Podcasts

Although there were only a few of us in class, I really am glad we had the opportunity to learn how to create a podcast. It was so similar to the digital movie...I only wonder if a PC version would be that easy.

On another note, I taught some of my colleagues how to use the Windows Movie Maker and boy were they excited! They too commented on how easy it was to navigate through and are excited to introduce this to kids and to have them use it in their next IB unit! Now only if that excitement would spread through to the rest of the staff. We had a staff meeting on Wednesday before class and watched a clip on technology and preparing our kids for the 21st century. After that clip a lot of the staff commented that they would like more training on using various programs...so staff development here I come!

Sorry

I will have to apologize for not posting since last week's class. I have been really distracted with care for my ailing step father so thinking and concentrating on anything has been really hard!

In the last session we had I LOVED the etherpad activity we did. This would be a great way for kids to work collaboratively on their writing skills and to help with editing work. I don't know if I am ready to implement this tool, however, it will be in my bag of tricks for later use.

Right now, I am working on completing my lesson plan. I think I am a bit too detailed, but it was fun creating. I have a student teacher right now and we discussed how we could use this as a culminating activity for the end of our reading themed unit. I can't wait to get my hands on the CD of our class projects so that I can utilize some of the ideas in my classroom!

Hope you all have a relaxing and happy Thanksgiving!

Keyboarding

I was really happy that we discussed keyboarding in class and did the activity with the pros and cons of teaching keyboarding stand alone or as part of TPACK. As I mentioned in class last week our district wants us to teach keyboarding stand-alone and I had a training to do so. However, I have seen other teachers teaching the stand alone version of keyboarding and the kids complain all of the time about how boring it is to do. No thanks!!!!!

Last year, I utilized using technology with my students in all of their writing and publishing. I feel as though integrating the technology as part of my instruction kept the kids motivated to write and their writing and computer skills improved. So needless to say I don't teach keyboarding stand alone. I feel as though the kids are at different levels of keyboarding skills and I allowing them to go at their own pace with typing and navigating through the various computer programs. I also, strategically place more advanced tech saavy kids next to students who may need assistance. This works out well as they can help those who I can't get to right away.

Digital Storytelling...continued

Sorry this is late getting on here....I thought it posted by obviously not if I am rewriting this.

So this past week I was sitting in one of our collaboration meetings for our International Baccularette unit (which is a cross curricular program to help prepare students for the 21st century) we were discussing our next unit of study which is culture. And bam...it struck me that we could use digital story telling to have studnets write personal narratives or to recreate a cultural story. I brought that up to my colleagues and they were excited to try it! So that got the ball rolling....I then went to my principal with the idea and he was excited as well. So now I am in the process of getting information for the software that we need.

Then funny enough, I was at a wedding this weekend and was talking to a kindergarten colleague of mine and we were talking about technology and she was so excited to share that she knows how to use Animoto, but was limited to only 3o second clips and that's when I told her about VideoSpin. So I will be showing her that sight this week!

I am so excited to incorporate the digital storybooks!

Digital Storytelling....I made a movie!

I am proud to say that I finished my digital story...and I did it all on my own! This was quite a feat for me knowing that I have not been in class for the last 2 weeks. I was starting to freak out, but I took a deep breath and decided to do a search online to see if I could find a site where I could download a program to make a digital movie...and low and behold I found a free one...Pinnacle Video Spin....This site was fabulous as it gave you a tutorial on how to create the video. Then I had to figure out how to record my voice on my computer...after figuring that out I was good to go. I want to make more videos! Anyhow, I look forward to sharing this with the rest of the class although the subject matter is a bit of a downer...it will be something that I can share with my son as he gets older.

Digital Storytelling

So I have written my digital script. Initially, it was hard to narrow down a topic but once I got into the flow of writing, things fell into place. It was motivating for me to find the different songs and pictures to incorporate into my story. I am still nervous as to how to incorporate the music, pictures, and text into the movie....but I will hopefully figure it out. I can not wait to see the final product of my digital story!

I could definitely use this activity when we doing personal narratives for my kiddos. This project would definitely take a lot of prep and patience from me as students muttle through the process however, think of the engagement and motivation of all students!!!.

I definitely, think that once I master this digital storybook, then I could also take this to my building staff members and offer it as professional development.

Digital Storytelling

To be honest right now I am a bit nervous about doing this project (as I am kind of figuring this out on my own because I missed the last 2 classes...so any helpful hints would be appreciated!) Right now I definitely can related to those teachers who I have talked about who are hesitant to try anything new especially when instructions are not clear or have been missed. I do feel as though this will be a good activity to use with students in a variety of ways such as in story mapping, sequencing, and characterization. But for right now, I will muttle through...happy storytelling. I look forward to see the creativity of our class members!