Introduction: starting embroidery

In the new world scenario in which the use of digital technologies prevails, in all sectors of society - social, political and economic -, it is not possible to think about the educational system, responsible for the formation of present and future generations, out of focus from this reality and without technological innovation. Based on this assumption, there is a need to create opportunities for courses/meetings so that teachers can be trained and updated. Thus, it is urgent to carry out research, analysis, studies on the possibilities of using the different digital technological resources available in pedagogical work. They will then be used in the content presentation process, in teaching planning, in the elaboration of activities and, mainly, in learning assessment, the starting point for the teacher's work.

Digital information and communication technologies (DICT), according to ^{Soares et al. (2015}), are a range of technological bases that facilitate and expand possibilities of actions and communication between environments and individuals. This is done through equipment, programs and media connected to an internet network, and can be used to enrich the school reality.

In this way, with the DICTs, currently available, it is possible to access several digital technological resources that contribute to the personal and professional lives of individuals, especially in the educational area. Among these available resources, Storyboard That is an option for telling digital stories from visual communication tools.

Studies such as the one by ^{Gomes et al. (2015}) state that the use of digital technological resources, when well used in the educational process, can be allies of the school evaluation system in its different stages: diagnostic (to find out what is known), formative (to verify the understanding of the subject addressed and what the student learned more than he/she already knew) and summative (to assess how much is known in the whole of a given content), in order to contribute to the analysis of the work carried out by the teacher and the student's learning process.

Therefore, the use of these resources can qualitatively enhance the pedagogical work, however, to initiate changes in the educational system, the good intentions of education professionals are not enough. It is necessary that, in the same proportion that technology advances, they prepare themselves to follow the constant changes and innovations that arise to guarantee an education compatible with their time.

Thus, the first step to be taken, in order to guarantee that there is an extension of the technological reality in the school, is to ensure that teachers have access to different continuing education courses in order to promote knowledge about the possibilities of resources and strategies for their use in the educational context.

Among the mandatory contents, established by the National Curricular Common Base - NCCB (BRASIL, 2017), Literature stands out as an artistically organized language, which expands and enriches the perception and worldview of those who have access to it, and which is within the area of Language in the curricular component of Portuguese Language.

Based on this context, the use of the Storyboard That resource was combined in this study with the teaching of Literature, especially that aimed at younger people, to analyse the perception of teachers who work in Basic Education in relation to the planning of evaluative activities in the classes of this subject.

Thus, the proposed objectives are: to discuss the specificities of the use of digital technologies in the teaching and learning process, with emphasis on the digital resource Storyboard That; to analyse the perception of teachers about their training process for the use of digital technologies in view of the need of the current educational reality, in addition to presenting a critical reflection on the possibilities of using this resource as an evaluation tool in Literature classes.

Theoretical Framework: learning to embroider

A lot of knowledge and wisdom were built, historically, by man that became classics for society. It is understood as classic, according to ^{Saviani and Duarte (2012}), what is essential for the human being and that therefore lasts in time and remains as a reference for future generations. It is, therefore, something - in the case of literature - that will be read and reread, always provoking discoveries.

Literature and classical knowledge: ancient embroidery

Among the different classical knowledge, according to ^{Coelho (2020}), literary phenomenon is a product of man's creative imagination, being at the same time something abstract and concrete. It can be considered abstract because its raw material is ideas, feelings, emotions and experiences of various natures and, at the same time, it also uses concrete raw material because it transforms these non-tangible concepts into something real, from the use of the language and words that reach the recipient. Thus, they mark, record and resist over time through various physical supports such as stones, clay tablets, animal skins, paper, books, among others that have evolved over the years until reaching the present day in the form of digital material to be accessed by different resources on the Internet.

Literature, within this context, is part of the literary phenomenon and therefore is a classic knowledge. For ^{Coelho (2020}), it lasts over time because it is a historically constructed art that uses the “word” understood in its broad sense as raw material, that is, as the ability of thought, ideas and imagination inherent to the human being and therefore it is also the differential that makes man stand out in relation to other living beings.

From this same perspective of ideas, it can be said that many literary productions span generations because many of their themes are timeless, as they present and discuss themes that are fundamental at all times, such as love, hate, envy, greed, revenge, disillusionment, happiness. It is enough to turn to Shakespeare's theatre, Camões’ sonnets or the novels of Eça de Queirós and the veracity of this statement will be seen.

The experience with literature, according to ^{Candido (1995}), is a human right that needs to be guaranteed, socialized and stimulated in the school context, because it allows people to exercise their brain and better understand life. In addition, it opens the way for them to better develop their higher psychological functions, acquiring conditions to organize their thoughts and understand the ideas they read.

When considering the importance of taking literary knowledge to the next generations, and the constant influence of technological and digital media in the enchantment of the current generation, the need arises to combine digital technology with the teaching of literature to carry out a teaching process and qualified learning.

Use of digital technologies aimed at assessment in Literature classes: contemporary embroidery

Although the teaching of literature and the work of training readers in school context are of great importance for the integral formation of subjects, this is a complex and arduous task. It acquires an even more challenging character when it comes to how to carry out an adequate process of evaluation of this content, because, as pointed out by ^{Souza et al. (2004}, p. 187): “students do not want to read, making reading an obligation and performing only what is required of them in tests or other forms of assessment”.

All the complexity of working with literature lies in the fact that it is a unique content, whose teaching and learning process cannot be conducted mechanically, requiring it to be directed from dynamic and well-designed investigative instruments that motivate students involved in it. Therefore, its evaluation process is complex and has become even more challenging in this society of digital natives, in which everyday reality is constantly surprised with changes and innovations that attract and delight subjects.

The dynamics of classes and assessments of literary content nowadays needs to be updated to surprise and involve students, with educational practices that ensure the socialization of content historically constructed by humanity. Only in this way will a good learning didactics be guaranteed, which is not massive and outdated, based on the exploitation of available digital technological resources that can be positively added to the educational system. It is certain that:

Digital technology offers new learning opportunities, as interaction with digital devices is a free action capable of stimulating curiosity. This interaction offers the user the possibility to choose the access routes to the information that interest him, select the information he prefers, access the same content as many times as he wants, seeking new and more significant learning, and also produce and socialize new information (^{PISCHETOLA, 2016}, p. 52).

And that is why it is no longer possible to maintain a single standard in the way of teaching and evaluating school content, since digital technologies, made available in an increasingly elaborate way, are acquired and used by people from an early age. As a result of the daily use of different digital tools, routines, interests, ways of accessing and assimilating information and, consequently, of learning, change.

School evaluation must therefore be used as an articulating element of the inclusive school process, by providing conditions for the teacher to get to know the student, monitor and advise their development, and not be restricted to a mere instrument for verifying knowledge, used to control and classification for bureaucratic purposes of the educational system.

In this process, evaluation, according to ^{Vasconcellos (2006}), is understood as any procedure of critical reflection on human practice that aims at improving what already exists, and therefore it is not restricted to being synonymous of tests.

According to ^{Luckesi's (2008}) view, the evaluation also has the function of acting as an instrument of continuous use to support and help the educational practice. It is, therefore, an instrument that enables a broad reflection, both on teacher's work and on student's performance.

Therefore, using different digital technological resources such as software, games and applications, is increasingly necessary for the teacher to mobilize different knowledge, to involve the student both to teach and also to evaluate what he/she already knows, verifying his/her school performance and what he/she still needs to learn.

Based on these assumptions, the use of the digital resource Storyboard That was selected and defined in order to raise critical reflections on its use and as a pedagogical support instrument for the evaluation process in Literature classes.

Storyboard That as an assessment tool in literature classes: evaluating embroidery

The pleasure of reading is not something innate, so it needs to be stimulated in people, and appropriating literary knowledge is somewhat difficult for individuals who do not have the motivation for such learning.

Therefore, encouraging the individual to get involved with reading and literature, in a playful and pleasurable way, is a possible task to be carried out through the use of digital technological resources that arouse the attention and are of great interest to the public made up of children and adolescents in today's society.

The teacher, then, is the main agent, responsible for presenting the book and stimulating the taste and pleasure for literary knowledge, being able to dynamize teaching from technological resources.

Storyboard That, with the resources it provides, is feasible to sharpen creativity and imagination, being an incentive for greater interest and dedication of students. Therefore, the teacher, from the most varied activities, will be able to stimulate the student so that, in addition to learning with less difficulty, he/she can start to enjoy reading and to carry out, with pleasure, activities that help him/her to identify the elements that make up the aesthetical structure of the text. Also understanding subliminal messages, from the transposition of an abstract concept represented by something concrete, managing to present the author's ideas in an organized and creative way, in addition to contextualizing, temporalizing and discussing the text. The teacher also tries to establish links in relation to their reality, managing to organize a re-reading of the most varied texts.

Storyboard That is an easy-to-use technological digital resource, with different icons that are explored using the drag technique. It serves for the elaboration of a graphic construction (Comic Stories - CSs) with drawings and writings of excellent visual communication, and that can be used for educational purposes.

This resource can be accessed online at the following address: https://www.storyboardthat.com/en. It has a free and a paid version. However, the resources available for free are enough to carry out a well-prepared work and allow the creation of up to two Storyboards per week, with up to six cells each. In this resource, it is also possible to give forms to the most varied mental ideas, and to tell or retell a story frame by frame, in a linear or cyclical way.

In its use, the individual can organize and systematize their ideas, extract elements from a literary text and reproduce, through their own interpretation, scenarios, characters extracted from the supporting text with the most different expressions and body postures, different languages ​​(narrator and characters), among others.

Source: https://www.storyboardthat.com/pt. Access in: 24 feb. 2021.

FIGURE 1: Technological resource homepage: Storyboard 

The teacher can use this resource, with a Storyboard prepared by himself/herself, aiming at a certain analysis activity; or present exercises, in which the student, based on the suggested proposal, elaborates his/her own Storyboard, using the resource available online.

Methodological procedures: step by step embroidery

In order to carry out this study on the perception of Literature teachers in relation to the use of the digital resource Storyboard That, the assumptions of the field research were followed, with a quantitative-descriptive approach, with the application of questionnaires and the holding of a workshop as collection instruments of data. The option for this type of research was guided by the following concept:

[...] consist of empirical research investigations whose main purpose is the design or analysis of the characteristics of facts or phenomena, the evaluation of programs, or the isolation of main or key variables (^{LAKATOS, 2003}, p.187).

The investigation data were obtained from the collaboration of twenty Early Childhood Education teachers (Basic Education), from a small town in the north of Paraná, and interpreted from the tabulation of the answers converted into percentage. Thus, initially a telephone contact was made with the target audience, which was invited and selected for working with Literature classes and for having confirmed availability to answer the questionnaire.

Then, a link was sent via WhatsApp message to access the first online questionnaire containing eight questions (two closed and six open). After applying the first questionnaire, it was found, based on the answers, that 90% of the interviewed teachers were interested in participating in a workshop to learn about the Storyboard That resource. There was another contact, via telephone, with these teachers, and meetings were scheduled according to their availability to participate in the workshop.

The workshop was held with 6 participants at a time, synchronously, by Google Meet, and communication by sending messages and photos via WhatsApp group. In total, three workshops were held to assist the 18 interested teachers.

In the workshops, the participants got to know the Storyboard That resource and performed two exercises with the tool: one to represent a literary work or part of it, using the Storyboard That digital resource; and the other, to present an evaluation proposal for the Literature class, using the same resource. The performed activities out were shared among the workshop members in the WhatsApp group.

Then, the participating teachers, again, answered a second questionnaire containing five questions (all open). Of the total of 18 participants, only 15 handed in the second questionnaire.

Analysis and discussion of results: embroidery and its different stitches

In this section, the results of the application of a pedagogical workshop on the digital resource Storyboard That will be presented and discussed, with teachers who work in Early Childhood Education and teach content in the subject of Children's Literature. First, the data obtained with the application of the 1st questionnaire will be presented, which dealt with the profile of the participants and whether they knew technological resources. Next, data from the workshop application on the Storyboard That resource will be presented. Finally, the data obtained with the application of the 2nd questionnaire will be discussed, which sought to know the opinion of the participants about the course and the resource.

Analysis of information from the 1st questionnaire: thread, needle, sewing and basic stitches

About the data collected in the first questionnaire, it was found that 100% of the 20 participants were graduated and post graduated. However, regarding the preparation to work with the use of digital technologies in the classroom in initial training, 65% said they had not received any training; 35% said they had received it, however, of those who claimed to have received it, 15% reported that it was a superficial study that did not provide them with confidence to work with such resources in the classroom.

These data show that, despite teachers meet the level of education required for the professional position they occupy, and have professional experience, there are teachers who feel the need for improvement because they have a professional training that is outdated regarding the standards of teacher training currently proposed by LDBEN nº 9394/1996 (BRASIL, 1996). The legal instrument, in article 62, asserts that teacher training course must contain, among the technical-pedagogical contents, those that provide technological qualifications, which points to the need for these teachers to seek improvement to acquire skills in the use of technologies, via continuing education, which, according to Law No. 12,056 of 2009, can be carried out using resources and technologies online.

About the period of professional activity of the 20 interviewees in the first questionnaire, 20% have experience between 2 and 5 years of work in basic education; 60%, between 6 and 12 years old; and 20%, between 13 and 21 years old. Of this total of teachers with performance ranging from 2 to 21 years old, 90% said they are not prepared to work with the use of digital technologies in their classes and 10% said they are prepared. And the 10% who said they were prepared reported that they sought such preparation through continuing education courses. These data indicate, then, that 90% of the teachers interviewed are not prepared for the educational demand, “of the new world scenario” as established by law (BRASIL, 2017), which defines, as an ideal profile for today, professionals who know to act in the context of digital cultures and who need to have much more than period of experience and accumulation of information.

Of the total of 20 teachers, 55% said they do not use technological resources in their classes and 45% said they use technological resources in classrooms, highlighting, among them, the use of videos, music, computer/notebook, tablet, digital games, digital board, data show, cell phone, TV and radio.

Among all the participants, 100% of them did not know about the digital resource Storyboard That and about the knowledge of other applications, games or digital resources, 5% said they knew Kahoot and 5% Flipligrid. Thus, of the total number of respondents, 90% said they would like to participate in a study workshop to learn about Storyboard That. These data indicate that the limited use of digital technological innovation in classes, by these interviewed teachers, is due to the fact that they do not have the preparation and training for the use of technologies. Therefore, for change to take place, more continuing education courses are needed to overcome this insecurity. In this way, teachers will be able to offer more dynamic classes, with more innovations in the educational field, since, according to the National Curriculum Guidelines for Basic Education (BRASIL, 2013), continuing education is a way of valuing the education professional and the school itself, to the extent that, from there, it is possible to act to improve the quality of teaching.

Analysis of teachers' participation in the Storyboard That workshop: tangling and untangling embroidery threads

Of the 18 workshop participants, all of them did the exercise of elaborating an evaluative proposal and rereading a work or part of a literary work using the Storyboard, but only 15 handed in the second questionnaire.

In the first exercise proposed in the workshop, the teachers built a Storyboard from the representation of the history of a literary book or a narrative of their own.

The profile of the constructions can be observed from the samples presented by the following figures, which consist of the productions carried out by the participants: P1, P2 and P3. In this exercise, it was possible to verify that 100% of the participants were able to understand and use the available resources of Storyboard That, which allows the construction of characters with different sizes, expressions and positions, scenarios of internal and external environments, composition of cells for the elaboration of the story and construction of texts for the speeches of the characters and description of the narrator, among other aspects that make up the literary productions.

Source: Participant 1- Workshop 04/02/2021.

FIGURE 2: Storyboard - Representation of the work The Red-Haired Chicken 

Source: Participant 2- Workshop 04/02/2021.

FIGURE 3: Storyboard: Representation of the book The Grasshopper and the Ant 

Source: Participant 3 - Workshoop 04/02/2021.

FIGURE 4: Storyboard: Representation of the story Little Red Riding Hood 

In the second activity, the teachers prepared an evaluation proposal using the Storyboard That, according to the presentation of the samples, referring to the proposals of the participants P4, P5 and P6 described below.

Propose an interactive retelling for Kindergarten students, using the Storyboard That feature presented with a data show, with the shared computer screen for the class and the children actively participating in the story, creating new versions, new endings of the original story, with change of characters and scenarios. The teacher can start the story and let his students create stories with common points, such as: specific city, number of characters. The student creates from their perspectives and their creativity (Proposal 4, P4, 02/04/2021).

After reading the book, introduce the characters and arouse the child's interest in participating in the interpretation of the reading, with the presentation of the characters, and the scenario of the story and questioning whether the characters and scenario correspond or not with what was described in history (Proposal 5, P5, 02/04/2021).

Present a scenario of a story that has already been worked on, with the episodes of the story out of order and ask the students to observe and, together with the teacher, organize the cells in the linear order of the story (Proposal 6, P6, 02/04/2021).

These data demonstrate that teachers are able to articulate technology with the teaching process in a dynamic way, when they are aware of innovations.

Analysis of information from the application of the 2nd questionnaire: new embroidery prints

Of the 15 participants who gave the feedback, 100% of them said that getting to know the Storyboard That feature was a very rewarding experience; 100% stated that the tool is a good option for exposing content in literature classes, and highlighted the following points among the various benefits it presents: awakening the teacher's creativity in the ways of exposing and evaluating content; to help students demonstrate their creativity and organize their ideas, making the class more interesting and dynamic for them, in addition to making abstract concepts possible to explain from graphic representations of the concrete world; and it also stimulates more concentration time (of the student), in reading, to gather information about the text.

As for the negative points, 47% said they did not identify any negative point in relation to the use of the tool, and of the 57% who pointed out the negative points, among the answers there were those who presented more than one fact. Among them: 20% said that the negative factor would be the lack of technological equipment resources at the school for the teacher to present the tool and for the students to be able to access and use it; 13% stated that the difficulty in using this feature is that it is an easy tool to use on the computer, but difficult on the cell phone; and 27% pointed out that one of the negative factors is the fact that the tool has part of the paid features and, in the free version, generates watermarked PDF files, damaging the aesthetics of the produced material.

These data demonstrate that teachers, as they access digital resources, have a critical look at them, not using them in a unfocused, that is, there is a greater objective, which is the quality of teaching. That's why they analyse the possibilities both positively and negatively, resulting in something innovative.

As for the effects of the workshop on future works carried out in literature classes, 93% of respondents said they intend to use the resource, and of these 100% said that the resource will be an important ally to organize and promote more interactive and dynamic Literature classes and evaluation. And the 7% that do not intend to use the tool, there was no justification.

These data indicate that, despite the goodwill of the teachers who participated in the research in wishing to follow the changes and bring innovations to the classroom, there is a gap in continuing education in relation to the technological reality and a deficiency in terms of investments in technological devices in schools which still do not meet the demand of students.

Final considerations: last stitches of the embroidery

In the course of this research, it was possible to verify that, despite the great advances of science and digital technologies, there is much to improve for the universalization of knowledge and the use of this innovation in the school context with regard to curricular contents. The necessary changes range from teacher training to the provision of digital devices that mediate the use of the different resources, software and applications that exist for students to access.

It appears that there are laws ensuring the training of teachers for this new digital age, but the reality is conflicting, with few digital technological devices available at school, teachers who have been working for a long time and have not had any training in the use of technologies (not even in the initial or continuing training) and with other recent graduates, with a very superficial training in the use of technological resources and who, therefore, also feel insecure in the face of the new reality of digital technology.

The research data show that the teachers participating in the research showed interest in the resource and approved Storyboard That as a pedagogical tool that can be used in literature classes. Also, that knowledge about the existence of the resource provided the awakening of creative ideas for the elaboration of different types of evaluative activities in the subject of Literature, through infinite dynamic and interactive approaches that can make the class and the evaluation process more playful and pleasurable.

The survey data also show that the interviewed teachers perceive a gap in their training regarding the use of technological tools, which creates insecurity in working with such resources in the classroom. This points to the need for greater mobilization on the part of teachers, in the sense that they wish to update themselves and have access to continuing education courses for the use of digital technological resources and monitoring of the innovations present in today's society.

It is noted that it is worrying the fact that just as the Storyboard That was not known to the teachers until the moment before the workshop, many other resources, digital tools and existing software, which could be important allies of the educational process to make the class more dynamic, interesting and productive, they are not used by teachers due to lack of knowledge.