Techtrackers

I found all of the activity types to be very beneficial to use in the classroom. I especially like the alphabet books. I like the idea that children can be introduced to letters and their sounds through literature, rather than just telling them the letters and sounds. Alphabet books, generally have great pictures that attract the younger students to reading them. Since many younger students have such an interest in these books, it would make the most sense to allow the students to create their own alphabet books. When students have the ability to personalize a book, they are more likely to be interested in the material. Teachers can assess the students by looking at the pictures they place which each letter and the order they put the letters in the book. If everything matches up a teacher will know that the student has a solid understanding of the alphabet and words that start with each letter! -Kim Konior

I attended the teaching with technology showcase and I found it to be extremely insightful. I attended the showcase which discussed podcasting and webcams as a means of communication between classes all around the world. I would be very interested to have some kind of virtual pen pal inititive within my own classroom. I really liked how the presenter discussed peace keeping in her classroom, but she turned it into more then just reading or learning about other countries, she made the process more hands on!

Techtrackers Group/8Y34 Lab 7: Place your cursor BELOW the three lines. Type in your Activity Types Reviews below. Then place a line under your entry. = =To Post Click EDIT............................................................................................It is over here ^\=

Erica Trombetta- I found that sequential stories, which was a program allowing you to document a story in squential order, was beneficial to record and follow a timeline or story from beginning to end. I could see myself using this tool in any grade for any activity, such as Language (for example, documenting the beginning, middle and end of a story) or Science (documenting the evolution of the human, or the unhatching of a caccoon). Both would be assessed using a checklist to assess if students understand the order of events.

__Cathy Paolercio- "I Spy"__ "I spy with my little eyes - a great resource to use in a classroom!" I Spy books are picture books that contain text with riddles. These riddles are clues given to readers to find a specific object hidden in the picture. The riddles are usually short (about 4 lines) that rhyme. I have seen many I Spy books in all classroom before. Children love them and don't think twice about opening them up. I would use them differently in my classroom depending on the age group. For a junior/intermediate group, I think it would be great to get everyone in the class to put together a page worth of collages/pictures and riddles to match. Then the class could put together their very own 'I Spy Book' created by them that everyone in the class can later have access to.

Digital Stories Activity Types – ePhoto Albums

ePhoto Albums are digital stories/movies that tell the story of the student’s life story by adapting the student's digital photos, scanned images, yearbooks, or old family movies. At the beginning of the school year I would use this type of activity to get to know a students in the class. The students could record a narrative to explain how the images relate to them. I would be assessing the student’s creative thinking skills. I would see how the student connects visual pictures to their personal lives.

Brenda G

Digital Storytelling - Courtney Stortini I selected “Alphabet stories”. This is where students can create their own alphabet story to help with learning letter sounds and making connections to real life objects/ people, etc. that have meaning to them. I would use this for a kindergarten class and assess them on whether or not they could correctly match letter sounds to objects.

Kylie C. - Stop motion action or claymation. This is where a student would take digital pictures with little motion between each one, so that when compiled, in order, there appears to be motion. I would integrate this into language, having sixth graders write and create a myth. I would use a checklist which would include: fluidity of movement, detail, and accurate use of technology. For the language, I would use a separate rubric to evaluate the story.

Michelle W. - Picture Essays in the form of Electronic Photo Albums. Electronic photo albums are digital stories that tell the story of the student's life story, by adapting the student's digital photos, images, and home movies. The students can include music to set a mood or tone for the story. I would use this activity in the literacy classroom. I would have the children create stories about events in their lives and have everyone's stories in the class collected together in order to make a much bigger picture book for the whole class. I would assess the students on their ability to create a begining, a middle, and an end to a story. I would use a rubric and checklist to check and make sure that the students include what I expected of them.

i spy stories -- Danielle R -- I chose to review "i spy stories" which were created to help students use visual cues for word play. Each page includes a picture along with a riddle which acts as a hint to help the reader figure out what they are supposed to find on that page. I could use this in the classroom by creating my own "i spy ebook" for students to use which would be particularly beneficial when working on prediction and vocabulary skills.

The Activity type I choose to review Digital Storytelling which is discussed in Chapter 6 of the ebook and during our technology class. Digital storytelling encompasses different methods of telling stories over a variety of media, including the internet. This includes telling personal and professional blogs, pictures,slide shows, timelines, songs, and videos. It includes the storyboard which we examined today in class and thought of numerous ways to use these storyboards in all subject areas. Students can use the storyboards as a springboard to complete a digital story, I could see myself using this technique in the classroom in my future practice. I would use and assess the student's ability in language to retell a story, or identify the beginning middle and end, both in their first draft using the storyboard, and the completed digital story they created. Kerrie G

Activity Review- Veronica Shupe Today in class when we were working on google docs I found it interesting to learn about Alphabet Books. I have seen these used in the primary grades, in particular JK/SK. Since I am in placement in these grades, I thought it would beneficial to create one. This is a great opportunity for students to learn about matching appropriate letter sounds and practice printing through what they are reading. Since it is fun for them to read, it will also help them to remember. I would be assessing their letter sounds and the stages they take when learning to print the alphabet.

Brandon S. - Narrative Stories. This activity involves the creation of a script, including a beginning, middle and end. Then the students must translate this script to a source of digital media (slides, movie, etc.). I think this would be a great way to integrate language and technology. I would have each group of students first construct a narrative. Then I would randomly distribute the stories to the groups, so that each group would have to "film" another group's story. This way I could easily assess both the script-writing process for a language mark, as well as the media translation for a media literacy mark. Both would be assessed using a rubric.

Christine Berardi - Sequential Stories are stories that are told using a sequential order. They have a specific beginning, followed by each step of the process until the task is complete. Most "how to" stories are done using a Powerpoint slideshow. Teachers could use this tool in teaching science experiments that follow a sequence of procedures. In order to access this, a teacher could use a checklist as each step is completed.

Rephotography Stories - Brittney Renton These stories are told exclusively in pictures by a series of photos of the same historic location or object after the elapse of time, to be used for comparison. Within a classroom it is a great way to have students research the photo, in geography they can locate the actual location and in math can compare angles and dimensions. Its a great way of telling stories over time and comparing differences within a location. Students can take these pictures and create their own stories using a slide show to convey different meanings.