Well, I planned to use Podomatic, but I couldn't get the recording to work so I went to Gcast and here is my first attempt:
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Podcasting
I must admit that when I saw in the syllabus we would be talking about podcasting and creating a podcast I was not overly thrilled. I didn't really know much about it, but I didn't think it would be something I could use in my classroom. I was wrong!
After listening to a few podcasts and listening to an online presentation for my article review, I am really excited about the possibilities! I think it would be really neat to create a weekly podcast with my students for parents. It would be a review of what is happening in our classroom. I could have the kids talk about what we have learned, upcoming events and tests, etc. I think the students would really be excited about doing something like that. I could even envision expanding it to a school podcast. It could be like a newspaper, relating the current events to parents.
I also think it would be fun to incorporate podcasts into my literature classes. The kids could create book review podcasts, recommending their favorite books.
After listening to a few podcasts and listening to an online presentation for my article review, I am really excited about the possibilities! I think it would be really neat to create a weekly podcast with my students for parents. It would be a review of what is happening in our classroom. I could have the kids talk about what we have learned, upcoming events and tests, etc. I think the students would really be excited about doing something like that. I could even envision expanding it to a school podcast. It could be like a newspaper, relating the current events to parents.
I also think it would be fun to incorporate podcasts into my literature classes. The kids could create book review podcasts, recommending their favorite books.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Elements of Storytelling
After reading through the elements of good storytelling, it seems that they would ALL benefit teachers in the classroom. Some, of course, are more applicable than others.
Point - Hopefully all lessons in the classroom have a point. There is always a specific goal within the lesson.
Dramatic Question - It might not always be dramatic, but I try to get the kids interested in the lesson ahead with some opening activity.
Emotional Content - This one might not be used as often, especially in my math classes. If you can get the kids emotionally involved in something, however, it keeps them focussed and interested. I often try to connect to their emotions in literature.
Voice - I think we all have ways of using our voices to get the kids involved in the lesson and to get them to pay attention.
Soundtrack - This is another one that wouldn't always be applicable in the classroom, but I know our history teacher incorporates music constantly when discussing different periods of history.
Economy - It is always better to focus on key points for the kids rather than trying to cover too much at one time. Their attention spans are limited (some more than others!), and concise is always better!
Pacing - This one is probably the most important, in my opinion, in the classroom. You have to be aware of the feedback you are getting from the kids. Did they understand that? Are they ready to move on? Pacing is key in any lesson.
Point - Hopefully all lessons in the classroom have a point. There is always a specific goal within the lesson.
Dramatic Question - It might not always be dramatic, but I try to get the kids interested in the lesson ahead with some opening activity.
Emotional Content - This one might not be used as often, especially in my math classes. If you can get the kids emotionally involved in something, however, it keeps them focussed and interested. I often try to connect to their emotions in literature.
Voice - I think we all have ways of using our voices to get the kids involved in the lesson and to get them to pay attention.
Soundtrack - This is another one that wouldn't always be applicable in the classroom, but I know our history teacher incorporates music constantly when discussing different periods of history.
Economy - It is always better to focus on key points for the kids rather than trying to cover too much at one time. Their attention spans are limited (some more than others!), and concise is always better!
Pacing - This one is probably the most important, in my opinion, in the classroom. You have to be aware of the feedback you are getting from the kids. Did they understand that? Are they ready to move on? Pacing is key in any lesson.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Voicethread
In class this week, we spent a lot of time working with our groups on Voicethread. It was a little frustrating at times, but overall it worked very well! It was really helpful to work on it in class with Louis's help. If we had had to do that project on our own, I think the frustration level would have been much higher.
I was thinking about my classroom and how I could use Voicethread, and I came up with some potential ideas. As I mentioned last week, my seventh graders are reading The Outsiders right now. We could create "scrapbooks" about the characters. We could also explore how the themes of the book (ex. gangs) exist in the world today. The article I read for the first review mentioned creating a digital story about heroes in our lives. This would also be applicable to the novel. After discussing Pony, Johnny, and Dally as "heroes", the students could create Voicethread stories about their "heroes".
Whenever we learn a new tool in this program, I always try to think about how I could apply it to my four math classes. Digital storytelling doesn't seem to lend itself as naturally to math as it does to literature. I could have the students create stories explaining concepts.
I enjoyed the "We Didn't Start the Fire" video. I think that would be neat to do something like that with a history class! It actually helped me to understand some of the phrases in the song that I hadn't been able to identify before =)
I was thinking about my classroom and how I could use Voicethread, and I came up with some potential ideas. As I mentioned last week, my seventh graders are reading The Outsiders right now. We could create "scrapbooks" about the characters. We could also explore how the themes of the book (ex. gangs) exist in the world today. The article I read for the first review mentioned creating a digital story about heroes in our lives. This would also be applicable to the novel. After discussing Pony, Johnny, and Dally as "heroes", the students could create Voicethread stories about their "heroes".
Whenever we learn a new tool in this program, I always try to think about how I could apply it to my four math classes. Digital storytelling doesn't seem to lend itself as naturally to math as it does to literature. I could have the students create stories explaining concepts.
I enjoyed the "We Didn't Start the Fire" video. I think that would be neat to do something like that with a history class! It actually helped me to understand some of the phrases in the song that I hadn't been able to identify before =)
Sunday, April 6, 2008
CEDU 531: Digital Storytelling in the Classroom
I have spent some time this week watching samples of digital stories on YouTube and some other video sites. I know the kids in my class spend a lot of time on these sites because they are constantly talking about the weird videos they have found (and made!) I must confess that I have never before really taken the time to look at the videos on these sites. It was amazing to me how much is out there! The videos I saw have given me some ideas for things I could do in my classroom.
The first idea I had was based on a VERY strange video I found on YouTube. It was called Mathmaticious, and it was bizarre. It did, however, give the idea of creating stories to explain mathematical concepts. I think it would be a great activity to have my seventh and eighth graders create stories to explain math concepts (like fractions) to the students in younger grades.
Right now, my seventh graders are reading The Outsiders. Since the novel has such great characterization, I thought that the students could create digital stories to tell the "life story" of one of the main characters. The students could pretend to be one of the characters and tell the story of their life through pictures, video clips, music, and narration. I think they would really be excited by a project like that.
A third idea I had involves our eighth graders writing a digital story about their experiences with grade school. As a final project, they could write biographies, highlighting the best and worst of their grade school experiences.
I am anxious to read the ideas from others in our class. This is all really new to me, and I can't wait to hear all the different ways people plan to use digital storytelling!
The first idea I had was based on a VERY strange video I found on YouTube. It was called Mathmaticious, and it was bizarre. It did, however, give the idea of creating stories to explain mathematical concepts. I think it would be a great activity to have my seventh and eighth graders create stories to explain math concepts (like fractions) to the students in younger grades.
Right now, my seventh graders are reading The Outsiders. Since the novel has such great characterization, I thought that the students could create digital stories to tell the "life story" of one of the main characters. The students could pretend to be one of the characters and tell the story of their life through pictures, video clips, music, and narration. I think they would really be excited by a project like that.
A third idea I had involves our eighth graders writing a digital story about their experiences with grade school. As a final project, they could write biographies, highlighting the best and worst of their grade school experiences.
I am anxious to read the ideas from others in our class. This is all really new to me, and I can't wait to hear all the different ways people plan to use digital storytelling!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
