What Makes for an Awesome Digital Story?!

Here's a quick video on the 7 elements of a powerful digital story.  It makes me rethink my definition of a digital story and what actually qualifies as a digital story.  Any thoughts?

Digital storytelling- A new adeventure

Digital storytelling is definietly something I would like to try out with the students in my classroom.  So far I have found a bunch of iPad apps that are great for students to use, but am wondering what would be the best way to implement this using laptop computers.

Here is a link to FREE digital storytelling tools/resources.

RSS Feeds- Easier than you think!

Using RSS Feeds was WAY easier than I had originally thought.  Here's a video (just like the ones we've been watching in class) on Google reader.  It talks about/shows what it is and how it works.

Whoa!

The title of this video says it all... "Little Kids... Big Potential"

These young students do it all!  From blogging, to creating webpages to skyping.  This teacher has implemented the use of technology VERY effectively.  Just to hear the students speak about all they do and WHY they do it is amazing.  There is definitely some very meaningful learning going on here :)

Flipped Classroom...

Over the past few years the district that I work in has made some big steps to improve upon the implementation of technology, as well as the accessibility of technology for k-12 teachers, classrooms and students.  We now have a new and improved school website where teachers can create blogs and other useful tools (i.e. drop box, grade books, etc.) to make teaching and planning more effective.  There are number of teachers, primarily grades 4-12 teachers, who are experimenting with the Flipped Classroom.  Basically the whole philosophy is the initial teaching is done at home, and the practicing (the most important part of learning) is done in the classroom with the teachers supervision and guidance.  As part of their homework students are able to watch a brief video of their teacher to learn something new.  Then the next day, students come in ready to participate in activities that reinforce concepts learned/taught in the video.  Many of the teachers report great success with this.

Here are some FAQ's on flipped classrooms answered by a teacher who supports this philosophy and way of teaching.

Enjoy :)

Charts, Charts and more Charts!

Awesome RW and WW charts here :)

I use this site to get ideas for new charts, mini-charts and teaching points for my first grade Reading and Writing Workshop! 

Here's a few of my own :)

Technology- With big changes, come BIG expectations

As I was reading the first few pages of Will Richardson's book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for classrooms. I couldn't help but reflect on how quickly the internet and technology in general seems to change. Without a significant amount of time, the changes that are made seem to have such a monumental affect on our daily lives. As Richardson mentions, from politics, to businesses, education and even the average person, technology has such an impact on how we live and what we do.

I can't help but get nervous when I think about the task as hand, when it comes to educating our students in the realm of technology. I feel guilty at times, as I feel I don't know enough or am not confident enough with technology to lead them in such a quest to achieve the NETS for students. One thing that also keeps popping into my mind as I reflect back on the past two chapters is the technology that must be readily available to facilitate students and teachers on this endeavor. Teachers and students would need internet access through the use of smart boards, computers, laptops, iPads, etc. on regular basis in order to fully immerse students in a current technologically savvy environment. It also seems like a daunting task when more always seems to be being added as opposed to the "new" replacing the "old" when it comes to curriculum, standards and expectations. However, as Richardson alluded to and as it was mention in the videos, I believe the key is becoming technologically inlined so that this new kind of literacy can be integrated into other academic areas and other parts of the day. This will hopefully create and balance and connection between new literacies and more traditional terms/expectations of literacy.

As I explored some of the websites throughout the first few chapters of Richardson's book, I found I was familiar with a few of them. The one that really caught my eye was the "Weather Recipes" book his daughter made on Flickr. I thought it was a great way to show how technology can be easily accessible and meaningful in a primary grade classroom, as most assume kindergardeners and first graders are far to young to be worrying about technology. However, technology is just as relevant to them as the average adult or teenager, just in a different way.

http://tinyurl.com/2nfw64/

Thinking about new literacies and NETS

New literacies is a term that is hard to define. Just as the term literacy and what it means to be literate is hard to define. One of the biggest reasons for these difficulties is because literacy and what it means to be literate is constantly evolving and changing. A literate person needs to be able to read, write and navigate the world around them. New literacies requires students to utilize a variety of different mediums to report out on and access a wide range of information. Students must now be literate in the are of technology. And within the realm of technology, there is a revolving door of changes that are constantly being made, causing the term literacy to change. Overall, new literacies is and should encompass all parts of the world, not just more traditional technologies.

NETS for students requires students to be more than familiar with technology. It also requires students to know more about the technology and resources they have available to them on a deeper level. Students need to be technologically savvy. They need to be ready, willing and able to navigate the online world that is constantly growing and changing around them. Students need to be able to acquire foundational computer and technological skills that will help them search, find, evaluate and synthesis all that they have at the tips of their fingers.

NETS for teachers requires teachers to have the same technological "savviness" as their students and then some. Teachers who are comfortable and confident in using and teaching with/about technology will help reinforce that same sentiment in their students. Its is the teachers role to integrate this imperative part of literacy into the current curriculum so students can become literate in all senses and meanings of the word. The successful implementation of technology education will breed success in our students.