Digital Storytelling

The Digital Story examples were very helpful especially because I have never created one of my own before.  It was great to be able to see the many ways that it could be put together, and really each of them had something brought something different to the table.  Many of the examples were done using Photo Story3 and the feedback from each blog I visited helped me to decided that this was also the program I wanted to explore with creating my first digital story.

I really enjoyed how each video transitioned so smoothly.  I have to admit I am a little nervous about creating one because I have never put my voice to anything!  I liked Rubi's  story because it showed her actions while the video was taking place, and in Megan's story she talked about herself and her hobbies but it was more like a slide show with different transitions going along with her voice.  Both versions are very cool, and I really enjoyed them both.  I think Photo Story will be a great place for me to get started with it being my first time creating something like this.  Have any of you used Photo Story3 before?  Do you know of any challenges I may run into trying to get my project going?

Twitter

I have always heard of Twitter, and have even seen hash tags floating around Facebook posts, but just never explored it myself.  Before taking this course I had no desire to check Twitter out, and I was so busy trying to catch up with all the changes being made on Facebook.  Well in class the other night I created a Twitter account and with some guidance saw how this Social Media website can be used in an educational way.

I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the amount of information I could have access to by doing a simple search.  The content embedded within each individual post was pretty cool.  I can definitely see how educators use this tool to their advantage.  They are able to tap into new ideas and tips for their class rooms in the matter of a few minutes.

I definitely plan to familiarize myself with Twitter a little more now that I know of its capabilities! How are you guys using Twitter right now?  More for personal or professional?

Blog on Iowa!

 

I enjoyed reading through the Iowa blog posts, because with most of them you are able to see the student’s personality show right through especially if they happened to be passionate about the topic.  Giving students another outlet in which they are able to express themselves through writing is awesome.  They will more than likely be eager to complete class assignments because it wouldn’t seem so tasking in the form of a blog.  Of course not every assignment can be done by way of a blog, but giving student the option to write in this type of format on a variety of assignments can let them explore different writing styles and techniques. 

Principle Miller's blog post says it the best!  He breaks down all the benefits of introducing blogging to students, and I think it is awesome that he is introducing it to students in his school as early as second grade!  Because blogging is being utilized more in the classroom I think messages like Principle Miller help to put parents at ease if they are ever uncertain if their child should participate in such assignments.  He does a great job of talking about the safety, and benefits students and teachers will gain from such opportunities.  If your child's principle encouraged blogging in your child's school would you support his efforts??

 

 

Literacy ≥ Technology

Is Literacy greater than, or equal to Technology? 

I personally cannot pick one or the other especially having learned so much about how technology can go hand in hand with literacy. I am now a strong believer that one can help to support the other after having taken my last class and having been in this class that last few weeks.  Literacy is a huge part of education and the current tools used to have children learn and comprehend can only be enhanced by the technologies that are constantly being  produced.

Though I am not an educator not I think for the teacher who is not completely comfortable with using technology in the classroom the key may be in really finding the tool that is a good fit for them, and their classrooms needs.  Once they discover that tool and begin taking some time to familiarize themselves with they can being to introduce it to their classroom.  Blogging is a great example because teachers can use it in many ways to get their students to write and still maintain the safety of the students when doing these activities.  The student and the teacher will begin to see the benefits in carrying out blogging exercises in the classroom and you can review some of the benefits of using blogging by clicking here

 

ALF Animoto Style

For those of you wonder what exactly ALF is, it stands for the American Liver Foundation!  Just about two years ago my little sister then 15 years old out of no where started suffering from acute liver failure.  And within two weeks only 20% of her liver was functioning.   We needed a miracle!  And I am happy to say we received one, my sister has been doing well in recovering, and will be off to her first year in college come the Fall.  With all that being said my family and I participate annually in the Liver Life Walk and with the American Liver Foundation.  So every year I speak with co workers in hopes that they will find the cause just as important as I do and either contribute a donation or participate in the Liver Life Walk with a team.  Every little bit helps towards research and educating those who don't already know that Liver Disease is one of the top ten cause of death across the United States.




Because I am not an educator I chose to do my Animoto on ALF because I know it is something I am able to share with my colleagues in trying to rally their support around this cause.  I found creating the Animoto to be pretty easy, however I did accidentally produce my first draft when in fact I thought I was previewing it.  But I quickly realized my error and got back to the drawing board.  I hope you guys enjoy my first Animoto!

For my images I used the Google advanced image search.  When doing this image search I actually found an image of my family and other participants from an event we were part of  which was kind of cool because we had no clue it was searchable! I also used the American Liver Foundation website for a couple of the facts listed in the Animoto.

Blogging = Interactive Learning Tool

In reading Online Collaborative Inquiry:Classroom Blogging Ventures and Multiple Literacies it really opened my eyes further on just how Blogging can enhance a students literacy skills. Blogging and wikis are not used in place of the basic classroom assignments they are used in addition to those scheduled assignments. The goal of using these online tools are to get students accustomed to writing on a regular basis in different types of formats. Students can still write academically, or as informal as the teacher may allow to complete an assignment. It also encourages students to have discussions that are academically based with one another when using blogs. 

I especially LOVE the fact that blogging allows for a sort of global pen pal aspect for teachers and students. I think it just adds a layer of excitement for students in wanting to complete reading and writing assignments knowing that they will have an opportunity to share and collaborate with students that are thousands of miles away.  Take Aviva Dunsiger, who teaches at the Ancaster Meadow School, Ontario, Canada she goes above and beyond to give her students an experience with Skype. I thought it was very interesting because she was able to incorporate literacy into this lesson and I would have never thought of anything like this for a second grade classroom check it out!

Diigo and I

I know I have mentioned Diigo in a previous post but since then I have actually added a few more items to my library and learned that I can share the link directly to my Diigo library!  So I have been on the web and in my RSS trying to find different blogs that spark my interest.  I beginning to think that I am very picky about what I add to my library, given that I have browsed through quite a lot of blogs on various topics in Higher Ed, but not to many have caught my eye.  So I decided to just do a search on "education blogs" in general and have found more blogs that way.  The cool thing is that I actually found a couple of blogs that kind of go along with what we have been talking about in class in regards to why teachers should opt to using technology in classrooms, and even this one called Cool Cat Teacher Blog which is awesome because she shares different types of freebies that teachers may find helpful in the class room.  I am pretty open to different eduacational blogs, anyone have any suggestions for my library?!?