Digital Storytelling

1. What have your learned (one or two key points) about digital storytelling by creating your own video?

i. It's not as hard as it looks!
ii. It is very motivating, and sometimes frustrating, but it makes the time fly by!
iii. It is very differentiated in that everyone, regarless of skills, can produce something they worked hard on and are proud of!

2. What aspects of digital storytelling did you learn while viewing the websites above
i. It is used for diverse purposes.
ii. It integrates multiple intelligences and allows people to utilize their strengths and interests to create.
iii. I appreciated teh links that tie to specific individual lessons. They help me think about how to break up this process for kids.

3. How might you use video in your classroom next year? (Perhaps even as a component of your project).
As a teaching tool for me... I.E. multimedia introductions, writers workshop lessons, or science review? Maybe as a "how to" video for parents in supporting their students' reading advancement at home (like showing how our reading program is structured in class so parents understand why we assign very few specific books).... Maybe as a product choice for kids (this year it was as the culmination of our health project, and the videos turned out REALLY WELL!!!)

Assignment #3

1. "What is an American?"(<=question still in the works) will involve a multitude of product choices throughout the project. Choice enables students to utilize and tap into their strengths and intelligences to demonstrate learning, while also providing a more engaging platform. While the wheels are just beginning to turn on this new project idea, I expect three products: 1) research and writing about their state and what they believe is important 2) Completed webquest in planning a budget for a trip 3) "Travel Page" collaborative webpage. The freedoms w/i the design, organization, structure and topics will help to address student styles and needs.
   
   Additionally, as a result of EWYL, I am looking forward to presenting the information in a more technologically rich environment, which will help address the needs of visual and auditory learners. I will continue to model pieces of the assignment utilizing student support and providing a scaffold.
   
   2. Higher order thinking skills: Students will be making connections, asking questions, looking for trends/patters, and then synthesizing the information. Students will be jig-sawing and looking for trends in lifestyle, weather, traditions, attractions, and natural resources in the different states and regions. Students will be stepping through the writing process working individually to determine what is important about their state, and what their audiences will want/need to know.
   
   3. How will your project address the skills business and industry tell us are important? (Collaboration, Decision Making Skills, Connecting to the Real World)

Collaboration: Students will work in small groups, will need to delegate, communicate, plan together, work individually and then unite their projects. While students will be

Decision making skills: students will have to make real world choices in planning their trip: 5 star hotel or 1? Economy or luxury rental vehicle? Which air line? How much will they spend on entertainment? Food? What happens when emergencies arise? How to we plan a trip for a whole family on a budget? How do we manage and tack money?