May 31, 2014 afternoon session of Integrating Writing and Technology
12:56 PM The chatter from our lunchtime died down while Andrea led the recycling brigade and we received our loaner IPads with Story Analyser loaded on them. Trays of Lego pieces appeared at our tables. We were going to create Lego stories!
Dr. Kevin Oliver brought our attention to points from chapter 5, “Thinking About Story.” Especially helpful was the Visual Portrait of a Story (a blueprint for the progression of a story), and Table 8.1, The Eight Levels of Transformation. Many of us used these tools to pre-write our stories.
Kerri Brown-Parker, NCSU College of Education Librarian, explained digital storytelling, and gave us a secret code to log on to NCSU’s actual website so we could email our Lego stories to ourselves when we completed our masterpieces.
Kerri explained that Digital Storytelling can be useful in any curricula. It enhances writing and application skills and supports multiple literacies. One benefit is that It can garner immediate feedback through you tube publishing and other media.
She showed us an example of poor use, in which the student learned very little, mostly copying and pasting text (illegally). Then we saw an example of a digital story in which the student showed evidence of specific learning, and of personalizing the information and presenting it in an engaging way. As with any other learning vehicle, teachers and students decide the degree of effectiveness.
Kerri suggested using a variety of storytelling apps, in order to switch to the least costly one at the moment. There are many apps for stories listed on the website used in today’s class:
http://go.ncsu.edu/metrc Click on instruction and then digital storytelling
Kerri explained the steps of our project:
—write the story,
--build scenes from the story using Legos,
--photograph the scenes by placing the Lego platform and characters in front of an open manila folder, our “set” for our miniature play
--put the text and pictures together within the Story Visualizer app on our loaner IPads; select layout, font, effects, etc.
--take a screen shot of the final version of the story
--email the story to ourselves
--put our Lego story on our personal Weebly portfolio page
We were told to write the story first, or find our Lego pieces first, for story inspiration. There was a momentary pause after Kerri stopped speaking.
After about 11 stunned seconds, people began madly scribbling story ideas, diving into Lego trays for chains (Lauren), a magic wand and a magnifying glass (Wilda), asking for tape to show that the character’s head had been cut off (Jeff), feeling pressured to get something done--and quick!, feeling creative, feeling supported (Sara standing behind Wilda coaching her through the process), getting a Coke Zero (Kevin), getting a cookie or another piece of Megan’s delicious cake, feeling pleased with our struggle and subsequent success.
Wow, another technology achievement. This is beginning to feel doable to some of us, old hat to many, exciting for all.
By the time we get together again we will have written our essays, shared them with someone outside our peer group, then prepared to share them with our peer group in class on June 14.
We’re also sharing on the google doc what side trips we’re interested in, and making plans as small groups for those.
What a ride!
12:56 PM The chatter from our lunchtime died down while Andrea led the recycling brigade and we received our loaner IPads with Story Analyser loaded on them. Trays of Lego pieces appeared at our tables. We were going to create Lego stories!
Dr. Kevin Oliver brought our attention to points from chapter 5, “Thinking About Story.” Especially helpful was the Visual Portrait of a Story (a blueprint for the progression of a story), and Table 8.1, The Eight Levels of Transformation. Many of us used these tools to pre-write our stories.
Kerri Brown-Parker, NCSU College of Education Librarian, explained digital storytelling, and gave us a secret code to log on to NCSU’s actual website so we could email our Lego stories to ourselves when we completed our masterpieces.
Kerri explained that Digital Storytelling can be useful in any curricula. It enhances writing and application skills and supports multiple literacies. One benefit is that It can garner immediate feedback through you tube publishing and other media.
She showed us an example of poor use, in which the student learned very little, mostly copying and pasting text (illegally). Then we saw an example of a digital story in which the student showed evidence of specific learning, and of personalizing the information and presenting it in an engaging way. As with any other learning vehicle, teachers and students decide the degree of effectiveness.
Kerri suggested using a variety of storytelling apps, in order to switch to the least costly one at the moment. There are many apps for stories listed on the website used in today’s class:
http://go.ncsu.edu/metrc Click on instruction and then digital storytelling
Kerri explained the steps of our project:
—write the story,
--build scenes from the story using Legos,
--photograph the scenes by placing the Lego platform and characters in front of an open manila folder, our “set” for our miniature play
--put the text and pictures together within the Story Visualizer app on our loaner IPads; select layout, font, effects, etc.
--take a screen shot of the final version of the story
--email the story to ourselves
--put our Lego story on our personal Weebly portfolio page
We were told to write the story first, or find our Lego pieces first, for story inspiration. There was a momentary pause after Kerri stopped speaking.
After about 11 stunned seconds, people began madly scribbling story ideas, diving into Lego trays for chains (Lauren), a magic wand and a magnifying glass (Wilda), asking for tape to show that the character’s head had been cut off (Jeff), feeling pressured to get something done--and quick!, feeling creative, feeling supported (Sara standing behind Wilda coaching her through the process), getting a Coke Zero (Kevin), getting a cookie or another piece of Megan’s delicious cake, feeling pleased with our struggle and subsequent success.
Wow, another technology achievement. This is beginning to feel doable to some of us, old hat to many, exciting for all.
By the time we get together again we will have written our essays, shared them with someone outside our peer group, then prepared to share them with our peer group in class on June 14.
We’re also sharing on the google doc what side trips we’re interested in, and making plans as small groups for those.
What a ride!