Technology to enhance literacy reflection

The past eight weeks I have been learning how to use technology to enhance literacy. I have researched websites from tumblebooks to easl.ly. There is so much out there. 

I have completed a couple firsts throughout this course. A digital story and an infographic. Both were challenging but rewarding and I would love to try them with my class this year.

The last eight weeks has been challenging and rewarding. I would of liked a little more feedback on my projects. My peer editing experience was very helpful though.  Thanks to everyone who left comments on my blog that helped me along the way.  Now I'm on to another exciting school year. Hoping to use some of the things I have learned in my classroom.  Until next time....

Infographic

My first try at an infographic using www.easel.ly.  Not too bad!

easel.ly

Digital Story

I created my first digital story using Narrable. I choose this program because I think that my first graders would love to publish some of their writing using Narrable with minimal help.  The site also allows me to set up my class to help with this process.  I really am looking forward to using this in my classroom.

Narrable was relatively easy to use. I was able to upload my photos from my computer and I was even able to upload photos straight from Facebook.  I had a great experience using this platform for my digital story.  It was free and I was able to record my voice within the program to narrate my story.  The only problem I had was that I had to record over each photo instead of letting me narrate my entire story at once.


Here is a YouTube video on how to create your own Narrable.

Digital Storytelling Reflection

So far the digital storytelling process has been very similar to the writing process.  I have been through the rewriting process and drafting processes so far.  This week we are finishing our drafts while peer editing.  Just like I would have my students do while working through the writing process.

The biggest difference between the two processes of writing are in the digital process I am doing everything on my computer and collaborating with others who are not geographically near me. Which I think is a wonderful, I can potentially receive lots of feedback to make my story even better.  I am excited to share my work with others. I have really only had one problem so far, I have not been able to read my peer editors comments on my work. This is an easy fix, however, collaborating using Google Docs would allow both parties to edit and make suggestions.

The digital storytelling process is a valuable writing tool.  This will give students the ability to collaborate with others from all over the world expanding their ideas and voice.  Sharing stories digitally will get students excited to write and spark creativity that we may not see in our students everyday writing.  I am having fun with this in my class this summer and am looking forward to trying this out next year..

Resources
Digital Writing Process Blog with resources
Brain Pop on the Writing Process
Image from
http://blogs.longwood.edu/emiliesovocool92/files/2013/07/writing-process.jpg
http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DigstoryProcess.png