What are your thoughts after tonight's class?

I had planned to create my digital story in VoiceThread, but I may try to create it in I-Movie. I have a mac at home and I really haven't explored with I-Movie or many of the programs I have. Using I-Movie will allow me to have more options with transitions and audio if I want it. I think it may be good experience if it is easy for me to use I-Movie and then upload it to VoiceThread to share with students. We don't have I-Movie at school, but I don't think that matters as I am just creating a sample and students could create their stories in VoiceThread and if we find out we need more sophisticated tools, we could investigate some of the the options such as Movie Maker 3.
On another note, the PBS site that allows students to make their own video might be a step in the process to making movies. I had a lot of fun just spending a few minutes creating something that went along with the narration and I think a lot of students would love playing with this.

Podcast

I don't have a regular classroom so I came up with the idea of doing a podcast to help my sub. with using the Follett Library System. I am scheduled to be out of school this week for jury duty and didn't get a chance to run through things with my sub., so I thought this would be a good use of a podcast. I like the idea of leaving your students a message when you are unable to be there that day. Listen to my podcast:

http://www.gcast.com/u/bethke/main

Reflect upon what you are doing in 531 and explain how it is relevant to your teaching situation?

There are many aspects of this class that I can apply to be teaching situation. I serve as a support person and collaborator for teachers. I can see introducing teachers and students to many of the Web 2.0 resources we have used in class and helping them to find ways that they can use it in their classroom. I am a member of the library-technology committee in our consortium and our last discussion centered around the ITL standards and how those really have to be embedded within classroom instruction or other subjects. It just doesn’t make sense to teach many of the skills that apply to those standards in isolation. I think teachers want to include more technology, but sometimes they aren’t familiar with what’s available and how they could use it. That’s why I have really appreciated the Web 2.0 resources that we have explored in class. It gives teachers access to something free that is relatively simple to use. One suggestion to familiarize people with this tools in a fun, non-threatening way is to host “Technology Tuesdays” once or twice a month. It would serve as a forum for sharing and giving teachers time to explore different tools. This could be implemented on a small scale or large scale. If you have administrative support you may be able to get paid time. Otherwise it could start small where teachers that are interested could spend 30 minutes before or after school.

If you used one the storytelling element(s) discussed in class in your class would the lesson be improved and in which way?

I don't have my own classroom, but I work with all the different grade levels in my school and have opportunities to collaborate with different teachers. The kindergarten teacher is focusing on incorporating the six traits of writing into their writing. Doing some teacher modeling, which incorporates point of view will help them with their main idea and subsequently the trait of organization. Kindergartners and other primary students often tell endless and sometimes pointless stories. First I would tell a personal story and focusing on point of view and do a shared writing of the story. The story would have to be fairly simple and short to hold their attention and to be able to write it. Students could use Inspiration to help organize their idea with details and then attempt to write it. It's challenging to incorporate six traits when many students are just emerging as writers. A lot of the exposure to six traits is done by sharing good examples that can help you highlight a specific trait with them and through teacher modeling.

What did we learn and how can we use it?

It was interesting to see the persepctive that each group took on the Civil Rights project. I was surprised how relatively easy Voicethread was to use. I am excited to share it with the teachers at my school. It seems like it could be used with students at all levels for a variety of purposes.

After looking through much of the copyright information I realize that I need to spend more time with students and staff helping them gain a better understanding of what it really means. As I read through the information there were a couple things that surprised me. If I am unsure, then I am sure many students and staff may have questions or misconceptions. I will definitely use some of the resources provided with students in the future.

How might you use storytelling with your students?

I am the reading teacher and librarian at a K - 8 school. I can imagine digital storytelling being used in a variety of ways at my school. Students could use it to write and then tell their own creative stories or to share a favorite memory. They could do a book presentation doing this method, possibly acting as if they were the character. Our third graders just went on a "tour of the world" and they could have presented information about their country or they could have told a story of what a day in the life of a child living in that country might be like based on their research. Some of our middle school students had to write a letter nominated a veteran for a military honor. This may have been a great way to do this. I think it can be a useful tool that could be used in different ways. Although I don't have my own class, I could either work with small groups as a reading teacher or facilitate the use of this tool with teachers and their classes. I would probably first introduce digital storytelling to the teachers in my building. Most likely they will have additional ideas of ways that students could use this.