Tonight was extremely interesting in Aisha.s class; we were taught how to use the software Microsoft Photostory 3. The whole idea of digital story telling is amazing. The potential for such a tool for use in education is really exciting. Teachers can use it to teach difficult content in a fun and meaningful way. I can see students using it to tell their own stories and apply knowledge learnt across all subject areas.
The software is very user friendly and has a lot of features that can complement creativity. I will use this to teach content in Social Studies and Science. Students can use it to create their electronic biographies and also share their ideas on other social network sites.
The whole concept is very much like other web 2.0 technologies it allows you to do things that you would not normally be able to do using traditional photography. The software is free and easy to download. Schools can use this software to enhance the whole teaching learning process. I do feel a bit sad that many of our teachers will not have the opportunity to use such a valuable tool because of non-exposure.
Photostory is really amazing and has tremendous potential to be used by all teachers! The use of varying forms of media in teaching reading, not in isolation but in content area instruction is profound. Imagine students can do their life stories or those of other relatives, family members, friends or neighbours. A colleague and I were at a funeral yesterday and we both agreed tht we did not want the traditional eulogy but that we would create our very own photostory for our funerals. Morbid? not really -just pro active as we must all walk that road one day.
ReplyDeleteHi Zandra,
ReplyDeleteYou know I find the idea of creating digital stories to be very interesting. The day after our class I showed my daughter how to create a digital story using Microsoft Photostory 3 and she has already created 2 simple stories using family pictures she had taken. And, you are right; teachers must be made aware of all the free software that is available to us to assist us in our quest as teachers to improve the literacy of 'digital native'.
To Reading Maxx, I think your idea of creating a photo story of your life is innovative and one that we should all attempt, not necessarily to be used at our funerals, but to document the important times in our lives for posterity. (Something like, "'Loaf of Bread', This is your Life" that used to be shown on Sesame Street long ago). My father passed away recently and although we had so many memories to share about him, it was so difficult for us to speak them aloud. If we had had a couple of 'vignettes' in the form of digital stories taken from different occasions spent together, we might have been able to share them at the funeral. Who knows, maybe my daughter's photo stories might come in useful later on in life.
THE IMMACULATE DIGITAL PHOTO STORY TOOL By Abigale Singh
ReplyDeleteHi Zandra! I definitely share your sentiments! I think that the digital photo story is an immaculate tool which can be used in education. It has the potential enhance the teaching/
learning process in so many ways.
I just wanted to add that having participated in the activity to create a digital photo story myself in class, I see that it provides the opportunity for developing three essential reading/writing skills:
•brainstorming, an essential pre-reading/writing skill, in the process of deciding on the most effective photos.
•researching in order to gather relevant information to create the story.
•pre-writing/drafting by creating the text for the story through story- boarding. This is a critical stage in the writing process which aids in developing writing/reading fluency.
Thus, I would say that the digital photo story can yield excellent rewards in education.
On another note though, yes I agree that it seems that many teachers and by extension students, may not be afforded the opportunity to use this fantastic tool. However, I feel that we can play an active role in exposing our peers to this great tool, even if at our institutional level only.
Furthermore, I think that this is where our role as future reading specialists begins, in that we have to lobby to change this culture of a lack of exposure, by sharing our knowledge in whatever small way we can. Think about it! If one teacher uses the tool because we influenced him/her, I think that our success though small in number, will cause a mammoth difference in the lives of all the students that teacher interacts with. Can you imagine the multiplier effect if each of us influences just one teacher? Yeah… it would be tremendous! So can we make a pledge now, to start sharing our knowledge across the board, with the aim of creating change?