Storytelling


Last week a fourth grade teacher approached me about the museum her class is creating on the Native Americans in Wisconsin.  Students researched and wrote stories about different tribes, but she did not know the best way for students to share the information with visitors to the museum.  I suggested that they try "Storyrobe," a free digital storytelling application.

Since neither the classroom teacher or I had ever used the application with a class, we started with two students.  Using the itouch camera, students took pictures that went with their stories.  We learned that it was easiest to take photos using the camera, and then add them to Storyrobe as the story is created.  Students placed dots in their script to mark the location where the image should change.  The "author" recorded the story as another student selected the next image.  All students in this class of 22 successfully created their "Storyrobe" stories in just a few days.

Once the stories were done we uploaded them to a private youtube account for the tour of their museum.

Detailed information about digital storytelling using Storyrobe can be found on the Storyrobe web site.

I'm at Level 81! (iTouch implementation)

Students need to understand the goal of an application.  I learned this quickly with second grade students.  They wanted to get to the "next level," on several applications, but in many cases got there by guessing.  This is probably "video game mentality" where that is the aim.  After the classroom teacher and I explained the true objective and showed the students how they could see the number of responses that were correct or incorrect, the focus was much more intentional on using the applications to learn and reinforce skills and knowledge.

It is important for teachers to be familiar with the applications and to clearly explain the objectives to the students.  It is also important for teachers to continually monitor student progress, helping them make adjustments to settings to meet individual learning needs.

First Use in Classrooms (iTouch implementation)

The first time students in second and fourth grade used the iTouches, they started with math applications.  Second grade students used Pop Math to work on addition facts.  Fourth grade students are learning decimals and used the Freddy Fraction application.  Students quickly grasped the handling and use of the iTouches.

My role as a teacher was to act as a guide, helping students change settings so the application was at the right level of difficulty. Math was a great way to begin since most of the applications are intuitive and can be adjusted to the student's skill level.

Almost Synched (iTouch implementation)

Apps:
I spent the past several days selecting and downloading apps for our 20 iTouches.  Only three  left to sync.  Apps include a combination of paid and free.  The Volume Voucher Program requires you to enter a code into iTunes for every copy of an app you purchase.  Even though I used "copy and paste," it was a time-consuming, tedious task.  In general the iTouch screens are organized  as follows:

Home Page:

• default apps

Kindergarten/1st Grade:

• ABC phonics
• Drawing Den
• My First Words
• 1 Fish 2 Fish (paid)
• Clifford Be Big with Words (paid)
• Teach Me Kindergarten
• Shape Lite
• Learn Sight Words (paid)
• Word Magic (paid)

Math:

• Flash Cards
• Flow Math (paid)
• Multi Genius Lite
• Nine Gaps (paid)
• Number Line
• Pizza Math
• Pop Math (paid)
• Telling Time (paid)
• Flash to Pass Free
• Braineous (paid)
• Coin Math (paid)
• Long Division
• Mad Math Lite
• Equation Creator
• eye Math Subtraction
• Freddy Fraction

Language Arts:

• Dragon Dictation
• i Sentence Builder (paid)
• Dictionary
• Free Grammar
• Tree Hut
• Mad Libs
• Primary Grammar Jammer
• SpellStacker
• Storyrobe
• Chicktionary Lite

Social Studies / Science:

• Dinosaurs
• Weather Eye
• NASA
• Travel Wisconsin
• Stack the States Lite

Other:

• Flower Garden
• BrainPop Video of the Day
• Drawing Den
• MyPaintFree

Naming the iTouches:
Each iTouch has been assigned a name and number which is engraved on the iTouch and shown on a label on the iTouch case.  There are ten male names and ten females; Laverne, Percy, Henry and Romona are a few of my favorite names.  There is also a label next to each slot in the cart for easy identification of placement of iTouches when returned.  To personalize the iTouches, I found clipart to go with each name, edited the clipart to add the name and number, and then set the picture as the lock screen on each iTouch.

iPod Touch

This year I will be piloting the effectiveness of iPod touches at the elementary level and will share the implementation through this blog.  Today I unwrapped 20 iPod touches and put them in the Bredford cart for charging.  One of our amazing technicians set up an Airliner for wireless access.  I'm ready to download apps and get going.

Creative Podcasting

One of the assignments for students in my 8th grade "Techno Savvy" class is to create a podcast.  Earlier in the course these students researched a controversial topic and worked in groups to create a blog.  Topics included cloning, the death penalty, cell phone use in schools, and world hunger. 

I encouraged students to take a unique approach to the format of the podcast.  The results were impressive.  Formats included game shows, talk shows, and shopping network programs.  Two of the podcasts really  surprised me.  One group wrote and sang an emotional song about world hunger titled "Just Imagine."  Another group wrote and performed a rap on the death penalty.  The lyrics came from the perspective of the accused and a police officer who rapped, "Listen hear I’m one of our cities cops. Most people we arrest aren’t at our social ladders top. I Like the death penalty it’s the best way for those monstas to go, I wonder what they think about when there on death row . . ."

Podcasting truly is a means for students to creatively communicate their learning.

Googling Bing

When asked to use the Internet to research a topic most students at the middle school level automatically go to Google. To help them understand that there are other search engines I challenged them to try Bing for a research project we started today.

So, what did they do? They used Google to search for Bing:-) It was a funny moment.