Digital storytelling

Movies I watched:

• Angela: "Who Am I ABC's"
• Lizzy: "Mr. Wig, Our Guinea Pig"
• Caroline "A Tasty Alphabet"
• Kate: "The Scarlet Pimpernel"
• Elizabeth: "Three Little Pigs"
• Kaylee: "The One Thing I Won't Eat"

As I was thinking about applying this digital storytelling project in a classroom, I realized that there could be some potential challenges. For instance, planning a storyboard and putting everything together might be easy for a teacher, but some children who have never worked with this type of technology may struggle with it at first. Plus, it could be hard for a teacher to handle around 30 students who are all trying to do this new skill at the same time. If teachers take advantage of the more simple options for the younger grades, however, this type of technology can be more approachable regardless of the students' ages.

storyboard

keeping track of TPACK

TPACK is essentially the means by which teachers convey knowledge to kids in a way they can truly learn it. The different combinations of pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and technological knowledge all show how important it is for teachers to incorporate these different aspects to maximize students' learning. As I was learning about TPACK, I felt strongly that no matter how much content knowledge or technological knowledge a teacher had, it would be nothing without pedagogical knowledge (or the ability to use appropriate methods that will help the students learn). Of course, all three aspects of TPACK are necessary, but to me I felt that was the glue that made everything stronger and more effective.

TPACK is so necessary for teachers to understand and to incorporate because it involves careful planning and understanding of how to engage the students throughout the learning process. Without this knowledge, teachers' decisions about the curriculum and the lesson plans would be less wise and far less influential.

Some of this technology just blows my mind!

This week has been such an enlightening time for me -- well, technologically speaking, at least. By making my own website, learning how to embed google maps, posting slide shows of photo albums, and chatting live through a webcam, I felt as if a whole other world opened up at my fingertips. The most amazing part was seeing how that's just the tip of the iceberg...it seems as if there are endless resources on the Internet to help teachers to become more effective. Although I probably will not use all of these resources, I do appreciate the few tools I have been able to practice this past week. Hopefully I will continue to utilize them when I actually become a teacher.

synchronous video chat on gmail

asychronous video chat on facebook

Well, I learn something new every day...

Although I grew up in the city where the Internet was invented, I would not consider myself an extremely technologically savvy person. However, I have learned enough to survive in this generation of powerpoint presentations, excel spreadsheets, email, facebook, ipods....you name it. I love seeing the power of techonology make changes in the way people learn, and hopefully by taking this IPT 287 class, I can be an effective teacher using new technological tools. Hence, here's my blog...