Digital Storytelling Project!
This week in our technology class, we were asked to create a digital storytelling project for our current/future students, and design it as part of our curriculum. When beginning this assignment, I though back to all of my undergraduate classes as well as my internship to turn to what different subjects would require an exciting project that I could fit digital storytelling into. I started to get excited thinking about all of the different ways I could use this type of project in my classroom. Due to the upcoming holiday, I thought it would be fun to have my students create their own Halloween story. I would use Kidspiration because I believe this program is very kid friendly, and I am looking to use this in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. I would first have the students think about what kind of story they would like to tell. It could be about a past Halloween experience, what their costume is like, carving pumpkins, what their family does for Halloween, trick or treating, or things that scare them. There would be an endless amount of topics the children could decide on.
From there I would have the students create a few sentences on paper to put their story together. Afterwards, the students would be guided on the computer to create their story. They can use pictures from clip art, scary music, and even design their own characters/background. I would of course have this set up in advance so the children would have a set of each to choose from. It would fit into our fall curriculum, as we are discussing fall and Halloween. The students would also be doing this reading activity during our reading block , which would work itself into our reading curriculum. This project would require me to have guidance along with myself, so I would need our reading specialist/coach and possibly an aid to come in and help direct the students on the computers. I would provide two websites for the students to go to if they need help. One would be Ask for Kids, which is a great website for students to get answers to questions while creating their story, as well Story Place which is a great website for students to get ideas, as well as understand more how to create their story and put it all together. It would be a reference page for them.
This idea has got me thinking a lot about digital storytelling in my future classroom and I have been looking into different ideas of how to use this more frequently with all different subjects and assignments. I believe this will be very effective and exciting for the students and a fun way for them to learn about creating a story, using technology, and learn about each other. :)
Hi Mags,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your lesson plan ideas! I'm happy to hear that you're incorporating Kidspiration into you classroom for the holidays.
While you prepare for November, you may be interested in our Inspired Calendar on our blog Thinkspiration. This list showcases lesson plans and examples created by educators around special days and holidays.
To view this month's calendar, go to http://www.inspiration.com/blog/2010/11/november-inspired-calendar/.
I'd love to connect with you on our blog, Facebook or Twitter. Feel free to email me at connect(at)inspiration.com as well.
Sarah Cargill, Inspiration Software
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" I thought it would be fun to have my students create their own Halloween story.... It could be about a past Halloween experience, what their costume is like, carving pumpkins, what their family does for Halloween, trick or treating, or things that scare them. There would be an endless amount of topics the children could decide on."
ReplyDeleteOver what period of time do you envision carrying out this project? Despite your potential leveraging of your reading specialist and a computer assistant, how many hours per week would you anticipate devoting to this project?
Are there ways you might reduce the burden on you/your students while preserving the impact you want to have?
For instance, could your first digital story project be a whole group (or small group) activity?
Just curious. :-)
I love the idea of having your students make Halloween story for the holiday. This is something that I will try with my students in the future because I know that this will be a fun and engaging activity. They can create a story about a Halloween that they always want to remember. They could also make up a story. Either way I feel that this is something that they will enjoy. I also think that the students will also enjoy being able to share their stories with their classmates
ReplyDeleteI would make this project about a week or two before halloween when we begin talking about fall. This would probably take about a week, so I would set up a schedule for the students to be on the computer at a certain time of the day. I love that you mention small group, this could actually make this process a lot easier as well as convenient and fun for the students. Whole group would be a great idea as well. :) thanx for the thoughts!!
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea. You said, "From there I would have the students create a few sentences on paper to put their story together. Afterwards, the students would be guided on the computer to create their story.". I think this idea can bring many challenges but the outcome would be awesome. You might try asking for volunteers for a day or to to help the students complete this project. You might find it more difficult that you guessed it would be when you are on your own.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are having Kindergartners use the computers to help create their story. In my experience, our youngest students don't get to use computers in the classroom except to listen and watch a story. Teaching them how to create something on the computer that they have imagined will increase their confidence when using technology. Even though it will take some time to complete your project, I bet they will be asking how soon they can do another project on the computer.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
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