Blog Entry #8 - Digital Storytelling Article

Bloch (2008) a freelance writer from Atlanta gives us insights to a few instances of how digital storytelling is used in different parts of the United States. In Nevada a teacher by the last name of Crosby uses blogging, Skype, and GoogleDocs to promote communication between his students who are not fluent in English or their native language. His students are paired with students in New York and they edit each other’s work in GoggleDocs, conference with each other using Skype, and blogging to create a story based on a drawing in a story that they had previously read. This type of communication helps Crosby’s students to focus on learning and communicating in English real for them, but also interesting and fun. Bloch (2008) also emphasize that digital storytelling is a modern spin to the ancient art of storytelling. He also informs his audience of TIES this is a training session that teaches digital storytelling processes and even gives us a website www.digitales.us to receive more information about the author of this program.
I think that this article is beneficial because it proves that if a teacher can do it with 90 percent of his class not being able to speak English, then it should be manageable for anybody. It provides a few websites to demonstrate how students have benefited from the digital storytelling process. Also, a few of us have felt the grief of having to communicate on GoggleDocs, but seeing that even fifth graders can survive the process shows me that it is an effective tool. Also, www.digitales.us has many examples of digital storytelling that helped me understand what I will needed to create to help my students.

Bolch, M.. (2008, May). Show and tell. T.H.E. Journal, 35(5), 28,30. Retrieved October 25,2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1484234801).

Description and Reflection of Digital Storytelling

My digital story was created as an instructional tool to teach kindergarten students about the five senses. In the movie, I included video clips from www.unitedstreaming.com, pictures from www.pics4learning.com, and music from www.freeplaymusic.com. With the use of all of these tools I created a movie that will capture my students attention and maybe spark some interest in creating a movie of their own in the future. Since our group ranges from media specialists to elementary to high school we decided to use Moviemaker as an instructional tool instead of an actual example of how students use it. However, I will continue to work independently to create a story with two fourth grade students for staff development at my school. One student is writing a story to describe her experience with the hand, foot, and mouth virus. The other student is creating a story about her relationship with her stepfather. This was a very challenging project. It took many hours to create a four to seven minute clip. It is amazing what you can do with the application once you learn how to do it. I discovered that the best way to learn was through trial and error. There were many times that I had questions and didn’t know how to do something only to find that my team was having trouble also. I learned that I don’t back down from a challenge, but one time for about two days I felt very defeated because I was having trouble uploading a video. However, after the optional face to face(which should be required), a lot of my issues were cleared and I was ready to create my project. Another limitation was that I teach kindergarten and this program is not really fitting for a kindergarten student. However, I could see a teacher putting the pictures up and the students narrating or creating a story. Some of the tricks to moviemaker that I learned were that when you download a video form unitedstreaming that you only need to focus on the clips that you need. The whole video was too much. The next thing that I learned was that pictures and music need to be copyright free. I have started to bank some websites for future use in my favorites file on my laptop. Another important thing I discovered was how to time the music or adjust the pictures to the music. The above listed things are the most important things that I learned. I know I would use this in the future. How I will use it is still up in the air. However, I am not going to wait too long. I don’t want to fall victim to “if you don’t use it then you will lose it” theory. I hope by redelivering it over and over to my staff at my school, that it will stay forever in my brain. Here is the example that I created. http://stu.westga.edu/~kbowen1/moviemaker

Blog Entry #7 - Digital Storytelling Issues

I started creating a story for my kindergarten students teaching the five senses. At first, I did not think that it would be very time consuming. However, I had a lot of trouble downloading and adding a video to my Movie Maker project. After days of trying, I finally discovered that I was trying to download a video that was too large for the Movie Maker application. I then discovered that I could download clips within the video and that made life much simpler. Now, I am trying to decide when I plan to use the video, when to speak, and what to say. I can see how students that go through this same learning process would be great authors. This storytelling application requires a lot of thought and can incorporate a lot of different details. I can't wait to see my final project and look forward to using it in the future.

Blog Entry 6: Emerging Technology that Supports Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

In the article Beyond Gaming, Hertzog and Klein (2005) discuss their observations of exploring, inventing and experimenting with the use of technology in the early childhood classroom. They give many examples of children helping one another on the computer. They tell about the use of digital cameras in the classroom and how children use them for documentation. They show an example of a kindergarten student that demonstrates what they have learned about eggs by creating a web on Kidspiration. While most K/1 children use the programs like Microsoft Word to type up information. They can demonstrate critical thinking skills through Powerpoint, Kidspiration, iMovie, digital cameras, and scanners. Often teachers can hear discussions from other children about the steps in using the technology. The authors state that the communication between students is much greater than that of children playing in the home center or blocks.
This article was very eye opening for me. While I feel very comfortable with technology (most days), I still see kindergarten children as incapable of understanding. My mentality has to change in order for students to reap the benefits of the technology in my classroom. Since starting this program, I believe that my eyes have been opened up to the possibilities that lie ahead for my children. Now, I have to get through the planning and implementation stages to reap the rewards.

Hertzog, N., & Klein, M. (2005). Beyond Gaming: A technology explosion in early childhood classrooms. Gifted Child Today, 28(3), 24-31. http://search.ebscohost.com.ts.isil.westga.edu