Digital Storytelling - Bringing History to Life

Maybe one of the most difficult things in education is presenting information in an interesting way the very first time. Although we teach children from an early age not to form conclusions based on a first impression, that’s exactly what they do. So making a topic seem exciting from the very beginning is very important. This is more difficult for history teachers because we teach the subject most associated with the word "boring." However, with the aid of Digital Storytelling, teachers can introduce lessons in a fun, interactive manner. This technology allows the user to set a series of pictures and text to music to give students a brief understanding of an educational concept. The fact that the teacher gets to make the presentation themselves allows them to decide what to include and what to especially emphasize for their students. Another nice part of using Digital Storytelling is that if a teacher finds this media to be successful in the classroom, they can use it over and over each semester or pass it along to another educator.

Students can also use Digital Storytelling to show they have a thorough understanding of content covered in class. For instance, if a class just finished a chapter over the Industrial Revolution, a teacher may assign each student to make a Digital Storytelling presentation on a specific part of the Industrial Revolution, such as tenement living, the assembly line, or cottage industries. In this way, students can share with the entire class more in-depth information about the parts of the chapter they found most interesting. Students can then use the questions they asked at the end of their presentations as study questions for the chapter test.

So, there you have it. Digital Storytelling. The future of education? I’ll leave that question up to you. But whatever the case, you can’t deny its usefulness within the classroom. Whether it’s shown in class, shared with parents through a teacher’s website, or assigned as a class project, Digital Storytelling is just another multimedia tool that can be used to enforce an educational concept using various educational learning styles. Below I have posted an example of a Digital Storytelling presentation. This one is over the Industrial Revolution. Enjoy!

Industrialization on PhotoPeach

Twitter This, Twitter That

I'm going to level with you all. I am still not entirely sure what the draw of Twitter is. However, having looked further into this social network, I realize it may in fact be very useful in the world of education. Twitter is all about information. Information about what you are doing. What your friend is eating. What your mother-in-law is complaining about. It's all new information delivered to you instantly. So naturally, there must be a place for Twitter in the field of education, because that's exactly what education is. A constant flow of new information. Now although I think we can all agree that Twitter is well suited as a purely social outlet, I think that if maintained properly a teacher's Twitter page could be quite useful. For instance, a teacher could tweet that she is looking forward to her third periods’ Industrial Revolution presentations tomorrow, or that she hopes none of her students forget to study for the Chapter 8 Test on Friday. Parents and students who follow, let's say Miss VanGildenhauf, can remain connected with what’s happening in her classroom by doing something they would otherwise still be doing, Twittering. Twitter can also be used to keep fellow teachers in the circle of communication. A simple tweet about a teachers meeting at noon or that an important education bill just passed in the senate can help teachers stay informed. Now, I'm not saying that every teacher needs to rush out and get a Twitter account so that the world doesn't pass them by. However, I do think that if a teacher wants to continue making their classroom "transparent", so parents and the community can see what exciting and enriching things are happening within, Twitter may be an excellent tool. Another and maybe just as useful aspect of Twitter is that teachers can gain further insight into the lives of their students by following the students' parents. Now, instead of just the classroom having glass walls, so does the home. Teachers could then understand why Jimmy hasn't been at school for two weeks, or why Amy has burst into tears for the past three days. This capability can allow educators to teach better and care more because they understand each child on a deeper level. So why is this technology different from other communication methods? Because Twitter is entertaining. People want to follow people. So why not the person students see the most, and parents hear about the most? Their teachers! Twitter is just another example of how we are living in a world where we are more and more connected. So if we are living in a more connected world, shouldn't our education be just as connected? Interesting thought, huh? Go ahead, tweet that.

Using Blogs and RSS's

Blogs, blogs, blogs! Blah, blah, blah! How can a blog be used in education? And why would a teacher want to use one? And what is a RSS aside from an acronym that sounds like a horrible disease? Both of these useful technologies will be discussed in today’s blog as I explain their usefulness inside and outside the classroom. I will be using an example of both a useful blog and RSS as I highlight and discuss their advantages.



"To Blog or Not to Blog" - That really is the question!

In my online conquests of historical knowledge, I came across a very entertaining blog written by a history teacher. Dan McDowell uses his blog, A History Teacher, to talk about what he's interested in, which is mainly history although he also teaches and posts about photography. Dan’s blog can be useful in many different ways. For instance, say Dan's class went on a field trip to a World War II museum, Dan could go home that night and blog about all the things he and his students did that day. All the way down to the cold pizza they probably ate in the food court. You can obviously see the advantage to this kind of classroom to home connection. Parents no longer have to be excluded by their child’s casual response of "nothing" when asked what they learned in school that day. Parents can just hop on the computer and check Mr. McDowell's blog to find out how the field trip went. Teachers could even post day to day to update parents. Dan may also post interesting websites he has found and think his students and their parents might enjoy. During the summer, Mr. McDowell can even blog about where he goes for vacation and what he does. In this way he can keep connected to his students, teach them a little something, and also give parents some insight into the kind of person educating their children. Overall, what a blog really does is help replace the walls of a classroom with glass. Parents can finally see what’s going inside the classroom. Dan can also use his blog to look back on how he felt about things back when they happened as opposed to how he feels about them now. Overall, blogs can be extremely useful in keeping open lines of communication between the classroom and the home. Plus, it's very therapeutic to write what you are thinking about, especially for overworked, overstressed educators. A site like Dan's is extremely valuable to a fellow educator because it can provide insight into various other ways of teaching a topic or lesson.


RSS- Really Simple Syndication

Although RSS means Really Simple Syndication, its purpose may be better explained with the acronym meaning Right on the Same Site. Because that's exactly what a RSS allows a user to do. RSS's help you keep up to date on the ridiculous amount of news and information we need to know. And as teachers, we have even less time than the normal person. RSS's link all the sites you normally take time to look up on the internet, onto a page which updates continuously as new posts are made on your favorite sites. Take for instance the Education News website. This website provides all the latest news in the world of education. For instance, one could find out what's the current politics behind education, what cool new gadget can be used in the classroom, what other countries are doing, as well as the news coming from the Department of Education. So, if you were a teacher who usually follows the Education News website, you might want to use a RSS to keep you abreast of the most recent news in the education world. But how would you go about this you ask? Well, pages that are RSS compatible have what you call subscriptions. By subscribing to a page, you will be able to see the new posts on your web portal, such as iGoogle. These subscriptions are usually indicated by a small orange icon. Often RSS's are broken down into various topics. That way you can receive only the history or math news instead of the sports and politics. All you have to do after that is select the RSS feed you want to receive posts from. No longer do you have to fumble around on the computer frantically trying to skim as many news stories as you can before the next period begins. I personally love this RSS because it allows me to watch what's going on not only in the U.S., but across the world in education. RSS's are perfect for teachers because it saves them the commodity they often have very little of: time. A teacher can now log on to their personal web portal (in the few spare minutes they have in the morning) and get all the news they need for the day in just a few minutes. And would you look at that! The teacher has an extra fifteen minutes before class starts. What shall they do with all this extra time? Probably undertake that never ending battle…Grade more papers.