Digital Story Telling

Have you ever heard of digital story-telling? Well if you haven’t, you need to be aware of this innovative way to teach in the classroom. Forget the chalk board and get ready for an enhancing tool that will change the typical classroom scene. Digital story-telling is formulated on the idea of combining the art of telling stories utilizing digital multimedia, which consists of images, video, and audio. You can use an assortment of tools using digital story-telling to enhance or better a specific unit plan. You can use pictures, text, personal narration, music, and even videos to enhance your student’s minds. They will love to interact by using digital story-telling, and well teachers will too! Here are the seven elements of digital story-telling:

1.Point of View
2.A Dramatic Question
3.Emotional Content
4.The Gift of Your Voice
5.The Power of the Soundtrack
6.Economy
7.Pacing

The seven elements of digital story-telling helped me create enhancing unit plan. My unit question is “How can I work with other students and hear their thoughts and ideas?” This is very important for students early on to understand because your voice in a classroom is extremely important to hear. Your voice may teach someone else, or your voice may help you talk out an idea you may have. Communicating in a classroom is a vital part of the learning process. I have created a project plan, and a story board, which enables you to see how I used a digital story-telling movie to enhance my unit plan. I have incorporated the seven elements of digital story-telling to help me outline my plan. The movie will be based from my point of view, I being the teacher and instructing the students. My dramatic question is “How can I work with other students and hear their thoughts and ideas?” I have incorporated a lot of emotional content to keep my unit lesson personal, and meaningful. I used the gift of your voice, and the power of the soundtrack to address to the students personal, and also entertain them as well. I used the economy element to address the main issue, and keep the students focused and not bored or overwhelmed. The last element I used was pacing. I purposely paced my stories progress, so the unit plan would smoothly and at timely speed to get through the unit plan, and have time for discussion afterwards. Check out my Storyboard, and Unit Activity Plan to see how I used digital story-telling elements to create a movie.

How do I behave in the classroom? *Voice Thread*

Through technology teachers have found a new innovative way to teach students. Digital storytelling is a great tool to use in the classroom. It enhances student’s minds, and throws them into a whirlwind of emerging technology. This interactive tool can be used in many ways, such as through Slide Share, Slide Cast, and Voice Thread. These tools are very similar, but they do have their own uniqueness too. Place-based story-telling is a tool of digital story-telling that merges with digital mapping tools and with the power of narrative. This tool is a great way to motivate students, and bring something new to the classroom. I would suggest this tool for older students, but it can certainly be used with younger students as well, but would be modified to their needs, and capabilities. The theory behind digital story-telling entails strategic thinking, and useful strategies to use in the classroom. Learning the same old way all the time bores students, so they need interactive tools to open up their minds and excel in the classroom. Students would encounter an international audience, which would only make learning more interesting. This unique tool could be the key to success in your classroom!

Voice thread, Slide Share, and Slide Cast are great tools to use in the classroom. I was a bit hesitant about them at first because they seemed too hard for me to understand, but I never would have guessed how easy it was to use. I used Voice Thread and was able to find neat ways to incorporate pictures, and audio into my unit plan. Voice Thread has great helpful tips, and voice threads for you to follow if you need help using one of their tools. Adding audio was easy for my because I have a microphone in my laptop, so I just has to click a few buttons, and I was ready to go. It was a lot easier to use once I began to explore the site.

My unit question is “How can I behave in the classroom?”. I used Voice Thread to create an innovative way to show students how to behave in the classroom. I used pictures of students behaving good and bad in the classroom, and used audio to explain the instructions. Each slide has a comment, and way for the students to leave their own comments. I could definitely use Voice Thread in the future in many ways. I could use it to show other teachers different lesson plans, or I could use it in my classroom and give the students projects. The audio helps a lot for the students to hear the teacher’s voice because it focuses the students on what actually needs to get done. If they are still in kindergarten they may not know how to read, so incorporating audio is a great tool to use. I the interaction between a student and technology engages the students to want to learn. I definitely recommend this tool! Take a look at my Activity Plan for my Voice Thread.

Exploration Tools for the Classroom

Technology has taken over our society in more ways then imaginable. We are entirely dependent on the resources that is has. Technology isn’t the easiest to learn, but it also isn’t the hardest thing to learn. With a little bit of exploration and time you will learn just how much technology has to offer. I have learned a lot this week exploring different search engines, and sites trying to find resources pertaining to my unit plan.

My unit plan is based on social behavior, and I have found a lot of great sites and information. You can look at my Works Cited to see some of the resource that I have found. The resources that I have cited also lead into more extensive sites, so your search will be never ending. Trying to search on the internet can sometimes be difficult, but I have learned some new tools this week to make it easier. RSS is a great tool to use if you live a busy life. If you subscribe through Google it will search for you and keep you updated on certain things you are interested in. Tagging is also a great way to keep track of your favorite sites, and be able to bookmark them, so you can always go back to them. It will save you some time, and should always be able available to you. Social media is also great tool to use because it allows you to get information from other people, and even leave feedback, or have a video of your own. These tools are great for searching on the computer. These tools will be greatly needed in the classroom, and would take teaching to the next level. Students could use kid friendly search engines to get valuable information on a research paper, or learn how to use the computer more effectively. Teachers can use these sites to find new innovative lesson plans, and learn new tools to show to the students. Class projects can be done using the computer, which would only allow children to learn more valuable information through socializing and collaborating with different classrooms.

Blogging is just the beginning!

Throughout the years modern educational tools, such as technology have taken over the new wave of learning. Blogging for example is a new modern tool used in many ways for personal reflection, educational, and business purposes. Technology more than ever has really taken precedence in the classroom. Many teachers, students, and parents are using technology to close the gap between them and beyond the classroom walls.

Blogging is great to bring into the classroom because it allows students, parents, and teachers to get involved in the learning process at a whole different level. It is great for students to learn new technology, and learn how to blog. Blogging is great for a personal reflection journal, or even homework assignments. It is also great for students to communicate with other classmates and see their views, and ideas. The students could even communicate internationally by looking at other student blogs from different countries. Parents could look at what’s going on in the classroom by looking at their child’s blog, and learn how to help their child’s learning process without having multiple teacher conferences, or ever wondering how they can help. Teachers can utilize blogs tremendously throughout their career by posting their ideas, class projects, and great educational tools for students, and other teachers to use. They can create class projects with students using their own blog, and help them find new ways to express themselves. They can have a class blog to communicate with students and parents to keep them updated with deadlines, and upcoming projects, and ideas. Teachers can help other teachers with new ideas to use in the classroom, and maybe even get advice on certain subjects. In David Warlick’s blog http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/ his post More on what matters.. he states “the tools the new technology offers are impressive and do enable me to expand the boundaries of my class room”. I love that statement because that the key to teaching students. Warlick’s reflection on technology really makes you realize the importance behind technology. Blogging is just the beginning!

Inquiry & Project-Based Learning: Unit Lesson

Throughout history inquiry and project- based learning have been two of the stepping stones for a child to succeed in the classroom. Many educators have diverse views on these two learning approaches, but some still use these approaches as a window of opportunity in the classrooms to help students learn at a different level. Inquiry based learning is based on natural thinking and human experiences through the human senses, such as seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. It is a very hands on approach that involves a great amount of involvement that obtain skills, and behaviors to inquire resolutions, and a better understanding for a subject. This approach is needed in the classroom to broaden the student’s minds. Students need to get their feet wet and stop reading out of a text book all day long. They need to experience their own individual knowledge and take it beyond someone else’s words. Project-based learning is based on students working together with other students to obtain a common goal, but are assessed individually. Experimenting real-world topics is great for students to explore the many answers in life. This learning approach is needed in the classroom because working collaboratively will broaden resolutions. Students can learn from each other and help each other in the same process.

How does social behavior affect our lives? This is my essential question that I have constructed for my unit plan. I chose this for my essential question because social behavior in education is extremely important, and it relates to many key subjects, such as languages arts, social studies, science, and of course any aspect of a child’s life as well. My three unit questions are; How can I behave in school?, How can I express my feelings and thoughts?, and How can I work with other students and hear their thoughts and ideas? All three of these questions touch a specific part of social behavior, but also enable the students to really discover the many answers and ideas they may have on the topic. These questions are great to utilize them in inquiry and project-based learning. Inquiry based learning would be utilized because the second unit question states “how can I express my thoughts and ideas?”, which asks the students to express their individual thoughts and ideas in the classroom. Project-based learning would be utilized using the third unit question, which states “How can I with other students and hear their thoughts and ideas?” which enables the students to figure out a way to work with other students on a specific project and achieve a common goal.