"Digital Storytelling" Sampling

I was able to watch several of my classmate's "digital stories." One thing I realized was that this is a great idea and resource for literacy related curricula, but should not be limited to that! I saw several great movies that covered a wide range of subjects that could be used to teach many different standards and objectives. Here are a few notes from some of the ones I looked at:

Ashley Daley's - I liked how she used some of the words from the narration over her pictures. I also liked that she used a few different music clips and had them match the pictures.

Nichole Mahas' - Nichole used many different transitions and kept things moving. I thought this was a great, upbeat way to teach healthy habits to kids.

Rachel Hamilton's - I liked how she added a personal touch by using family pictures. It is a great video to help kids gain a greater sense of self worth.

Stephanie Anderson's - She used a catchy song and chose several good pictures to accompany the lyrics and accents in the music. Her video effectively carries a simple, yet important message.

Carmen Heap's - I liked how she took a well-known poem and brought it to life with pictures and narration. This would be a great resource to teach about money.

Marni Story's - Her video was loaded with lots of great information. I liked how she made good use of colorful slides and labels with lots of pictures. It also kept it fun and interesting to have the background music. This is an all around great, concise, effective teaching tool.

Creating my own video and watching others has helped me realize there are many possibilities with "digital storytelling!"

Recipe Poem movie!!

I made this movie using Windows Movie Maker. It was fun to learn how to use the program and bring together the different aspects to create a fun movie. Check it out!

Digital Storytelling

I will be putting together a "digital story" in the next week! I've chosen to use a fun poem that can be used to teach several things from the state core. The poem is called "Recipe" and it's written by Joyce Armor. Here are some images of the storyboard I've created:

Web 2.0

This week I was able to learn more about Web 2.0. There are many interesting and exciting things you can do with Web 2.0. I created a Wiki, registered for Goodreads, Diigo, and subscribed to some new things in my Google Reader! Those are all good resources that can help teachers become more efficient and find and share useful information with others.

Here is the URL for my Wiki: http://ashleyiptwiki.pbworks.com

I found the Wiki to be very versatile, as you can create many different pages and embed a variety of things. On my Wiki so far I have a video, a calendar, pictures, links, a slide show, and a GoogleDoc. Teachers can find valuable resources to help make information available to kids for teaching purposes, or to help create a link between school and home.

For this being my first Wiki, I did find it to be a little complex. You cannot just copy and paste things onto the pages, I had to learn how to embed, and edit the source. Some of these procedures are very similar to each other, and some have slight variations. I found that it is sometimes difficult to keep track of them all. However, it's not impossible and I'm confident that with more time I'd be able to use the Wiki in many great ways.

Here is a screenshot from Goodreads:














Here is a screenshot from Google Reader:












Here is a screenshot from Diigo:












Here is a screenshot of me sharing what I learned about Web 2.0 with my brother:

Why I Love Education

I love education because there are so many wonderful things in this world to learn about. We can choose something we're especially interested in, or explore a broad variety. There's almost always more to learn about whatever you can think of! It's so exciting to me that we can continually study and grow in all areas, whatever you want to learn more about.

Education begins far before formal schooling, but formal education plays a large part in helping individuals gain basic skills and understandings. As children learn step by step and bit by bit they are building a strong foundation to continue learning and exploring the world around them.

I think most people can remember a special or favorite teacher they have had at one point or another. Teachers can make a lasting difference in children's lives in many ways. I look forward to being a positive example and helping to spark a love for learning in children. They may not understand when they're young that knowledge is power, but through developing a love for learning, they will set out on an exciting lifetime of learning and growing.