The curriculum based project that I would have my students work on is researching an influential American. . In this week’s readings, curriculum is described as “the knowledge, skills, and performance standards students are expected to acquire in particular grade levels…” (p. 324, Shelly, Gunter, and Gunter). The fourth grade curriculum requires that this be covered so what a better way to share the information than through a digital story. Integrating current curriculum with technology is not always as simple as creating a digital story. Technology integration is not only about using technology but also using the proper technology for the task. The idea of picking the proper technology is something that was explored in great detail throughout my readings. While some teachers currently do use the proper technology, I think that many often do not. This is one of the several reasons why it is difficult to integrate technology into education. Teachers need to be taught how to pick proper technology based on the curriculum and the assignment that is to be completed.
Continuing on with this assignment I decided to expand on this idea of digital story telling with my hypothetical class. Given that this hypothetic class is a fourth grade ESOL classroom, I would want to keep this project as simple as possible—especially this being their first time using digital storytelling. Rather than just giving out the assignment and having students create a digital story, I would want this project to be multifaceted. To start off the project, I would have students in groups of four with assigned influential Americans. I would create a WebQuest where the students would go to specific sites to find specific information. (If you are wondering what is a WebQuest then click here). Creating a WebQuest will help the students not only find information, but become familiar with the internet and how to search for information properly. Guiding students this way shows them what types of sites provide valuble information and also how to use them. Once they have found all the required information, I would want them to think how they could present this information in a story format. Since it is about a person’s life, they could create a timeline or storyboard first.
As for the digital story I would want them to include text, sound, and be able to show a complete story. Considering that this hypothetical class has never done a digital story, I would provide them with how-tos along with examples from sites such as The Center for Digital Storytelling. Furthermore, I would want to show them examples of other students their age who have created a digital story. I found a bunch of great examples from Scott County Schools in Georgetown, Kentucky. Not only would I want to provide the students with online resources, but I would also create some of my own that fit their grade level. I would create a PowerPoint about the basics of Digital Storytelling and also one about the basics of researching on the web. Many young students have not yet mastered the basics of the internet search so I feel that it is really important to cover this before starting to make a digital story.
Overall, if I were to create a project where my students would use digital storytelling, I would want to make sure they understood all the elements before beginning. I would also create a project that would be easily doable for their grade level.
I agree with you that research or even book reports are the best way to use Digital storytelling in the classroom. Your outline for having students use a research project will be an easy task, I think, for students to accomplish. The major issue is that they stay away from just copying things from the book that is used to base their research on. Digital storytelling, using just facts, or even a timeline, can help students realize what they need to focus on.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with your point that teachers need more support and training on how to use and integrate technology in the classroom. I think the problem is the funding. Right now we are fighting to keep our current pay, but as recent bills have surfaced, we will all be taking a pay cut next year, and the schools are still underfunded. How are we supposed to use technology, or learn about it when there are no funds to support it?
I liked how you used WebQuest as your basis. I plan to use Prezi, as it doesn’t get blocked by filtering for OCPS. I found the biggest problem is that the filtering system blocks, much of what we are using in this class, specifically the blogs created. I think requiring a story board will have students better understand how the paper creation can be transformed into a digital story. I think that your planning of simplifying the project was very accommodating to your students’ grade level, if I can make one suggestion. I have found giving a certain amount of time to “play around” with the storyboard canvas may help out a bit. It seems a good couple or even more session to get over the wow factor helps students refocus to the task at hand and not be so overwhelmed with the project and the new technology. As for me it takes two lessons one that teaches the technology and one that teaches the project with the core curriculum added.
First, I want to thank you for your comment on my blog and the RR 5 assignment. I created a Webquest last summer for my internship on www.zunal.com but never published it. So a lot of the ground work was already done but I modified it for the assignment. I think it’s a little too much I need to cut back a little on the content.
ReplyDeleteIn your blog posting, you addressed using the proper technology for the task. I can see how using technology as a tool to enhance or support the instruction, (page 339 Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, Gunter: 4th edition) for an ESOL classroom can be very affective.
I believe most students are visual learners and ESOL students need a lot of visual along with oral representation in their lessons. PowerPoint can be a good choice and easy to use. Many textbook publishers offer PowerPoint presentations to introduce chapters, ideas and concepts.
I like how you have your students collaborate together and research the internet to formatting information in a Webquest.
It sounds like your lesson plan would integrate American History and technology very well. It’s the preparation that seems to be the long way to a project, but it will all pay off because the students will have done the investigation and research.
Preparing student examples of previous students’ completed work and relevant examples of how to create a digital story book is how teachers that work part-time dedicated themselves fulltime. And becoming very dedicated teachers.
I am looking forward to checking out your links.
I agree with our statement on making sure your students understand all the elements before beginning. Sometimes there is no telling, but there are enumerable resources out there to achieve your goal.
Thank you for a wonderful blog posting.
I love your idea of your students picking out influential Americans and doing the digital storytelling project on them. I think your fourth grades although a hypothetical class would enjoy this experience because when you do a story on someone it becomes more personal and they can understand what someone else’s life was like. History is an important subject for students to understand and learn from. When they learn about the past it may help them to understand how our world is they way it is now. I like your idea about splitting them into groups of four, they can learn different ways to make the project and feed off each others creativity. I like your idea about creating a web quest where students can look up and find resources to guide them through the project. At the fourth grade level this project will help expand their minds and create something they will be very proud to present to you.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "Teachers need to be taught how to pick proper technology based on the curriculum and the assignment that is to be completed."
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my personal pet peeves. Technology is only useful so far as it aids instructions and understanding. Some teachers, I think, include technology just to have their lesson look cook. In my opinion, it is all about student learning. If the technology doesn't help that, then what's the point?
You said, "Given that this hypothetic class is a fourth grade ESOL classroom, I would want to keep this project as simple as possible."
Given that these are elementary ESOL students, would you have them work on this individually or in groups? I would think that these students would benefit from the cooperative learning environment as they research and put the story together.
Thanks for your post!
Kelley