19/25/10- Digital Stories

This week we learned some more about Digital Stories. 
It was really good to have a class dedicated soley to working on our digital stories with our partners.  It was really useful for my partner and I, as we were able to sort out our plan for our digital story and begin to put it together.  I am really excited to create this digitial story and be able to use it in the classroom as we begin our field experience this week.  I am looking forward to reading the student's reactions of our digital story when we present it.  I am anxious to see how well they will enjoy it, and if the digital story will trigger their interest on the subject as we are completing an Intro to Content story.
Digital Stories will be useful in my future classroom as well.  If my future students react well to them, I can increase my knowledge and expertise on them. Then, it would be neat to use them for many introductions to units, to get a major emotion and point across in a certain lesson, and many other purposes. I do feel that the students will react positively to digital stories.  I could even have my future students create a digital story of their own for a class project.  There are many benefits of digital stories, and I am excited to use them more and introduce them to my students.

10-18-2010 Copyrights

What?

• Today we looked up information about copyrights and presented our new knowledge to the class.

So What?

• I have been assigned to write close to 50 different papers in my college career so far, all of which required at least a minimum amount of research.  Due to the advancement in technology, when I am required to look up information, the first place I turn to is sites on the internet.  Through looking at the sites and learning the different material that was presented in class, I learned so much about copyright laws I did not even know existed.  There are laws in place for copyright that I, previously, have been close to break without even knowing it. I learned that there is so much about copyright laws that I should be much for aware on.

Now What?

•  When I begin teaching in the future, I am sure that many students in my class will be in the same situation that I was in before learning this the specific laws and requirements to copyrights.  Technology is such a major, necessary and beneficial part of our lives.  We use it everyday.  However, we are not educated everyday on HOW to use it and what is safe or unsafe.  When I begin teaching, I want to give my students the quiz that was mentioned and other lessons to  educate them on how to use technology in a safe manner.  This way they will not end up like me, in college and, until now, unaware of crucial copyright laws.

10/11/10- Storyboards

What?

• Today we had a presentation about Digital Stories.  We also learned about Storyboards and how to set them up in preparation to create a Digital Story.

So What?

• I feel that knowing how to create a storyboard is a very beneficial skill to have.  Setting up storyboards can be used to outline other things besides just a Digital Story.  They can be used as an outline for a paper, presentation, a skit, and other school related assignments.  If  I can master how to set up a storyboard outline quickly and efficiently, I can use this skill to complete many, various homework assignment that I have.  It would help me to keep my thought and outline of my assignment organized. 

Now What?

• This technology can be very beneficial to my future students.  If I, as a teacher, can master how to set up and create a storyboard, I can then teach this important skill to my students.  Just as I can use this technology now to complete a variation of homework assignments, when I become a teacher, I can have my students use this tool to complete their homework assignments and school projects.  It will be just as beneficial for them as it is for me now.  Also, this piece of technology can be useful for me as a teacher to collaborate with my future colleagues have I ever the need to create a group presentation of some sort with them.  For instance, if we, as a group of fourth grade teachers, needed to present a new  idea in a school board meeting, setting up a storyboard would be a great way to organize all of our ideas to create an orderly and informative presentation.