Digital Story 3

What?

This week was our last week to work on our digital stories. We had to make final finishes to our digital story by adding the pictures to go along with the music and voice and work with transitions and the effects to make it more entertaining.

So What?

What this means is that our digital story is almost done. We decided to work in Windows Movie Maker because the program was easier to use, had more options, and was already converted into a WMV file. This has meant to me as a student and as a teacher a lot. It has helped me to be more creative and it helped me to see how much I enjoyed making these videos. They are very impactful if made right and I was able to see the difference it makes. As a colleague, I am able to help those that I work with and give them advice on how to make one for themselves or collaborate with them and allow them to use any videos I may make. I believe we are doing this because it is fun and very informative.

There is a lot to making a digital story. You first have to do a storyboard and find the pictures that are going to be descriptive, informative, and be able to tell a story. Next, you need to find a script. For our video we used a speech. We had to do more work combining the music to the parts of the speech we wanted to use. And then you put it all together in the program of your choice. We used this because it helps us to see what we can do if we want to do something different and impact our students. This can apply to me in my other classes and in general by using the information I learned and putting it into action. I can make digital stories in my other classes and can also make personal digital stories. Life is one big story we can express through videos. This new technology is a new way of teaching which leads to a new way of learning for my students. It helps me as well as my future colleagues to be more creative in the way we present the information to our students. It helps me to see what students like and what they learn from.

Now What?

This technology means a lot to my future students. My students are in the generation where technology is meaningful and is needed. Digital stories wont bore them. They will enjoy hearing these stories about the civil war, pioneers, science experiment, etc. because they can visually see whats happening and can emotionally connect. Using this type of technology will make me a better teacher because I will develop passion and will be more informative of the subject area because it requires a lot of research. My students can help me do digital stories or they can make one of their own. If I learned a lot about the subject I did my digital story on, I can only image how much my students would also learn.

Digital Stories and technology in general will help me to be a better teacher and colleague because my classes will never be boring. They will always have meaning behind it and my students will be able to connect better to that. My colleagues will see the passion I have for the subject and may look to me as a resource to help them develop the same teaching style. This technology class has opened my eyes to how many different teaching styles there are and how easy it is to integrate technology into a classroom. Integrating technology can help myself and my colleagues to have better communication and collaboration. We can share ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Like I said before, if I enjoy learning through technology, then most likely so will my students. It's becoming the new way of life and a new way of learning. Without it we would be lost and we wouldn't be as far as we are today.

Video Reflection

I did not really like this video. I did not see how it was connecting to what we were learning about this week and how it had anything to do with technology. Education is important and many famous people do go to college and continue their education, but this video was not believable. It was a young boy who was only interested in being a movie director. Yes, he talked about education but it didn't really connect to the true importance of education. So what I would have done different is maybe have a student that is in the arts and film school present and express how without his education in not only the areas of interest but with the generals, he wouldn't be where he is today. Now what, I don't think if I showed my students that clip they would have been impacted so I would have changed it or added to it to help them see the true importance. Or I would not use the video!

Digital Story 2

What?

This week we continued to work on our digital story. We learned how to make it in Photo Story 3 and we also learned how to transport slides from PowerPoint into Photo Story. We also learned how we need to submit this assignment to her and how to post it on Youtube.

So What?

If I want to incorporate an emotional story and to it by presenting it through media, this is a great way to do it. Digital stories allow teachers (people) to share their thoughts on an event. It is also a great teaching tool for the students to connect to. So as a student it helps me be creative in how to prepare certain lesson plans and it gives me great ideas on different media forms to teach with. As a teacher, it helps me by allowing a way into getting my students interested. Students love videos and it is also a visual way that students can connect to the material being taught. Also as a teacher, my students would be able to create their own digital story. Whether it be on their life or on a researched subject. Photo Story 3 is an easy program that each of my students would be able to use. As a colleague it helps my team be more creative. It brings more emotion into the lessons and it may influence other teachers to use the same system. I believe we are doing this to be experimental and not use the same teaching techniques.

This can apply to me in my other classes by creating a digital story when I present. Each presentation and subject I have taught on could have included a digital story. I did a presentation on Slavery and I think if I would have done a digital story for it, everybody would have been able to feel the emotion stronger. It is a sensitive subject that deserves to be taught and taught passionately and correct. Learning Photo Story 3 gives me a starter tool to move on to making more in depth videos. I could be able to make family videos or even make wedding videos. This technology means freedom and enjoyable. It brings out my creativity. Photo Story and other digital story programs means creativity and change in the way we teach and the way we collaborate as teachers.

Now What?

Photo Story and digital stories means a new way to do assignments or do homework. It gives them more power in the way they learn and more power in how they learn the information. When students are interested they tend to want to do more and are more interested. I never thought to use Photo Story or digital story for my students to use. This changes by using it. I think it is just as important and more fun then writing a paper. The type of teacher I will become by integrating these different techniques will make me a better teacher. It will keep me on my feet and will not allow me to get lazy because it is constantly changing.

My students would be able to work by themselves or with partners on creating a digital story in Photo Story. They could research a social studies topic we are learning about during the year and make a good representation of what it was like during a persons life or during a certain time period. They could also create life biographies. There are many assignments I could have them do. They could collaborate with others outside the class by inviting them into our classroom and show them their work. This will help me to become a better teacher by allowing my students to have more participation and say on what they are learning and how they are learning about it. It gives them responsibility in helping me as well as their class. This helps me as a colleague by being unique and being open to helping others learn different styles and techniques to teach. As for collaboration, I think the staff will talk to each other more because others may be curious of what you are doing and the reaction of the students. It will add to better communication.

Video Reflection

This video started abruptly. It didn't allow you to transition into what you are about to see and learn about. I also think the slides switched to soon. I wasn't able to see what it was they wanted me to see. I thought this video was corny and it didn't really allow me to feel the message he was presenting. I thought it was pretty boring and I also felt it was more rehearsed and that he had a script he had to memorize. He is a young kid and he youthful personality didn't come across very strong in this digital story. I thought the message was really good and I like the part where they brought in his home life. That allowed me to feel more apart of his story but overall I didn't think this was a good video.

Field Experince 3

What?

This was my last week in Vista Elementary. I noticed a lot of changes within the students as well as the teacher. I noticed technology being used more since we came into the classroom.

So What?

I feel we have introduced a new way of learning to our cooperating teacher. At the beginning I rarely noticed our cooperating teacher using technology. She would use the smart board but using other resources were hardly used. I believe this has strengthened our relationship as colleagues as well as helped me see my education working for me. I have used what I have learned in the classroom and as a result sparked an interest for our cooperating teacher. I think this is why we go to school to update and learn new ways to teach and present information. I have seen it not only help and uplift my students learning but it also helps other teachers.

Throughout my field experience, our cooperating teacher would constantly ask my partner and I how we did something, which had to deal with technology. She would also ask us where we found our information and how we found it. She would then ask us to show her and teach her. This experience has changed the way I view technology. Before starting my field experience, I knew technology was important and I knew that was the direction the world was moving in but after finishing I have seen using different types of technology and frequently using it helps motivate those who you are working with whether its your students or your colleagues.

Now What?

I still believe technology is our future students. I believe technology will open doors for my students and will help all the different types of learners. There were some students that were not interested or did not pay attention when they were just listening to someone talk but as soon as you added in pictures on the Smart Board, or you used a video or you had them use technology in some way, everything changed. This changes the way I have been taught to the way I want to teach. Technology is not only using PowerPoint's or using the Smart Board tools, technology is having students research information for a project, or having them create a project. There is not one right way or right tool in technology because I believe all of it is valuable and important to learn and use.

Technology is not there to keep to yourself. Throughout my field I have seen those teachers that incorporate technology into their classrooms and do not share their information of what they did or how they did it with other teachers, especially those lacking in technology knowledge. When I become a teacher I want to try to change that and have my department be on the same page and use similar teaching strategies. I have seen the excitement our cooperating teacher got when we used technology in her classroom and would hope to bring that collaboration and excitement to my future school and future colleagues. Collaboration can make a difference and I hope to have a positive experience with my colleagues when I teach.

Video Reflection

I think technology is really important in schools. I find it very beneficial to have somebody at the school working to make it a technology community. In this video the technology specialists alleviates a lot of stress the teachers obtain as they are trying to do everything they possibly can to help their students succeed in a technology world. This video clip includes making learning fun through computers. They are learning different things in different ways. It opens doors for those that may have struggled with school before. This program helps those students blossom and enjoy their education. They state the achievement scores went up and so did relationships between other teachers and students. Who wouldn't want to make a difference...we all would and that's what this video showed me!