Activity Reflection #6
American History Digital Storytelling Project
For this weeks assignment we were asked to build onto our final project. So far we have built our own curriculum page for our class, and also created a digital storytelling project we would like our class to do. Since I do not currently teach I made up my own class, I want to teach at an online high school like FLVS, grades 9-12 American History. For my project I decided to break up the class into groups of four students. They each will be randomly given a decade in American History to research and develop a digital storytelling project which they will then upload onto the class blog for other classmates to see.
This week’s assignment we were to build onto this and create an example of what we want our students to do. I again attempted to use Prezi and got dizzy (yes dizzy) from all the crazy movements and swinging back and forth, I started it and three hours in I turned back to Power Point and some Aleve. L I created my Power Point and chose the 1960s to show my example of what I wanted the students to do. Mine is not perfect as I encountered some software issues, you see I have Microsoft office 2003 and I don’t think YouTube was even around then, so uploading YouTube was impossible. Like I said once I come back from the wedding we are buying a Mac with the latest and greatest Microsoft added to it! I can not be a great virtual educator with an outdated computer, so I am willing to invest in a bad mama jamma computer! Anyhow back to this week, I want my students to enjoy this assignment which is why I will let them not only look at the historical events but pop culture events as well, like music, movies, and celebrities. The point of my assignment is to engage my students to make them learn with out feeling like they did.
Overall I feel like my Power Point Example will give the students an idea of what I am looking for and point them in the right direction. Tell me what you think!
https://teachinghistory10-12.wikispaces.com/Example+Digital+Storytelling+Project
Hi Darla,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I found your PowerPoint to be interesting and informative. You wrote, "Overall I feel like my Power Point Example will give the students an idea of what I am looking for and point them in the right direction. Tell me what you think!" The PowerPoint you posted seems to be more of an educational slide show - for information and for teaching rather than a STORY. Module 9 talked a lot about Digital Storytelling. I found these links to be helpful:
http://www.techlearning.com/printablearticle/8030
http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm
http://www.inms.umn.edu/elements/overview.php?title=Overview
To me, a story has a PLOT - something happens. There is a time and place, a conflict, a cause and effect, a resolution, etc. History is a perfect platform for digital storytelling. Your presentation featured the 1960's - why not tell the STORY of Dr. Martin Luther King's fight or the STORY of John F. Kennedy's presidency? Why not ask your students to write an imaginary story about how they(as a student in 1963) learned that Kennedy had been assassinated? Why not ask your students to create a story as a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis? Why not do a biography-type story about a political leader in the 1960's or about their grandparents (the students' grandparents) in the 1960's?
I think this could be really personalized and, when things are personalized, students remember them a lot better. Make history come alive - storytelling does that.
I hope my comments help you. They are not written as a criticism but as feedback.
~ Christi S
Christi, I completely agree with you. Once I took a step back I realized all my flaws in the project. I wanted it to seem more like a story of the whole 1960s as a flowing story from start to finish. I unfortunately lost all of this when I began my example project this week. I will be revising it using windows movie maker, although I will still want to include all the information in the slideshow I will use the software to change it up. I like your idea of having my students pick one thing in each decade, but I want them to tell me the whole story of their chosen decade. Since four students are working on it, it wouldn't be as challenging if they only focused on one person. I should have caught my mistakes but didn't. Moving forward I would like it to flow more like a story then a slide show, I will change it in the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Darleen
I love that you are putting so much into your project. History is one of those hard things because there is always MORE we could do with it. :-)
ReplyDeleteI use to do a decade project, I really found it useful to make the students pretend that they were living during that time period. They could tell a story about what their middle school years would have been like. There are so many words on a slide, my 8th graders totally tune out when I have so much on one slide, try to put just a few lines about the picture.
I do think this can be appropriate for your grade level but remember that you will have a mixture of students (yes even on FVS) some who have failed and trying to earn the credit and some who are trying to get ahead. You are totally reaching out to the students who are very much teacher pleasers but don't forget about that student who hates history. You have to get them hooked :-)
Good luck I know you said you are revamping
• Is this example appropriate for the grade level/subject area it is intended?
First I would like to say that I really enjoyed viewing your sample project. History is one of my favorite subjects. I also liked your example because it will give students a greater understanding of the overall project. I liked that you included links in some of the slides. This shows that you are going beyond just making a simple slide show. Furthermore, it will show students that they can also add more information.
ReplyDeleteIf I would change one thing it would be the amount of information on each slide. I know that it can be really hard to get all the information you want in there, but some of the slides were a little bit overwhelming. Maybe add an extra slide for any information overflow. Just a suggestion :) Overall, your project is really great :)
Thanks for sharing,
Catherine
I had some of the same software problems deciding if Prezi or PowerPoint would work best. It is amazing how much time you can spend on something and then the next thing you know you want to put it aside and try another method. Certainly as a teacher that time can slip away quickly.
ReplyDeleteI thought your presentation was great. It presented and flowed quite well. I also think that it was a good length. My only comment is that as you mentioned grade 9-12, that is a big age differential and your expectations would have to be set grade appropriately. And again, I'm not really sure, but with FLVS is no onsite opportunity for you to teach your students how to use the technology. I'm sure they do technology assignments all the time, I just don't know what to expect for a 9th grader vs. a 12th grade. I really enjoy studying history in decades-I have always found that an interesting way to learn.
I liked your slideshow. I have only used the Prezi program but enjoyed the differences that Slideshow offered. In terms of the content I think that Slideshow was even easier than Prezi. Your example was great in the content and multiple media that you used. I think it would be better for the younger elementary students to learn how to create with the program. I was wondering how easy it would be to incorporate sound into the presentation?
ReplyDeleteI must say for not having a class, you did a good job covering your plan. I liked your specifics of the class, group assignments and even the school. This painted a clear illustration for the audience. I thought it was funny how you described being dizzy from Prezi. It is much like being on a roller coaster, there should be a warning label on some Prezi shows. Even though you said you wanted a up to date computer I can tell you from first hand daily use that out of date technology is part of the public schools. I thought that it would make sense to create a test beyond beta testing, or even a new type of testing that varies from beta testing. This could be a testing on an industrial trial level. Putting the newest computer hardware into the classrooms and then using these workstations as refurbished or used would provide two great outcomes. This testing that would be free and the newest technology for the classroom to help our youth become ready for the world of technology that they will enter. I think that Slideshow dressed up your PowerPoint to the point that it didn’t even seem to be created in PowerPoint, at least I didn’t know until I read it. I looked at the presentation first, then read. Great job and good luck with your project.