Digital storytelling is "the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories." In the past stories were told verbally and with ink and paper. Most digital stories still focus on a specific topic and point of view but contain a mixture of images, text, audio, video and music. Like any traditional story they can vary in length although they are normally no longer than ten minutes. Digital stories can range from personal tales, history stories, exploring ones community and anything in between. Digital stories can be shared through the web, email, iPhones, or cds making easier to share ones story with people living in different parts of the country or world.
Digital storytelling can be a great resource in a classroom. Students are able to explore writing and grammar while getting to add fun sound effects, music, images, and color to their personal stories. Students also are able to learn more about technology through the creation of digital stories, they learn how to record voices, cut clips out of songs, and edit pictures. Stories could be written in groups or individually with different requirements of length, images, and sound. This style of writing really encourages a child's development as an individual.
I really like how digital storytelling can be adapted to classes of all ages. Children can start with simple stories in 1st and 2nd grade and continue to work with the same concepts going more in depth with abstract thinking as they get older. Younger children can focus on just the creation of a story while more effects such as voice-recordings, music, and images can be introduced as the children get older.
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/
http://www.inms.umn.edu/elements/
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Blog Education
I have been following David Warlick and his blog called 2cents Worth. I have really enjoyed a few of his postings. A few of them are little to technical and about politics and teaching theories that I don't quiet follow yet because I still have a ways in my schooling. But even though I don't fully follow the postings it is fun to read his point of view on many of the items and I do enjoy many of his other postings that aren't quiet as political.
One posting that I really enjoyed reading a few weeks ago was call "Next Textbooks Are..." the author sent out a a request for people to share defining characteristics of "old paper printed textbooks" and a statement of where new textbooks are going. He was able to collaborate a interesting amount of data that he displayed in a table to compare the "old" and "new" versions of textbooks. Some of what people said included...
- Old textbooks are "stable" while new textbooks will "be fluid and dynamic and ever adapting to learning experiences"
- Old textbooks are "errorless, error ignoring" while new textbooks will "admit errors and will socially self-correct"
- Old textbooks are "heavy" while new textbooks will "weightlessly make themselves available to any learner, anywhere, anytime"
This post really got me thinking about how education is changing so much with the development of technology. No longer are schools having to buy books for every student each year, many now use tablets and each student has the books that they need loaded on to them at the beginning of the year. This makes not only the environmental impact smaller but it makes it easier for students to keep track of their books and take them to and from school without stuffing their backpack. I think that it is interesting with electronic books it is also easier to make edits to a book by just downloading an update. I remember from when I was in Elementary school having a Social Studies text that the teacher had to edit as she taught because of misprints and the school couldn't afford new books until the following school year.
Another post from his blog that I enjoyed reading and feel benefited me as a teacher was one called "Note-Taking at ISTE". In this post he discussed note taking methods from when he was at the 2011 ISTE conference in Philadelphia. For him the easiest way to take notes is through a concept map. This does not include "complete sentences, but do carry a visual syntax of relationship, which is easily editable during less pertinent moments of a presentation or workshop." He uses an app call Mindo that allows him to type quickly and easily place his notes on his screen. This app also allows the notes to be saved in different formats so they can easily be transferred to a cellphone, laptop, and other technology tools.
This post really got me thinking on how students are learning to take notes today in school. I learned how to take notes the old fashioned bullets and indents way. But with technology becoming so integrated into everyday classrooms I wonder how students doing it now? Are they still writing them all out or are there other options available with tablets and other technology.
The last post that I am going to write about today is one titled "What Does Your Wall Do Outside of Your Lessons?" In this post he discusses what do teachers do with their whiteboards, projectors, and computers when they are not teaching lessons. Often times these spaces on the walls where the lessons are taught are blank between lessons and while students are in transition. The post discusses the idea of having a video playing when students walk in the classroom in the morning with limited audio illustrating the "Known Universe". How compelling can one be with technology when not using it in a lesson plan? At the end of the post he makes a great statement in my opinion saying, "I wonder how your projector and wall might be utilized to facilitate learning between and beneath the bell schedule?"
This really got me thinking because I have been in quite a few classrooms over the years, sometimes as students and sometimes as a volunteer or observer. I often notice how whiteboards and projectors remain off and blank until the moment of a lesson that may utilize them such as learning new math skills. I think that it would be great if teachers found ways to use technology in between the lessons with slideshows, powerpoints, blank boards for the students to work on, or even just a review of something they've been learning. For example if a class is studying the geography of the world pictures in a slideshow that demonstrate different altitudes, weather, and vegetation would be great to show between lessons.
One posting that I really enjoyed reading a few weeks ago was call "Next Textbooks Are..." the author sent out a a request for people to share defining characteristics of "old paper printed textbooks" and a statement of where new textbooks are going. He was able to collaborate a interesting amount of data that he displayed in a table to compare the "old" and "new" versions of textbooks. Some of what people said included...
- Old textbooks are "stable" while new textbooks will "be fluid and dynamic and ever adapting to learning experiences"
- Old textbooks are "errorless, error ignoring" while new textbooks will "admit errors and will socially self-correct"
- Old textbooks are "heavy" while new textbooks will "weightlessly make themselves available to any learner, anywhere, anytime"
This post really got me thinking about how education is changing so much with the development of technology. No longer are schools having to buy books for every student each year, many now use tablets and each student has the books that they need loaded on to them at the beginning of the year. This makes not only the environmental impact smaller but it makes it easier for students to keep track of their books and take them to and from school without stuffing their backpack. I think that it is interesting with electronic books it is also easier to make edits to a book by just downloading an update. I remember from when I was in Elementary school having a Social Studies text that the teacher had to edit as she taught because of misprints and the school couldn't afford new books until the following school year.
Another post from his blog that I enjoyed reading and feel benefited me as a teacher was one called "Note-Taking at ISTE". In this post he discussed note taking methods from when he was at the 2011 ISTE conference in Philadelphia. For him the easiest way to take notes is through a concept map. This does not include "complete sentences, but do carry a visual syntax of relationship, which is easily editable during less pertinent moments of a presentation or workshop." He uses an app call Mindo that allows him to type quickly and easily place his notes on his screen. This app also allows the notes to be saved in different formats so they can easily be transferred to a cellphone, laptop, and other technology tools.
This post really got me thinking on how students are learning to take notes today in school. I learned how to take notes the old fashioned bullets and indents way. But with technology becoming so integrated into everyday classrooms I wonder how students doing it now? Are they still writing them all out or are there other options available with tablets and other technology.
The last post that I am going to write about today is one titled "What Does Your Wall Do Outside of Your Lessons?" In this post he discusses what do teachers do with their whiteboards, projectors, and computers when they are not teaching lessons. Often times these spaces on the walls where the lessons are taught are blank between lessons and while students are in transition. The post discusses the idea of having a video playing when students walk in the classroom in the morning with limited audio illustrating the "Known Universe". How compelling can one be with technology when not using it in a lesson plan? At the end of the post he makes a great statement in my opinion saying, "I wonder how your projector and wall might be utilized to facilitate learning between and beneath the bell schedule?"
This really got me thinking because I have been in quite a few classrooms over the years, sometimes as students and sometimes as a volunteer or observer. I often notice how whiteboards and projectors remain off and blank until the moment of a lesson that may utilize them such as learning new math skills. I think that it would be great if teachers found ways to use technology in between the lessons with slideshows, powerpoints, blank boards for the students to work on, or even just a review of something they've been learning. For example if a class is studying the geography of the world pictures in a slideshow that demonstrate different altitudes, weather, and vegetation would be great to show between lessons.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Global Communities
For this blog I started by just googling "school global communities". The first site that showed up on the list was ePals. This is a great global community that connects classrooms around the world allowing for a safe, collaborative site for teachers to use to connect students of all cultures and ages.
EPal allows teachers to connect with classrooms in 200 countries across the world. Teachers can work together to figure out the logistics of pairing students together to email, how often to email, and what topics to email about (will it be part of a geography or cultural unit). There are also projects that ePal has topics, questions and overviews already created for teachers to use in their classroom. The site also includes sections on biodiversity, black history, storytelling and a Team Earth section that focus on climate change and how to protect the planet. All these options are great add-ons for a teacher to use in lessons throughout a school year.
Students can also use the pen pal opportunity to ask questions to the other students about life in another country. They can use these questions to learn about the similarities and differences that they share with children across the world. How many siblings do you have? Who do you live with? How long is your school day? Whats your favorite color? What do you do for fun? Where do you live?
I also found a site that listed 50 ways to use Skype in the classroom. It listed ways that teachers can use Skype to promote education, and community with links to the information. It also had links to others sites for connecting with others across the world through Skype.
Some of the great ideas for use Skype in the classroom include:
1. See Me, Hear Me: Skype in the Classroom. Read how these students had the opportunity to chat with an author of the book they studied via Skype.
2. Field trips. If students aren't able to participate in a field trip due to factors such as budgetary or distance constraints, use Skype to bring the field trip into the classroom.
3. Field trips. If students aren’t able to participate in a field trip due to factors such as budgetary or distance constraints, use Skype to bring the field trip into the classroom.
4. Inclusion — helping a classmate join the classroom from home. This blog post explains how a 4th grade class used Skype to help a classmate with leukemia become a part of the classroom from her home.
5. Foreign culture lessons. Skype allows students to see first hand what people’s homes, schools, clothing, weather, and more looks like. If a festival takes place, Skype can bring it to your classroom too.
6. Best Day Ever!. This teacher describes three Skype calls her class had in one day–the most exciting being with a class in a different time zone with whom her students had been collaborating on a project through Google docs. With Skype, the students got to work at the same time and actually see each other, too.
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