TechieTeach

I have had several people ask how I made the Paul Bunyan project with my class.  I’m sure there is no ‘right’ way to do this, but below are the steps I followed.

1. Choose or write a story. 

- For our first project, I chose a story that already existed.  In subsequent projects, I may have the class choose a topic and write a story with them.

2. Divide the story up into manageable sections. 

- Each of these sections will be one illustration.  Try to make each section about an equal length and not too long so the audience doesn’t get bored of looking at one picture.

3. Give each student a section of the story to illustrate.

- I had some students choose to make their images using Paint.

4. Scan in the images or take pictures with a digital camera.

- I have learned that scanned images look best, but a camera can be used when a scanner is not available.

5. Record story sections.

- I used Audacity (a free recording program) to have each student record their portion of the story.

6. Edit recordings.

- Audacity can also be used to edit all the voice recordings and turn them into one long sound file.

7. Use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to put it all together.

- I used Movie Maker (this program comes free on all Windows-based machines and can be found in the accessories menu. 

This is just a general overview of how I put these projects together.  I would be happy to go into more detail of any one portion of the process that may need more clarification.

Sadly, yesterday it was announced that the Assistant Principal at my school is being transferred. Some people may think I wish that could happen to me. However, this idea terrifies me. Perhaps my fear will prove to be unjustified, and for that, I can only hope and institute some hard-core wishful thinking. The source of my deep anxiousness in this administrative change is the fact that my current AP has been INCREDIBLY supportive of my use of technology in my classroom. She sees the value in the projects I do with my students, doesn’t question my new ideas, and puts faith into the processes my students go through to create and communicate.

It’s scary to have someone new come in, who will most likely be my immediate supervisor, that may or may not support all that I have developed since I started teaching. The question is, how to approach her. Do I quietly continue doing what I have always done and assume I do not need permission to continue? Do I introduce myself and present her with a smörgåsbord of projects my students have created? Oh how I struggle with the unknown!

I am so glad I decided to do the digital storytelling project with my students this week. It was a great way to keep them engaged while others in the class were wrapping up their reading projects! I decided to use the tall tale of Paul Bunyan. I retyped the story and read it, as a whole, to the class. I decided that if the students saw the pictures in the book I had, many of them would want to copy them and I wanted the students to use their imaginations for their drawings. About half of my students are finished drawing and a handful decided to make pictures on Microsoft Paint. I am hoping that by the end of the week, the rest of the students will finish their illustrations. Also, I am going to try to start voice recordings this week so I can have a final project one week from now. I am excited to see how the final product turns out!

I’ve always wanted to have a blog, but until now, didn’t think I really had anything important to say. I’m still not sure that anyone will even read what I have to say. I was very excited at our district technology conference once I learned about edublogs and some great ways to use blogs in the classroom with students. As I left the conference, however, I was thinking about how nice it would be to have another forum. One for me to express myself as a general ed teacher trying so desperately to integrate technology into my classroom in a successful way.

The conference gave me so many things to think about. I think that the thought that is at the forefront of my mind is really this: how do I prepare my students for the world they will be entering as adults. I’m a fifth grade teacher, so I know they aren’t getting jobs next year, but I hate wasting their time on mindless facts and rote tasks when what they really need are skills to help them collaborate, communicate, and problem solve. I’m not saying that my students don’t need to know how to find facts or perform rote tasks at times, but should that really be all that their education is about? Should we as teachers really only be teaching them how to bubble for a test and find the one right answer? I think not.