Digital Storytelling Reflection

     I am feeling proud of myself for creating my first iMovie! In the past I have relied on WeVideo for moving making, because I appreciated the flexibility of not being tied to a single device when uploading film. However, since we are in an all-Mac district, it makes sense to have a working knowledge of a fabulous tool like iMovie which is at our fingertips. 

     That evening as we watched each other’s movies in class, I was once again struck by the creativity and depth of my D90 colleagues. Its important to take the time to get to know our fellow teachers, but its easy to go about our business with blinders on, connecting primarily with the friends in our inner school circle. Time is always at a premium in schools, and when are we able to talk about pets being part of the family, or the impact our 4th grade teacher had on our life, or a story we’ve had in the back of our mind for a while? The experience reminded me of the pleasures of attending a conference with colleagues, sometimes the bonding and idea exchange that occurs with one another rivals the value of the content presented. 

     With this in mind, it would be illuminating to see the digital stories our students could tell us. What a great, beginning of the year community building activity! Or this could be a classroom job, videographer. And this person could take pictures and videos and turn them into a movie to show everyone a certain time of year, or assembly, or field trip. This would also be a good tool to use to create a film presentation about a region, a book, a period in time, or important issue. One thing we know for sure, students would definitely appreciate the chance to express themselves with digital storytelling. 

Show Data in a Fun Way with Piktochart

     Piktochart is a user-friendly site where you can make really sharp looking infographics in a snap. I created my first Pictochart on coding apps available to elementary students. This is a helpful visual learning tool since our eyes can process pictures more quickly and easier than text.

     You may choose a template or you can create your own. This site is free, but you have fewer templates to choose from with a free account. Any part of the template can be removed or changed. You can upload images from your computer, and there is even a link to import data from survey monkey. Some applications like Canva have a lot of images to choose from, unlike Piktochart, where you must create or supply your own. I also like that Piktochart has a drag and drop option for images. When you are finished, its easy to share via embed code or email. Privacy options are only available for paid accounts.

     This would be a good tool for teachers to use when students have to break down a concept to its basic terms. Students could make a poster advertising a concept. Or students could create an infographic based on research they have done, or they could create an infographic using a variety of data and then interpret that data. Debating two sides of an issue would work well with this tool, as well as creating timelines to show a period of history or the arc of a story. Especially since infographics are popular and prevalent, I believe students would be enthusiastic about using this tool to demonstrate something that they have learned and would like to communicate. When students are doing research on trends or issues or even if you are just doing a data unit in geometry, this is a handy tool to utilize with your classroom!

Take Posters to the Next Level with Glogster

Glogster is another Cool Tool for Teachers looking to spice up their own presentations or student reports. You can access Glogster online or with their free app. This is another example of a wonderful application which used to be free but no longer is. However, it is so utterly easy to use and the results look so polished and professional, that it may be well worth a little cash outlay to some teachers.

My sample glog (yes, that's what you call the interactive media posters produced on Glogster!) is about Digital Citizenship and staying safe online. I could show this example to students when I'm talking to them about internet safety. Or, I could show them my poster and then give them an internet safety topic to research create their own glog on. This is an easy way for a group to collaborate because each member could be working on his own subtopic and then share his writing or images, etc with the group and one person could quickly upload these to glogster. 

You can upload images or video and select a variety of text styles and graphics. The app uses something called "Webpicker" where you can slide videos and images from the internet to your glog. It would be ideal if a url source code could be automatically generated when you took something from the internet, they way it is in the Explain Everything app.  When you are finished its easy to share the final product, there are options to share on Facebook, Twitter, email, text, export as an image or generate a URL.  

Glogster makes it easy for students to create sharp looking and inviting posters on a variety of devices. This is also a great tool for students to show their parents, because it is easy to see business uses for this as well.

Hear Student Thinking with VoiceThread

     VoiceThread is a wonderful tool to have in your teacher toolbox. You pose a question, post a picture or video, and then students can comment on it by making an audio recording, or typing out their response or even making a video that allows them to draw on a copy of the image on the spot. 

     For my sample project I used the Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg, specifically one of the pages from this otherworldly book. Sometimes its challenging to begin writing without a warm up. As a possible pre-writing assignment to get them formulating some ideas, students talked about what they saw in the picture and what might happen next. See this VoiceThread project below. 

    This is a protected environment, people can only comment if they’ve been invited to do so. To sign up students can use school email, but if that is not an option an email will be generated by VoiceThread for log in purposes. You can use VoiceThread with Kindergarten students  all the way to adults, it is very user friendly and intuitive from the user’s end. Once set up, it truly is a breeze to use. This is one of those tools that helps even reticent students be heard. There is a free app or you can access it from a computer. VoiceThread used to be free, but it is no longer so. Rates are pretty reasonable though, for a classroom teacher, just $15 a month. 

     You will have access to a library of VoiceThreads, and there are some terrific examples of it being used across all disciplines. One of my favorite projects involved students making poems about depression era pictures the teacher had posted as a pre-cursor to studying that period. Students, already familiar with poems in two voices, wrote and performed a poem in two voices about each stark picture. Very powerful, check it out below!

     I can see teachers using this with a math problem, students could explain their method of solving it. You could use this before or after a field trip, post some pictures of what students will be seeing and have them comment on it, either what they think it is, or afterwards, what they learned about it. This could also make a good exit ticket.  Its a great way for students to hear each other’s thoughts, too.