Sabrina's Journey

Sabrina’s Journey, “Do I Belong Here?” could be used in the classroom as a model for storytelling because it is still photographs with voice over. I like the clarity of the voice and the choice of pictures that matched her story. I purchased a Logitech set of headphones with built in microphone last year to record my students reading. I actually did something like that last year. I had the kids find out how they were named. I had them write up that story and then give me a baby picture. I scanned those into the computer and the kids read their stories. I made it into a video for all the parents to see. It was very powerful and wonderful to have the story of how they were named read by the kids. My only problem is the amount of time it takes to edit and put all of these things together. I need to know an easier way. I want high quality though…..
An after thought...Sabrina's story is powerful because it deals with connections within her community. Computers are a wonderful tool when the connections with real human beings are kept. When technology serves as a barrier, society goes downhill.

The Impact of Epic 2015

I think podcasting is a wonderful tool. I would like to see stories traded and loaded on individual iPods. In fact, I would like to do that in my classroom. As far as podcasting in a park and viewing those with something like Google Earth, well that is just amazing! What a new way to communicate. The interesting thing to me is that I believe that we need stories and should like communicating with others, in a personal way. I am curious about thinking how that fits in a society which is concerned so much about security. Podcasting could be used in the classroom by finding a link to someone who is say visiting a historical site. It’s a schema link. A schema link would be connecting something that is tangible to the student with a person or a place from the student’s life.

Fox Becomes a Better Person and School Train

I would assess Fox Becomes a Better Person by first having rubric with what I expected from the project. I would look for story elements, neat artwork and expression in voice. I would also look to see if the message of the story was evident to the viewer. I would give Fox Becomes a Better Person a 85-95% grade. Hannah clearly had an understanding of a folk tale. I wished her audio was clearer. Maybe a closer microphone? I felt she did a great job. I had a harder time with School Train. Partly because the music and the format didn’t appeal to me, but that is my own personal taste. I wasn’t sure at times what the message was. I would probably give School Train an average grade.

Why a class at the beginning of the year?

How I got here:

I wanted to take a class with blogging and webcasting. I saw Jason's flyer in the school district office over the summer, made a copy and forgot I placed it on the fridge to sign up! How did September come so fast? Now, I am figuring out how to blog. I think it might be fun!