Week 6 PLE Post (Part 2)

I thought the other virtual tours were really cool. I thought the one about Auschwitz and Berlin was really cool. You could really measure how far they marched and it would be a lot more realistic to the kids and a lot more interesting. I watched one about the Eiffel tower and I thought it was cool how it asked a question and then gave an article to read to find the answers. I think that is good for the kids to research and learn on their own. I thought the virtual tour about Mt. Rushmore was really cool too. The kids are assigned to try and draw their own Mt. Rushmore after and I think that would be really fun.

I think an upside to using a virtual tour in a classroom would be that you can experience so much with Google Earth. There are so many possibilities with it where the kids can see new things and learn a lot about geography and the earth. I think it is relatively easy to use and is very up to date with technology.

It is hard to think of a downside to using this program. I think it would be something that would be interesting to experiment with students to see what the reaction is, but the only negative thing I can think of is that they might get bored. But I don't think that would even happen. I am not too sure.

Week 6 PLE Post

I think one other sensory experience that might compliment the virtual field trip could be food. You could bring the kids snacks with foods from the areas of the world that you are visiting. Another sensory experience could be music. You could play music that is local to a certain culture you are exploring. You could also teach a dance from the native culture of the area you are learning about. You could skype with someone from that area of the world as well. You could also look up fun crafts to do that could recreate something from that culture. For example, if you were studying the Egyptians you could build a pyramid out of sugar cubes.

Finished Digital Storytelling Project

Week 5 PLE Post (Part 2)

One of the cons to the technology we used was that it was very simple. We only used scanners to scan our pictures in. We didn't actually make a live action movie, which could have been fun. I think another con was that the program we used was one on Brett's computer which was really convenient but I also would have like to try a different where we could have explored more high tech options.

There were a lot of pros to our project as well. I thought our story was fun and interesting. I think that it illustrates the concept of rhyming and alliterations very well and I think kids would enjoy watching it. I think that it is funny and has a lot of character. I think it would be a lot more interesting than reading a story to kids because there are more voices that pop out to the kids and would be exciting for them.

Week 5 PLE Post

One of the first and easiest things you can do with Google Earth is navigate the earth. Another thing you can do on Google Earth is swivel the camera angle so that you can see all different perspectives of the locations you are viewing. You can enter in the names of different countries and places and you can view the surroundings of any area. You can then see each area in the different views (aerial, ground level, etc.) This tool would be great for the classroom to teach kids basic geography. It would really help the kids grasp a more realistic perception of what the world is like. It would be really cool to help kids how to navigate through their local communities. You can have the kids enter in their home addresses and then show them their houses on Google Earth. I think that Google Earth would be an excellent and fun resource. I would have loved it if I had this resource when I was a kid in grade school.

Week 4 PLE Post #2

Since I have started this class I have spoken to me friends and my siblings about what I have learned. All of my sisters are super into blogging so I told them about a class I have where I have to make a blog and do a lot of my homework through it for the class. All of my sisters have encouraged me to create a personal blog for them to view as well. I have also talked to my friends about how we are making a digital storytelling project. I am excited because I wanted to go into Digital Media so I feel very at home with this project. I have learned that I need to use my talents to share information with others. I learned that I need to remember that when I become a teacher and I need to try my best to make sure that I am utilizing all of my resources when I teach others.

Week 4 PLE Post

I commented on Sheila Reynolds, Andrea Smiths, Ann Yamashita, Kristen Gardeners, and Catherine Norris' blogs. I thought that everyone had really great ideas. I was really impressed.

I think the most difficult part of implementing a digital storytelling project into the classroom would be making sure that the kids were really able to do it. I am not sure how easy it would be for kids. Maybe if the project was done as a class then it would be easier for teachers. I think it also depends on what age group you have. If the kids are really young it might make this project a lot more difficult. But I also think the kids would really like it if they knew how to do it.