Digital Story Telling

Digital story telling is a wonderful tool to implement in the classroom. It is a tool that is used to tell a story through text, images, audio, and video clips, or music. The computer will substitute the actual book and children will be able to appreciate a story through wonderful and exciting images. In a sense, viewing a story from a digital aspect brings the story and it's characters to life. Digital story telling ranges from recapping historical events to biographies, and personal tales. This form of a story telling usually requires at least 10 minutes of length.

The great thing about digital story telling is teachers along with their students can collaborate together to create interesting images, audio, clips, and much more to produce a story. During the process, the students will enjoy and have fun completing the story telling project. For example, if students are assigned to create a digital storytelling project based on historical events,this will allow students to explore their own creativity and research historical events they may not be aware of the occurrence. Students will gather as much information as needed including video and audio clips, and images.



Voice thread, Slide Share, and Slide Cast are all great tools to use in the classroom. Students will be to learn the core subjects and more through these high tech tools. Why should our students be restricted to the same old text, worksheets, and pen? They should be exposed to more technology and fresh ideas to enhance their learning. Students will be able to retain the information provided by this new age technology because of the way it is presented. These new technology tools will also give students an opportunity to be creative, work in small groups, and just the idea of exploring other possiblities of learning.



All of the tools mentioned above are great to enforce in the classroom. How will these ideas correlate with growing a garden? The voice thread method provides a mini slide show. Students will be able to research images of the basic needs or steps in order to grow and maintain a garden. Students can also record their own voice to provide information to go along with each slide. The students will be responsible for including all the important elements in their voice thread but all the hard work will be extremely rewarding because it will have been published by them!



For future use, these tools will work well for all core areas. Students can work on sequential ordering for a story, recipe, historical events, and even the scientific process. A science project can be recorded through voice thread and each step will be noted. Students can use images and other video clips from the internet or if they have particular information saved on their own personal computer. Technology is a new and exciting way to engage all students. If the students are taught the proper way to take advantage of technology and it's tools, the students will definitely benefit academically.

Internet Resources

Good Afternoon to all of you who possess a "Green Thumb",

I have done extensive research through the internet to provide more resources to assist my fellow bloggers on gardening. These we websites include, informational sites, videos, images, and so much more. I encourage all of you to take some time and search through these websites for additional information on how to grow a garden.

See what I've found in my works cited document so far!

Great Info!

I found a great article by David Warlick on 2Cents Worth he stated very interesting ideas on questioning our students. Check out his article link..... Are You Asking Dead Questions?

It is very interesting to read about the type of questions we as educators should be asking our students. He points out great ideas about starting off a question by taking small steps and then eventually leading into higher level thinking questions. These types of questions will encourage students to promote classroom discussions that students will be able to enjoy. He also discussed a reverse method about teaching History. Warlick along with other educators feel to teach History, we should begin in the present and then proceed to discuss the past.

Bottom line, if we want our students to ask questions and become activley involved in our lessons, we need gain the focus by asking questions that will lead to bigger and greater questions.

Questions to ask your students......

Good Evening,

I hope you all have had plenty of time to process the information in the previous post! Now, what possible questions could you ask your students that require high level thinking beyond the basic knowledge they already possess? You are probably wondering if growing a garden is recommended for all grade levels or perhaps just elementary. In my own opinion, I believe students of all ages could benefit from this project and the learning process would be ongoing. For now, let us just focus on elementary students, particularly 2nd-5th grade.

Possible unit questions would be:

Predict which flower/plant will grow the fastest and explain your answer.

Analyze the process of a specific plant/flower and explain the life cycle.

Compare your plant/flower to a classmate and make comparisons and differences among the two. Include the color, texture, historical roots of the plant/flower, and time it takes to grow.

Explain why certain bugs and insects are harmful or helpful to a plant/flower.

Create your own new species of plants/flowers and provide an illustration of your new species.

If you used a specific brand of plant food different from another classmate, complete a brief project of which one worked better and why.

I am sure you all have grasped the idea of these types of questions. The students will be so engaged in the project and will lead to higher level questioning and answer skills.

TEKS
(6) Science concepts. The student knows that systems have parts and are composed of organisms and objects. The student is expected to:
C) observe and record the functions of plant parts;
(7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of change occur. The student is expected to:
(A) observe, measure, record, analyze, predict, and illustrate changes in size, mass, temperature, color, position, quantity, sound, and movement


View the blog next time for more helpful information!

FYI: For Teachers & Students

Growing a garden is an extremely long process and requires a great amount of effort and responsibility to maintain. Gardening for some provide a sense of enjoyment, relaxation, and a great opportunity to spend time with family members. Depending on the type of garden you choose to grow, the finished product can transform into a profit. So how does growing a garden relate to education? Well, how about starting a class garden at your school with your students? Teaching students the simple skills to have a green thumb would be a great class project. The concept of these basic skills will implement the core content areas, such as science, math, reading, social studies, and reading. Not only will the core subject areas be covered throughout the project, but your students will also be involved in becoming inquiry and project-based learners.

First of all, allow me to explain inquiry and project-based learning. Inquiry-based learning is one of the best methods for teaching students hands-on activities, and what better way to expose them by starting a garden. Students will collaborate with their peers, become comfortable with their natural curiosity to extend their learning from knowledge of basic facts to comprehending higher level questioning and thinking skills. Inquiry-based learning is the searching for the truth, information, or knowledge. It is a process derived from birth and continues on until death. It is also a learning that begins with gathering of information by using human senses, such as; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Through this project, your students will also be introduced project-based learning.

Project-based learning is an instructional approach built upon genuine learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These particular activities are designed to answer questions or solve a problem. Project-based learning builds on communication and presentation skills. It also focuses on organization and time management tools. Research and inquiry skills, self-assessment and reflections skills are more components students will be exposed to by project-based learning. Group participation, leadership skills and working towards a common goal will be introduced as well. Project-based learning can be used in the class to expose children to hands on learning.

I will end this post and allow you to soak up the information I have provided. Stay tuned for the upcoming blog on possible questions you can ask your students through this project.