Digital Story Telling in ELA Classrooms

A digital story consists of a series of still images that are combined with a narrated soundtrack to tell a story. Ken Burns used this technique in his series of documentaries for PBS. Although short video clips are sometimes included, students can create digital stories without access to video equipment. From my research I have learned that there are seven elements in digital storytelling. These include a point of view, a dramatic question, emotional content, economy, pacing, the gift of your voice, and an accompanying soundtrack. (Bull and Kajder, Digital Storytelling in the Language Arts Classroom, Vol. 39 No. 4)

I have been creating my digital story using iMovie on my Mac. I have had very little experience with iMovie but it is going pretty well. I have chosen to do a presentation on Nutrition for a second grade classroom. Nutrition is part of the second grade science curriculum.

In speaking with an ELA teacher we talked about the many benefits of digital storytelling. She expressed concern with the "online" nature of the digital stroy and I spoke to her about the option of doing an "offline" version. When using iMovie or other software it is not necessary to publish the digital stories online. The features of digital story telling she was most excited about are the creativite and artistic possibilities, such as in a creative writing assignment and the possibilities for reflection and use of imagination. We also talked about using photography to document data or information such as in a science journal. Another thing we discussed was using digital storytelling for a substitute teacher to show duirng a planned absence.

I am looking forward to working on my digital story and will post my story board here for some feedback from everyone.

This link is directly to the book...

http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view&book=57574&page=1

UDL Book Builder

http://db.tt/kUbYhWzS

Here is the Drop Box public link to my UDL Book Builder book project.

My book is called “You are Never Too Little to Help around the House”.  It is part of a four book series (theoretically) which would include other books entitled “You are Never Too Little to Help around the Yard”, “You are Never Too Little to Help in Your School” and “You are Never To Little to Help in Your Community”.

This book is intended for first graders and includes a list of the Dolch sight words for first grade. The ELA teacher I am working with uses the Dolch list as a guide and her reading program incorporates these words in every book. In addition she uses what are called “Challenge Words” in each book and the students have a different list of challenge words that they are tested on weekly, in addition to the sight words.  I have included several of these challenge words in my book.

I have asked the reader questions at the bottom of each page. They can either type in the space to respond or use the questions to have conversations about the book with classmates or the teacher. The teacher would use this area for guided questions and to check for understanding.  In addition teachers could use this book in the social studies curriculum. Part of that curriculum is learning about community and community helpers. These books would be perfect for that topic.

The idea for the book came from my daughter who is in second grade. She helps around the house quite a bit but was complaining that none of her other friends have to do chores. We discussed the idea of helping your family around the house and that gave me the idea to do this particular story. I included pictures of my daughter doing what she does every day to help.

For the images, I took pictures of my daughter and edited them with filters in Adobe Photoshop to make them look more stylized and colorful. I then added a stroke (border) around a few and created a collage for one of the pages.

To improve this book I would work on the images a bit more. I would also try to include more hyperlinks to information. It was a fun project and I will try to finish the series of books in Book Builder at some future time.

Week 7- Second Life Uses and Avatar

I have been playing around in Second Life for the last few days and am having a difficult time of it. My 18 year old daughter tells me she tried it for a while and thought it was complicated as well. I entered a few educational environments. I explored several international destinations. There seems to be a lot of content and it is a very creative looking environment. I had a hard time figuring out how to make changes in the appearance of my avatar, and the basic operation of the avatar in each environment. There seemed to be a lot of folks just standing around.  I think it will require a big time investment to understand the possibilities but from the research I did, I know that many universities use Second Life and are very successful in doing so. I can see it offers collaboration possibilities. You can interact with other educators around the world, as well as classrooms and laboratories.

As far as how Second Life could be used in and ELA setting I see many writing and reading opportunities. Students can write and perform plays, poetry and music. Students can create and respond to writing prompts and reflect on experiences in virtual worlds. Students can participate in historic reenactments and "live" in other times. For the foreign language classroom, Second Life can offer language immersion experiences. In the science classroom, students can perform virtual experiments, explore the human body and organs from the inside and collaborate on experiments with anyone in the world. Second Life offers these and many more possibilities for learning.

I believe to truly experience the possibilities I would need a real purpose- perhaps a class or lecture to attend. As with any new software application I never really learn it until I have something concrete to accomplish.

Week 7- Article Review

 Week 7- Introduction to the Range of New Literacies

Article: Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms

Having taken another class on literacy instruction, I felt I had thought a lot about students and their interactions with text until I read this article. This concept of a different relationship with text; one where the reader is gaining more insight from the actual font, font size and typesetting than from the text itself, was eye opening. I have three children of my own and realize young readers take visual clues from each page. How often have we seen young readers scan the page before reading the words when just learning to read? This is an great technique to help the reader understand the supposed content of the text. However, I had never considered the other elements of multimodal text and the dynamics of this writer, reader and teacher relationship. Text can create pathways to follow, for example different windows to open or doorways to enter. Text can present parallel displays of information with cross-referencing features (i.e. see page 6 for more information or see glossary at back of book). Text can contain extreme graphics and images and interact with a reader in such a way as to provide the possibility for every reader to have a different interaction and relationships with the text. Text can allow readers to form their own opinion and can pose questions to readers enabling them to construct meaning.

The teacher’s role is very important in the multimodal learning environment. The teacher models this type of constructivist learning and asks young readers to not only tell what they know but explain how they know it. 

Multimodal practices in education create new roles for the writer, the reader and the teacher. I really enjoyed this article and am thinking beyond the scope of the article to the endless possibilities and new instructional dynamics that can be created with interactive online books. There are so many possibilities.

Article: Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners
 

This is a fascinating and informative article about the potential of using Second Life (SL) for educational purposes. SL can provide “near real life environments” for learning as well as for social interaction and exploration. SL offers instructors and learners alike the option of taking virtual field trips and participating in simulations.Most importantly, according to the article, SL can create a sense of community, which can often be lacking in online learning environments. The article was careful to point out the realities of using SL in a school setting. Often schools block SL because it can use a great deal of the bandwidth on a network. SL does not provide a platform for distribution and submission of documents nor an environment for assessment. In addition SL require a higher end computer to run because of the need for a good graphics card. And, in addition the SL network is an open one, meaning anyone can enter a classroom on SL and observe or participate. This can be distracting to the teacher and the learner.

However, it seems that there are many options for teaching and learning and building a sense of community. After reading this article I would be inclined to further explore the educational possibilities of SL.

Week 6- Game Scenario

Here is the link to my game scenario slide. The game is called Bridges to Urbania.

http://db.tt/ZconLAIA

More on Edmodo

Edmodo can be used to enhance any ELA program. The possibilities are really endless and from what I see, Edmodo is changing the way many classrooms function. Teachers now can post assignments for students, parents and administrators to see. Teachers can grade written work and share projects with their classes. Students and teachers can chat and share websites and it is easy to keep in touch with students who are out sick.

ELA teachers can set up pen pals for students to chat with. Teachers can move beyond the classroom and set up virtual book clubs with other classroom around the country or around the world. Students can chat with authors and teachers in other geographic areas.

Another way teaching and learning can be enhanced through the use of Edmodo is when teachers model positive use of social media in a controllable online environment. I can see so many uses for Edmodo in ELA and am encouraged to see that districts are supporting it as well.

Week 6- Using Games in the Classroom

Games are fun! Almost everyone likes to play games and they can be useful and engaging in the classroom. In my opinion the biggest benefit is that they create a context for using skills, reasoning and problem solving that cannot be found in textbooks or on a worksheet. They help students who are not conventional learners by appealing to visual as well as kinesthetic learning styles. Games create discussion. Games help students talk about subjects, like math for example, that they might not otherwise talk about. Students talk about moves or techniques and are able to play against each other or in pairs. Games naturally scaffold learning. There are usually different levels that students can play at and they progress in an unthreatening way, thus building confidence in the process. Games require students to read and comprehend directions, rules and learning objectives. They often require students to write or at least input information. Games provide concrete objects to manipulate, not hypothetical’s as are often found in word problems in textbooks.  Games should not replace textbooks and workbooks but it is important to engage 21^st century learners in a way that appeals to them and by using technology we can do that.

Week 6- Gamestar Mechanic Review

Gamestar Mechanic is a game based learning platform that teaches the basics of game design. It is intended for grade levels 4-9.  It allows students to learn about different game systems and how they function. The web site states that students cultivate skills involving systems based thinking, creative problem solving, art and aesthetics, writing and storytelling and STEM areas of curriculum.  The learning environment of Gamestar Mechanic is designed to foster the acquisition of 21st century language and literacy skills by instructing students about the key elements of game design.
  
How does it work you might ask?

Students play through the “quest” which is a narrative adventure shown in animation and mini games. In play mode, as they move through the story they have to edit and fix broken or poorly designed elements of the game.  In design mode the students play and fix the games and as they do, they earn “sprites”. These sprites can be used to design games in their own “workshops”. They use drag and drop tools without having to write program code. To receive feedback the student share their games in an online community called Game Alley. Here the students review each other and provide feedback in the form of comments.

Teachers use Gamestar Mechanic as part of the instruction in a classroom. They can use it to model a system such as the water cycle in science. They can use it to tell a story. An art teacher might use it to show specific visual qualities related to an art topic. A technology teacher could use it to teach game design. After playing the teacher introduction I was engaged and played through to the end. I can see it is geared for younger students and think the 9th grade recommendation might be stretching it a bit. Overall it is something I liked and I would be interested in seeing how it works in an elementary and middle school classroom.