My experience with digital stories...

At first I have to admit that I was unsure about digital stories. I think they are a great idea, but actually creating one myself was making me a little uneasy. We were given a task in our GMU technology class to create a digital story to share with our class on ANYTHING. I think that is why I was so unsure of making my digital story, with the option of doing it on ANYTHING. It was hard for me to figure out a topic that would be appealing to the class as well as meet the requirements for the course. I came up with several ideas, but when it came down to it I decided to do a simple story on my little brother. I had tons of pictures to choose from and he is a cutie so I thought the class would enjoy watching a 3-5 minute story on him rather than seeing pictures of me.

The program we used was Photostory3. It is a simple story maker with everything you need for the requirements of our project. The program was easy to use which made the process of doing the digital story enjoyable. The program did have a few down sides to it. You could not talk all the way through the story. You had to record for each picture so you would either have to break up your thoughts into 3 to 5 second intervals or not have your voice on some pictures. In some presentations you can actually hear the microphone going on and off during each photo which can take away from the story itself.

The other problem I came across was adding the music to the story. The program comes with simple music to play in the background. Our professor gave us a free mp3 website to use.  At first I had trouble figuring out how to download the music from this site, but after a classmate helped me out I thought it added so much more to my digital story. Luckily my digital story was as long as the song so I did not have to worry about finding another one. I could not think of how I could add a second song and have it flow as well as just using one song.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this program and creating a digital story. I can see myself using them in my classroom as a teacher to get to know the parents in beginning of the year they could create a digital story to introduce themselves as a class. It also can be used as a culminating project at the end of a unit for either individual or small groups. It is also something that once it is done we can post them on our class blog or wiki to share with others. I think parents would enjoy having a CD of a digital story that there child had created. It is another way to get technology in the classroom.

3 things I can take away from my internship so far....

PLAN PLAN PLAN.... I have learned many things from my internship but the most important thing I have taken away from it so far is to plan in advance. Planning cuts down on "winging it" and will give the students structure in the classroom. I have noticed, especially with the class that I am in, if you pause for a second it shows them you do not know what you need to do next, and you loose control of the entire classroom. What my students really need is a schedule laid out for them with what they are doing that day. This will give them an idea of what the day is going to look like, which might get rid of some of the behaviors in the classroom. In observing my teacher I have noticed that most behavior problems stem from open-ended time that does not have structure or expectations for the students. I believe that if a schedule is posted and talked about in the morning meetings and the expectations are set for the day this class would loose a lot of its behavior issues.

Another thing that I have noticed in my class is that being CONSISTENT         with the student's behavior is necessary. In my class there have been a lot of behavior issues due to the inconsistency of consequences. One reason for this might be that the rules were not set up in the beginning of the year. To me guiding the students in creating the rules during the first few days of school builds relationships with your students and sets the tone for the environment of the classroom. Sine the beginning of the year my teacher has reached out to administrators and specialist for help with the behaviors in her room. So in her defense a lot of the "severe" behavior issues have been ignored because she was told it would benefit the students. Meanwhile, other students have picked up on the "severe" behaviors and expect to be ignored, but are instead reprimanded which confuses them. So consistency among the behavior is necessary to keep the classroom management under control.

ENGAGE your students! Engaging your students is KEY...to classroom management. I know not all lessons can be the most exciting especially in my 1st grade there are a lot of basic lessons that need to be taught to build their fundamentals. But as a teacher you know when your students are not listening and need some other type of instruction. If I was teaching and noticed most students were disengaged. I would get the students up, do an energizer, and change the lesson to meet the needs of my students. As we are learning in our differentiation and assessment class we will have a classroom full of unique learners and we are expected as teachers to meet their needs. So, our instruction needs to be differentiated and if we are meeting their needs the students will be engaged:)

Wikis in the Classroom

     When we first started learning about Wikis all I could remember is that in school I was always told Wikipedia is an unreliable source. So, I was clueless to how it could be used in a classroom setting or introduced to students as a source at all.  In my technology class at GMU my teacher had us create a class wiki, since then we have been adding to it and reading articles about how to use it in the classroom.
     After reading the chapter by Will Richardson on Wikis, my opinions were changed on how to use wikis in the classroom. I like how he said that use of wikis should not be discouraged it should be told to students that it should not be your only source. Also, his idea of using a wiki as a culminating project, he says to have students post there findings on something they researched on a wiki and watch to see how it gets changed by others or if it stays the same. This lets the students value their work because they are putting it out on the internet for anyone to view.
     My favorite idea from his chapter was starting your own class wiki. It would be like having your own class website with information. It also is a great way to post a link to your class blog and integrate both technologies in your own classroom. I really like the ides of wikis and blogs in the classroom I think it is a great way to build home to school and school to community relationships. And let’s face it in our world today, technology is everywhere! So if we as teachers are trying to prepare our students for the real world and the use of technology, introducing and using blogs and wikis in your classroom is a good first step.