might welcome you to come in and depict their shops and workers?
• How do my international partners’ images look different from mine and my classmates?
Materials and Resources
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Additional Unit Materials
Replying to an iEARN Post
Week 3- Photo and Caption Examples
Community Guide
Preparing to Shoot - Photography Handout
Setting Up a Digital Camera - Photography Handout
How to Write a Caption handout
Extension Ideas
●
Keep the conversation going!
●
What problems does your community face? Share them and discuss ideas for possible solutions
with your international partners.
Week 4 Activities
-or- ​
This week’s tasks:​ ​ (Teachers may choose either or both of the options below.)
1. (Personalities) Photograph, draw, paint, or videotape a person in your community, neighborhood, or
family, engaged in an activity that they might normally be found in - at their job, or working on a project,
or doing a common activity - at their job, or working on a project, or doing a chore or a hobby – not just
standing there and smiling! If you’re using a camera, ask your subject to ignore you and resume their
activity. (Or alternately, ask them to look at the camera but ​not​ to smile.) Show their face as well as what
they’re doing. (Be sure to ask permission to share their images afterwards!)
2. (Alternate Reality) Photograph (or video) one or more students in your class posed against a blank
background, like a wall, and post it in the forum. Then, download one of your international partners’
photos, and make a photo composite (or "green-screen" video composite) using one of your images of
your school or community as a background. Have fun with it!
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to…
(Personalities)
❏ Visually depict a simple story of a community member and an activity they sometimes do.
❏ Explain, in a clear caption, what is happening in the scene. Who is this? What are they
doing?
❏ Prepare and share their work in the Collaboration Centre.
❏ Make good observations and ask good questions as they view their partners’ work.
❏ Discuss what they see and learn in the Collaboration Centre with their partners.
(Alternate Reality)
❏ Make a sharp, well-lit portrait of a classmate
❏ Create a digital photo composite combining one local and one partner image
❏ Create a fun, imaginative scene which describes some aspect of life in your school or
community.
Activities/Task Description
Classroom Activities
(Personalities) Students brainstorm with their peers who and what to visually depict in their
community. What kind of people and activities could they attempt to depict? Which students
will be responsible for which tasks?
(Alternate Reality) As a class, students discuss the process for creating an alternate reality
photograph. In groups, or whole class, students make a plan for who is going to be responsible
for which tasks.
(Personalities)
1. As homework, students (as individuals or in teams) make photographs (at least 20
jpegs, including mistakes!), video (a few unedited segments no longer than 30 seconds
each) or other artwork (drawings, paintings, etc.) on this week’s theme: “Personalities” –
documentary-style portraits of real people and the activities they commonly engage in.
2. Edit the work - Which images or videos are the most effective? Which best tell a true
story about a person in the community and their work? Each student or team should
edit their work down to no more than 3-4 photos or artworks, or 30 second of unedited
video per student or team.
(Alternate Reality)
1. Photograph (or video) one or more students in your class posed against a blank
background, like a wall. Pose your volunteer models in common situations (laughing,
reacting, concentrating, studying, reading a book, asking a question, throwing a ball,
etc.) Try to photograph their entire body (not just their head and shoulders) if possible.
2. Post your best images in the forum. Include their first name, and something that helps
your partners understand their interests in and out of school.
3. Then, download at least one of your partners’ photos. Pretend, for the sake of this
exercise, that they have moved to your community and are enrolling in your school as a
new student.
4. Using photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP (or video editing software), make a
photo composite (or "green-screen" video composite) using one of your background
images of your school or community. You will need to “cut them out” of their original
image using a selection or masking tool, and then “paste them” into an image that you
have taken in your own school or community. Try to choose two photos in which the
camera angle, lighting angle, and light sources are similar.
5. Create a convincing, realistic scene in which your partner is interacting with your
background. If they were a new student in your school or community, what might they
be doing here? What would their new life be like? Pose them in an ordinary situation in
your school or community which describes or teaches us something about your school
or community. (But it’s okay to get a little silly with this if you like!)
In two or three sentences, write a descriptive caption for your image in a documentary style
(for Alternate Reality, write it as if your model was actually there in the image!) Share in the
Collaboration Centre and respond!
Collaboration Centre Activities
1. Students should continue responding to forum posts from Weeks 1-3. Keep the
conversations going!
2. Post your student portrait photos or videos in the forum, together with a caption or
description.
3. Examine and download your choice of your partners’ photo or video portraits.
4. Upload your finished, captioned images.
5. Examine your partners’ images, and share your reactions, questions, thoughts, and
feedback.
6. Respond to feedback and answer questions in the forum.
Questions to Guide Student Feedback
Personalities
● Who are some of the notable personalities in your community? What sorts of jobs are
unique to your community?
Alternate Reality
● If your partner student was enrolled in your school, what would their daily life look like?
● What makes a photocomposite (or greenscreen video composite) look “fake”? How can
you distinguish between a composite and a natural photograph?
Materials and Resources
●
●
●
●
Additional Unit Materials
Alternate Reality How-To Guide
Week 4 - Alternate Reality Examples
Week 4 - ‘Personalities’ Examples
Extension Ideas
Personalities:
• Conduct an interview of one or more of your subjects.
Alternate Reality:
• Make and share a short video with your international partners showing your students at work on
their composites, describing what they are doing.
• Make and share a short video of your model responding to their international partners’
feedback. What did it feel like to see themselves in their partners’ school or community?
Week 5 Activities
This week’s task:​ Prepare and present a final exhibit of your last four weeks of work – including
your favorite partners’ work, and some of your favorite forum exchanges – to share online and
with your local community. Create a slideshow, a short edited video, a collection of captioned
images, a book, or other presentation, together with some of your favorite highlights of your
forum exchanges.
The final exhibit should probably be limited in scope, at the discretion of the teacher - no
more than 15-20 images, for example, or for no more than 3-5 minutes as a video or slideshow.
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to…
❏ Edit their work down to the very best highlights.
❏ Edit their partners’ work down to the very best highlights.
❏ Create a sequenced presentation.
❏ Prepare and present a public exhibit.
Activities/Task Description
Classroom Activities
1. Identify the medium which the final presentation will use (photo portfolio, edited video,
slideshow, book, etc.) as well as who will be creating it. (Will everyone do their own? Will
there be teams who each prepare one? Will the whole class work together on a single
exhibit?) -- Note: This may be predetermined by the teacher.
2. Identify the audience. Who will view this exhibit? How will this affect the content you
choose?
3. Identify yours and your classmates’ best work in this project from the past four weeks:
Which are you most proud of? Which are the most interesting to look at? Which best
communicate something about your life, culture, or community? Collect them into a
single folder.
1. Identify your favorite partners’ works and download them.
2. Consider the sequence - in which order should the work be viewed?
3. Consider a title and brief introduction. How should you introduce your audience to this
collection of work?
4. Would it help to have any additional explanations (captions, titles, voiceovers, extra
slides, etc.) interspersed? Add those additional explanations. Would it help to use
quotes from the discussion forum in addition to the photos?
5. How will the presentation end?
6. Complete the presentation. And if possible, post your results in the forum!
Collaboration Centre Activities
1. Students should continue responding to forum posts from Weeks 1-4. Keep the
conversations going!
2. Review the past four weeks of posts on the forum, and identify which of your international
partners’ images are most interesting, memorable, or effective, as well as which written
exchanges and conversations were the most interesting.
3. Obtain consent from your partners to use and exhibit specific works and exchanges.
4. If possible, post your final presentation online. If it is not located on the forum, post a link to
it. Or if it’s a local, physical exhibit, take a photo of it and post the photo in the forum!
5. Share how it was received, locally - what sort of feedback did you get?
6. Did your international partners post their presentations in the forum? Comment on at least
two of them!
Questions to Guide Student Feedback
• How do you think your work was received by your partners? Which pieces did they best
understand or appreciate?
• What did you learn about your partners’ communities?
• How did this project contribute, locally or globally, to others and to the planet?
Materials and Resources
Appropriate software (video editor, presentation slideshow software, etc.) and possibly hardware
(microphone? headphones?)
and/or Appropriate printing, matting, and/or binding supplies.
Extension Ideas
● Keep in touch with any new friends!
● Participate in iEARN’s “One Day in the Life” or “Alternate Reality” projects.
Project Presentation & Community Engagement
Project Description(s)
During the final week, students will make a final exhibit of their participation in this project which
should include not only their own best work, but also their favorite partners’ work and some of their
favorite forum exchanges – to share online, or with your local community.
It may take whatever form the teacher or their students choose. They may create a slideshow, a
short edited video, a collection of captioned images, a book, or other format.
Students may prepare local exhibits of their captioned photos, videos, and/or art - in a local gallery,
book, poster, or short video collection. (To reach an even wider audience, the presentation might
even be shared with local newspapers or TV stations.) Students may prepare an online exhibit, on
the iEARN forum or elsewhere, as a slideshow, webpage, video, or other medium.
The final exhibit should probably be limited in scope, at the discretion of the teacher - no more than
15-20 images, for example, or for no more than 3-5 minutes as a video or slideshow.
Overview/Plan
See Week 5 Activities.
Presenting Final Products
Final Product
The final presentation may be in the form of:
● A slideshow
● A short edited video
● A collection of captioned images or prints
● A book
● A poster
● ...or other format, at the teacher’s discretion.
Presentation
The final presentation may be shared as:
● A local gallery exhibit of captioned photos and/or art in a school or community
bulletin board or case, or in a local art gallery.
● A well-organized submission of captioned images (with a overall introductory
description) to a local newspaper
● A short, well-organized video submission to a local TV station
● An edited video aired directly to a live school or community audience
● An online exhibit, on the iEARN forum or elsewhere, as a slideshow, webpage,
video, or other medium.
Audience
(local/global)
The project may be shared locally or globally at your discretion (and preferably both!).
Locally, it can be shared with other classes, the whole school, parents, local
community, etc.