Digital Storytelling
Activity Reflection # 4
Activity Reflection # 4
This was harder than I thought!!! I mean I love it when teachers use PowerPoint in lectures and going to different web sites to explore and interact, but creating my own PowerPoint to explain why I think it would be useful was hard. I used the Digital Media Corner, in my text book, Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom to help guide the way.(p308) It provided me with some insight on ways to use digital storytelling and the many resources to create one. I especially liked how digital media is used to help students with disabilities. Because they are interactive students and repeat lessons independently if they need to and also teachers can add text and voice-overs for those who are visually impaired.(Gunter, 2010,p309) I really and truly feel that this course is making me become one with technology.
Our activity this week was to make a PowerPoint presentation as to why or how we think Digital Storytelling would benefit our classroom. Since I do not teach yet I can only say that when I do become a teacher I want to incorporate as much technology as possible into my lesson plans. I want to teach history and I know how boring it can be to some students. By adding interactive presentations or giving the students the ability to create their own PowerPoint presentation on any historical event, will fully engage them in the topic. This will help the students not only understand how to research the historical event but all give them the opportunity to use the computer as a learning tool. I created my own short and sweet PowerPoint explaining why I think it will help and also a little bit about Digital Storytelling for those who don’t know what it is. This assignment also helped me to understand how to use online programs like Slide Share to link my PowerPoint to not just my blog but also Facebook and Twitter. I love learning new ways to do things; it gives me the ability to grow as a student and eventually a teacher.
Reference: Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom, 6th Ed., Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, and Gunter. Course Technology - Thompson Publishing (2010)
Darleen,
ReplyDeleteOnce again, your enthusiasm for this course is infectious. Overall, I was struck by one sentence in your reflection: "I really and truly feel that this course is making me become one with technology." Not only do I think you've hit the nail on the head with this statement, but have neatly summarized the goal of this course and even the Ed Tech program in general. In order to provide our students with the best possible learning, educators must become one with technology and be able to integrate fluidly and creativity.
I enjoyed your SlideShare, but I feel it was a little lacking in pizazz. You are clearly enthusiastic about learning and applying these new tools you are encountering, but I feel your end result could have used some more interactive examples. For instance, you could have inserted a link to an outside page, or embedded a video like the one we watched this week. Either of these would have been good demonstrations of what you've learned and what you would use in your own classroom, but these are just suggestions of course.
In the end, I think this is a great start for your continued learning about the wonders of technology, and I have no doubt you will become a technological dynamo in any classroom lucky enough to have you.
- Julie
"I especially liked how digital media is used to help students with disabilities." Yours was the only posting (that I came across) to mention the use of technology for those with disabilities. In addition to teaching, I work at a "technology store" (which shall remain nameless at this point) during the summer. The functions most technology has available for students with disabilities is incredible. Just the functions in a computer's operating system are great, and most people are not even aware of their existence. I think this is an often overlooked area of technology in education.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I also enjoyed the fact that you "love learning new ways to do things." As teachers, sometimes we get "stuck in our ways," so I hope that you do not lose this love as you progress into a teaching career. This section of the course, more than any yet, has helped me realize how much more is out there.
Hi Darleen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this particular started out being a little than I thought it would as well. I really wanted to use Prezi because I loved how it was so different from PowerPoint. Unfortunately my impatience to complete the assignment won out and I settled for creating a PowerPoint and then uploading it to SlideShare. That was a new experience for me as well, but I was able to grasp it much more quickly than Prezi. I do plan to revisit Prezi, and I can’t wait to feel comfortable using it too.
I see that you opted to use SlideShare too for embedding your presentation on digital storytelling in your blog post. You did a very good job by the way. You shared that you do not yet teach, and I must commend you for pursuing your master’s degree especially during such uncertain times in education. I’ve been a public school educator for almost thirty years and the profession has changed so much that it almost doesn’t even look the same as when I started teaching. I’ve loved my career, but I’m not certain what the “face of education” will look like in the future. We will need highly qualified teachers like you in the future to try and keep public education alive and well in this state and in the entire country.
Your post makes me think you are a “lifelong” learner just like I am. My enthusiasm for learning and “everything school” has been a constant my entire life. I enjoy my role as a student and I’ve always enjoyed being a teacher. I like what you said when you stated, “By adding interactive presentations or giving the students the ability to create their own PowerPoint presentation on any historical event, will fully engage them in the topic.” That is what it’s all about these days with teaching 21st century students of this current age.
I hope you never lose your love for learning and based on what you shared about loving to learn new ways to do things and how it helps you grow as a student and eventually a teacher…I think you won’t. Best of luck in your future as an educator, and I’ve enjoyed reading your posts during our course together.
:-) Ruth