Blog Entry 7: Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling can be used in all aspects of Education. The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, an article written by Bernard R. Robin of the University of Houston discusses what Digital Storytelling is and how it can be applied in the school setting. Robin defines Digital Storytelling as a story that takes traditional story elements, such as a common theme and point of view, and combines them with digitally enhanced images, audio, and graphics. Robin argues that a good Digital Story follows seven basic elements:

• Point of View
• A Dramatic Question
• Emotional Content
• The Gift of Your Voice
• The Power of the Soundtrack
• Economy
• Pacing

A good Digital Story must encompass all of these elements. The first four elements are traditional story elements. All stories have a point of view, they answer a dramatic question in order to offer a resolution, they provide emotional content that engages the reader, and a voice that is appropriate for the intended audience. The last three elements are what make a Digital Story so unique. Creating a story electronically allows for a Soundtrack. Just like in a movie a Soundtrack can add emotion to a story. It is important to remember that the viewer will grow impatient, just as they would during a television show or movie, if the story is prolonged. This is why Economy and Pacing are so important. There has to be enough information to get the point across and it must be paced appropriately so as not to bore the viewer.

Robin goes on to discuss the different uses of Digital Stories in Education. Digital Stories can be utilized in all subjects and grade levels. They are great for re-telling historical events, creating informational How-To's, and personal narratives.

Robin, Bernard R. (2009). The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. University of Houston. Retrieved October 12 from http://fp.coe.uh.edu/brobin/homepage/Educaional-Uses-DS.pdf

Blog Entry 6: Emerging Technology that Supports Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Chapter 4 of Joy Egbert's text focuses on critical thinking. The critical thinking process is discussed on page 105. The critical thinking process can be broken down into four steps: review, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. My school is constantly insisting that teacher's increase the rigor of assignments in the classroom. However, prior to reading this chapter I didn't have a strong understanding of how to teach critical thinking skills. I think it would be safe to say that many teachers, including myself, are guilty of not challenging their students beyond the review/clarify stage of thinking. Teaching content standards makes a teacher very motivated to review information and seek for basic understanding. The need to teach students how to think critical is not always put at the forefront of education. Using the four step process with students will not only increase the rigor of the lesson being taught but it will also teach the students to learn how to think.


Egbert, Joy. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of Classroom Practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Blog Entry 5: Shelfari (Open)

Throughout my Master's program I have had the opportunity to learn about many Web 2.0 tools that can be utilized in the classroom. Shelfari is one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools. I love Shelfari for two main reasons, it is a social networking site and it involves Literature. As a Literature teacher one of the biggest struggles that I face is student's lack of interest in reading. There are so many alternatives to sitting down a reading a good book now that many of my students don't even know about half of the really good books that are out there. Shelfari is an online tool that allows the user to maintain an online book shelf of books read, books that he or she would like to read, and books that he or she is reading now. The user is easily able to add a review and star rating to each book. To enhance a Shelfari it is important to add followers. Followers are able to share good books with each other. In the classroom Shelfari is a great way to get students interested in reading. Some students will be more interested in reading books just so that they are able to maintain a Shelfari with their classmates. Some students will become more interested because they will be able to see what books their friends are reading and hopefully find some books that they like. Shelfari is also a great tool to encourage students to discuss novels. Students who are reluctant to read can find a reading partner. They can read the same book and discuss the book together to increase their comprehension. As a teacher it is a great way to share your love of reading with students. Anytime I am reading a book I like to purposely leave it sitting on my desk or let the students "catch" me reading it. I do this because 90% of the time the students who "catch" me reading will want to read the same book. The same principal can be applied with Shelfari. When the students see what you are reading a lot of them are more motivated to read those books as well. Once you have created your free Shelfari you can view my Shelfari by clicking here.

Blog Entry 4: Emerging Technology that Supports Communication and Collaboration

While reading Chapter 3 in Egbert's text I was interested in the discussion on Internet safety. (75) This is one area where I think most adults could improve. I know that as a teacher planning technology projects Internet safety is not one of the first things I consider. It is not because I don't care about the safety of my students, I do, it's just that, like many adults probably do, I assume that they know how to be safe on the Internet. Teaching middle school it is easy to forget that they are still very young children, especially since they don't always act like it. The safety tips discussed on page 75 should be reviewed with all of my students prior to completing any online project. In fact, I think that many parents could equally benefit from this discussion so that they would know what to be teaching their children.

While reading through this discussion about safety issues I was introduced to gaggle.net. This chapter gave me a much greater understanding of how and why to incorporate technology projects that allow students to interact with their community and other communities. Prior to reading this chapter I would not have even know about the resources that are available, such as gaggle, to help create these type of projects. I now feel much more equipped to handle this type of project.

Comic Life

Comic Life is an online tool that allows people to create electronic comic books. The great thing about Comic Life is that it is usable on both a Mac or a PC and it is so easy to navigate that adults and children of all ages can use the program. Comic Life allows the user to use clip art from Microsoft Office or personal images and upload them into pre-existing layouts. Once the images are uploaded Comic Life allows the user to customize nearly every part of their Comic. The text and the text bubbles can easily change font, color, and shape. Also, when using Comic Life the user can add design elements to their pictures and their background.

I chose to create a Comic Life that could be utilized in the classroom setting. As part of the 7th grade Georgia Performance Standards Literature students are required to differentiate between Autobiographies and Biographies. Comic Life is an excellent tool to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of these genres. I created a sample Autobiography. By utilizing this tool to create my Autobiography I was able to demonstrate to my students the effectiveness of utilizing images to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of what he or she is reading. Also, because space for text is limited it forced me to write clear and concise sentences. The use of transitions comes more naturally when making the text to appear as dialogue as opposed to a formal essay. While I would not want to completely eliminate the formal essay this is a great alternative. Students can use Comic Life to practice many different literary elements. Also, Comic Life could easily be utilized as a pre-write. Students could later take the information presented in their Comic and expand upon it to create an essay. To view my Comic Life in a wiki click here. To view the Comic Life through Google Docs click here.

Charles Thacker, author of How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom, discusses how and why to use Comic Life in the classroom. Thacker is a proponent of Comic Life and argues that Comics in general are great for early or uninterested readers to learn and understand sequencing. Thacker agrees that the use of Comics provides a more natural use of transitions. Comics can also help early readers with comprehension because it provides illustrations to enhance the text. Thacker introduced ideas about Comics that I had not considered. For example, the effectiveness of utilizing Comics to teach figurative language, point-of-view, characterization, and for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all learners. Thacker discusses in detail about how to use Comic Life in place of the traditional book report. As a Literature teacher I love this idea. Reading book report after book report is not fun. However, viewing diverse and vivid Comics that can still demonstrate the student's knowledge of the basic story elements that occurred in the novel would be much more exciting for me and my students. Thacker ends his discussion on Comics with an extensive overview of how to utilize Comic Life. His instructions cover every aspect of Comic Life and the different ways a Comic can be customized.

Blog Entry 3: Voice Thread

Voice Thread is an online tool that allows teachers and students to create visual and narrative presentations. Creating a Voice Thread is easy enough that students of all ages are able to participate. There are numerous ways for narration to be added so that everyone who is able to log in to a Voice thread is able to share their comments. The images in a Voice Thread can easily be personal digital images, scanned images, or copyright free images from the Internet. In my first Voice Thread project I decided to scan student produced images to introduce some common literary terms used in my class. I added the narration and used my Voice thread as a teaching tool. I could easily link my Voice Thread on my school web page so that all students can access the Voice Thread and use it as a tutorial. This particular project could easily transition to a more student friendly project by having the students record their own narration. We could also add more terms and create a whole class Voice Thread. To access my first Voice Thread project click here.


Prior to completing my Voice Thread project I was motivated to do some research on the effects of Voice Thread in the classroom. Laila Weir's article, Voice Thread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums, details a man's journey through Voice Thread and his realization that he was able to use this tool as an extension to his class. Bill Ferriter, a sixth grade teacher, began creating Voice Threads on a variety of topics in an attempt to "steal his student's online minutes. " He left his Voice Threads open for students to make comments and found himself receiving hundreds of comments. He suggests that many of students feel more comfortable participating online than they do in the classroom because their are a variety of conversations occurring at once which holds their interest and because they get to think about their comments. As the article proceeds Weir continues to explain what a Voice Thread is and the different privacy settings that are available. Overall, this article is a great advocate for Voice Thread. It provides a positive example and promotes reasons that this program should be utilized by educators.

Blog Entry 2: Technology that Supports Content Learning

After reading chapter 2 in Egbert's text the first thing that really grabbed my attention was the discussion on one-computer classrooms and how that computer can still be utilized effectively in the classroom. I am in a classroom with one computer and I will admit that after reading this section in the book I don't feel as if I have used it effectively in my room. Typically, I have the computer turned on for students to access their grades to take Accelerated Reader tests. I like the idea of using it as a pre-reading station. In fact, I like to do learning centers in my room and after reading this I am more motivated to try to figure out how I can incorporate the computer into one of my learning centers. In the same section of this chapter I was drawn to the discussion on computer labs and their layout affecting their effectiveness. I have only used computer labs where the computers are in rows. The idea of rearranging the computer lab to make it a more collaborative setting is new and exciting to me. (42)

The technology formatted lesson plan is a very detailed and effective way to ensure that technology is being incorporated into the lesson. (54) I am a strong believer in pre-planning. Taking the time to really write out good lesson plans ensures that all tasks are relevant and related to the standards. The same thought that is put into differentiating and modifying lesson plans should be put into tying in technology standards. There is not a great deal of difference between the technology format and the standard format that I am required to turn in today. The only thing that I would have to add is a technology source and a list of websites that support the lesson.