Monday, February 22nd-26th 2010 And so it begins.....

On Monday (22nd) we put their rough draft into effect. We have 2 stations set up for the kids to use. The recording studio is in the classroom where we have 4 computers placed throughout the class and the other station is the computer lab. One problem that we have run into is that the computer lab is so booked up that it is hard to get 1 1/2 hour time slots. It is greatly appreciated that our staff has been so cooperative!
I spent a good part of Sunday getting ready for this first day as I was unsure of what to expect. I made up folders ,to keep their rough copy, that also contain a checklist for them to sign (and get teacher's signatures) once each section has been completed. I needed to this so I know where everyone is at. Another sheet that has been included in these folders is another checklist for extra activities that they can work on when they are waiting and have nothing else to do until theyreceive help . I've learned over this week that this was not a necessity to do as they don't have much time at all when there is nothing to do. Maybe these folders will be used more closer to the end.
I think we have come up with a solution for the student I had to make adaptations for. The first day, she was not cooperative so we made some more changes and right now she has an alternate book read, has created figurines out of plasticine, and we have taken pictures to include in her digital book report. She does not spend the full 1 1/2 on this as it is too much. We will continue next week adding the pictures into her report.
I found the second day more frustrating as the students were at different spots as they were coming and going to and from the recording studio. I was not always able to answer the questions they had. Arlene and Kirk, though, felt this day went better as the students were understanding things better. We also have had peer teaching going on in the recording room and now the lab as well.
Helpful reminder for next time:
It is important to have the students create folders at the very beginning instead of having to go back and teach thm how to do this. It is better to do it all at once!

On Friday we talked, in the classroom, about the process involved in saving and retrieving pictures,etc.. This was very helpful and through repetition the students (and myself) will become more comfortable with this, I feel that they are doing better already. Kirk and I met on Friday (26th) and I am slowly feeling more comfortable with what we are doing.

Wow! What Have I got Myself Into???

As excited as I am to be doing this project with my class, I am worried that my computer skills are not quite up to par. It is a definate learning curve for me but I know the end results will be worth it.

After checking out Andrea's blog (impressive) I got a little nervous about what I had got myself into. Kirk and I e-mailed back and forth about what our first meeting (with the students) would consit of. When we finally met with the kids on Thursday, February 4th, it went well and the students appeared to be excited-yay! We did this first session in the class and discussed with them (mostly Kirk) what we would be doing over the next 3 weeks.

Arlene (computer savvy expert at Wagner), Kirk, and I sat down and had a short meeting after this with to brainstorm some ideas and see which direction we'd be going form this point. I do have 2 students that I am needing to adapt for and I really want them to take part to the best of their ability.

We had another meeting the following week to discuss more of the details of this project and I was a bit overwhelmed (and hungry -should've eaten lunch) afterwards. This is where I committed myself to creating this blog page! During this week my students also worked on a rough draft, of their report, that I will post on this blog page. This, I hope will help them them sort through their thoughts as we go along! They are also adding extra ideas onto their outlines that they would like to use (plasticine, pictures, drawings....) on their digital book report so they don't forget.

First Reaction-What A Great Idea!

The first time Kirk and I met was not to discuss digital storytelling but to talk about my classroom 'Moodle' page. We had spent the best part of an hour doing this when I decided to mention a book report my class would be doing right away. We had done a powerpoint presentation the previous year and I was wondering about this digital storytelling that he had talked about at one of our staff meetings....thus the story begins...