What is Digital Storytelling? 

Digital Storytelling is the practice of using digital tools to tell a story.  We have expanded our knowledge of the types of digital tools that can be used to tell a story over the last year.  

This year we have found new ways to express our "voice" using different mediums and technology tools.

Have you ever heard of abcya (abcya.com) or Starfall's (Learn to Read) starfall.com?

What about Proloquo2go        (http://www.assistiveware.com/product/proloquo2go), iConversation Builder (http://a4cwsn.com/2011/04/conversation-builder/), or Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com)?

February 2014 (Storymaker)

Your friend wants to share a story created with MyStoryMaker!  Visit the link below to check it out!  Just input this Magic Code:  GZX314    You can create your own stories and send them back.  It's super fun!

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm?magicCode=GZX314

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm? magicCode=RKN988

Vacation in Walt Disney World

Earth Day 2014

April 2014

What have we learned so far?

Final Media Project: Digital Access

There are 9 elements of digital citizenship:

Access

Commerce

Communication

Etiquette

Literacy

Law

Rights and Responsibilities

Health and Wellness

Security

When I first read about the nine elements of citizenship I thought of the word accelerate.  We need to accelerate or, as the Merriam-Webster definition states, hasten the progress or development of responsible digital citizens in our High Schools.  The following iMovie presentation shows how we can improve Digital Access in our schools.

• The students and I followed the Creative Commons and copyright rules when we selected the images for this presentation.
• Websites used: United States Census Bureau, Goggle Images, Creative Commons, and YouMedia.org
• The graphs were created by my students using the KidsZone graphing program.

What do you need to know before you blog?

Blogging can be a wonderful way to introduce young people to creative writing.  Their blog page can be a place where they share their work and talents.  Some people use it as an online journal, while others post their artwork or poetry.  There are two things you need to know before you blog.

1. Be aware of your Digital Tattoo: Whatever you post is permanent; it can not be removed!

By: A.T. inspired by social media websites

We have access to numerous social media websites.  It can be tempting to post a message, picture, or video to express our feelings.  We must think about who should see the information and who can view the post.  Be aware before you share.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Learn about Creative Commons: Blogs are presented using Visually Differentiated Text (VDT).  VDT combines visuals (pictures, photographs, and videos) with text.

Q1: Can you copy a picture from the internet and paste it on your blog?  A1: Yes, you can.

Q2: Should you copy a picture from the internet and paste it on your blog?  A2: Well, that depends.

We must follow copyright rules.  Creative Commons provides a roadmap to tell us what images we can use and how we can use them.

 by:  A.T.

You can also take your own photos or draw the images that you post online.









If you are not as proud of your stick figures as I am of mine, then you can use Google images.  Go to Search tools, and then click on Usage Rights.  You can choose the images you want to attach to your blog and you will not have to worry about breaking copyright rules!

Favorite Books

It is refreshing to see the first signs of spring when we take our daily walks around campus.  The flowers are starting to spring up, the birds chirp their merry tunes, and the piles of snow are gone.  This time of year makes me think of my summer reading list.  Not the dreaded assigned summer reading list with the required reading, but those books that you want to read yet have not had a chance to enjoy because you are busy with school, work, and life.  You may want to add some of our favorites to your  summer reading list to keep you busy during the vacation.  Please post some of your favorites as well.

"Raising Dragons"

"The Tail of Emily Windsnap" series

"Penguin and Pinecone" series

"Katie and the Cupcake Cure" series

Cool Tools

Over the course of several weeks, the students used a variety of apps from the cooltoolsforschools website.  This online resource is divided into several categories including presentation, writing, and drawing tools.  The students were asked to explore this website to see which tools were the most effective.  

Favorite presentation tool #1

Favorite presentation tool #2

Favorite drawing tool: You can design your human self and then add animal parts to the drawing.   

Favorite writing tool: My Storymaker (See link)

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm?

magicCode=RKN988

 It took a while for me to come up with the proper title for my first blog page, but now it seems like a perfect fit.  When I thought of the phrase "Gratitude trees", I could picture the arms of all of the people in my life who have reached out to me as branches of a tree.  The Gratitude Montage blog page is my way of sharing how grateful I am to have each one of these people in my life.

In this first post, I will focus on the artistic talents of my students.  As you can see from the computer sketch, the artist is quite amazing.  We have used several different computer apps this year, which I will introduce during the next post.

We have a graphic artist who comes in to volunteer on Monday mornings.  This was her tribute to Andy Warhol.

Below: The student's pop art sketch