Digital Storytelling Project

Ibrahim's Story

This project has turned out to be much more time consuming than I had anticipated...

However, the pride that Ibrahim exudes makes it well worth the effort!  My Wiki page for East Hartford Public Schools will also have this video embedded so that he will have the opportunity to share our creation with family and friends.  Additionally, through this process, I feel that I have built a much stronger relationship with Ibrahim and his sister (who is also an ELL student at the EHHS).  ELL students need an opportunity such as this to show how much they do know because too often, other students don't realize the wealth of information and the new perspectives that could be shared with students from other parts of the world.  Although the project tried my patience at times, I am grateful for the opportunity.

This is a very rough draft of the concept that I had originally thought I would pursue but it was difficult with all the time off we have had compounded with not seeing my students every day.  However, I corresponded with Ibrahim and his sister outside of school often to try to make up for lost time and fill the seemingly endless gaps.  His sister, Shabana answered many questions and provided me with their personal photographs.  She was exceedingly helpful and then thanked me for my time and helping her practice her English!

The second draft has some of the questions I had, answered but I had some difficulty uploading the pictures that Shabana gave me.  Thankfully, the photos uploaded onto Moviemaker with no problem.  The video seems lengthy at this point because Ibrahim has had some difficulty reading his script and we haven't even covered all the areas I wanted to at this point.  Additionally, he didn't keep the microphone near his mouth so  some of the narration fades out.  I think I will edit some of the script and re-record some of the narration to shorten the video; I may have to delete somethings as well.  I am afraid to upload the video at this point because I am unsure if I will be able to edit it again once I have saved it and I REALLY don't want to do it all again!

The third draft has been edited.

Can Technological Fun Change Human Behavior?

I wish we had more creative ideas like these!!  By incorporating fun into mundane daily practices, technology can really motivate people to make better choices. "Day of Glass" may too intrusive for personal tastes, but I think these are fun ways to incorporate technology in a positive way.  What do you think?

What Makes You Itch?

Personally, I found this video very powerful.  Although I love parts of my job, I don't feel as though my job is overall satisfying...I love teaching but I don't love the teacher that I have become if that makes any sense.  While I understand the necessity of assessments and accountability, I think it is potentially detrimental to how children learn naturally.  I don't feel that I have the freedom to develop their curiosities and creativity by exploring topics in depth or spending the time on projects that are of interest to them.  It is too expensive and  if I did they might not be able to pass standardized tests. I wish that I was independently wealthy so I could just spend time engaged in learning activities led by children.  To me, experiencing the sense of wonder and discovery through a child's eyes is a wonderful feeling!  I think there is too much anger and hatred in the world.  Perhaps, as educators, we should be responsible for leading students on a path of self discovery, as opposed to pounding knowledge [that they don't care about and will most likely forget because it is irrelevant to the their lives] into their heads (often unsuccessfully). How many students get to high school or even college and have no idea what they want to be (my middle baby included)? This saddens me, and like I always do, I feel that I have not done my job both as a teacher and as a parent. I truly believe that having a passion for what you do will bring joy.  It may sound corny, but I also think that if people lived in joy, there would be much more peace in the world...

A Day Made of Glass...is AMAZING!

Ok, so this isn't exactly educationally related but I was amazed that this type of technology could actually be in our homes in the future, possibly now I suppose for those that can afford it.  This video is not new (especially when considering the rate at which technology advances).  It strengthens the argument that the system of education and teachers need to become technologically savvy if for nothing else than keeping up with the "digital natives."

Time Zones...Who Knew?

TED Ed Talks

Why do we have standardized time in the United States?

In my RSS feed, Richard Byrne posted this and other related videos.  Maybe all of you already knew this so please forgive my ignorance as I did not.  I thought it was interesting and thought it could be used for units on Industrial Revolution.  ELL students benefit greatly from multimedia in lessons so I thought maybe I would try to utilize more of these types of videos in my instruction especially for reader (well viewer) response questions.  If I had a class with a blog, I might embed a video with questions for students to blog about.

Want a New Way to Apply PhotoPeach?

PhotoPeach seems almost identical to Animoto in terms of creation and sharing.  They additionally offer educator packages for entire classes and schools that allow all the students work to be in one central location for the community to view.

We all know how to use this type of tool for creating a video but I just read a new idea for using this tool for instructional purposes.  PhotoPeach has an option to select quiz in the educator's package.  The captions you add are questions and multiple choice answers complete with a timer!  For a step by step instructions with screen shots, please visit a Dropbox link on Lori's Latest Links.

To see an example of the quiz format, please click on the following link:  Life Feast: Creating QUIZZES with Photopeach.  This example is of particular interest to me because it was created to practice English grammar by Ana Maria Menezes, an EFL teacher in Brazil.  

Application?

I was thinking of using it as an "All About Me" type of project.  Many of my students have very interesting heritages that would be fun to share.  For those of you that have classrooms, you could send a fun and interactive "All About..." to introduce yourselves to your new students and their families on your blog.

In addition to the grammar example, I could use the video as a type of pre- and post assessment for determining background knowledge in the content areas or for vocabulary development.  I'm not sure of the logistics yet.  I wonder if there is a way to have students respond with clickers to collect data.  I have no idea if that can even be done with iPads but after this week, I am thinking probably not!

If you have any other ideas, I would love you to share them!

   

Are You Looking for a Cool Way to Create a Word Web? Try Popplet!

One of the easiest instructional strategies for ELLs is to incorporate semantic maps.  This strategy has become rather common place so the Popplet app adds a refreshing novelty.  Popplet is usually a paid app on Apple devices but I have heard it is offered for free sometimes or you can access it on the website for free.  The free version is limited to 5 creations but you are able to share or export your popplets and save them as pdf or jpeg files.  The following video describes how to use the features of the app.  



I created a popplet on nonfiction text features to try it out.  Since the site would not let me embed the popplet I created, I decided to take a screen shot.  My awesome sister-n-law taught me how.  Thank you, Elena!!!!  

I exported the popplet as a pdf file but I don't know how to upload it in that format.  I was hoping to enlarge it so that it could be more easily seen but this seems to be the best I can do.  If anyone knows a better way, please feel free to share!

It is really easy so I plan to have my students create their own.  Some ideas for application are:

1. Building vocabulary
2. Synonyms
3. Story mapping
4. Main idea and supporting details

Can you think of anymore?