Digital Storytelling

Storytelling.  It is an age-old art form, and most people love to hear or tell a good story.   

Digital storytelling encourages students to :work collaboratively, use new technologies, and develop skills they will be required to have in the workforce of the future." The necessary tools are already available on most computers, and students can "use text, music, sound effects, videos, and more to create a multimedia presentation that links them to the world beyond the classroom. Storytelling has the potential to unleash creativity, engage, and motivate."

Denis Koegel is about to embark on a Digital Storytelling adventure in the 7th Grade Language Arts classroom.  Will you give it a try? 

Visit this site for more information: Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

Sources
http://www.iste.org/store/product?ID=270
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Prezi: The New and Improved PowerPoint?

Prezi is a tool to help organize ideas--and it's really great to see an overview of the whole presentation.  I've used it a few times in class, and my students seem to enjoy the movement of the prezi.  It takes a little trial and error to figure it out--if you're interested in learning, I'm happy to show you how to set one up.
Prezi Home

And for a real-life example, here's a link to a Prezi I put together for my grad class this week:
Say Something Reading Strategy

Check out this useful site :)

http://www.snowdaycalculator.com/calculator.php

Too Noisy

Too noisy is another free app that can be a fun visual (if you have a projector to use) to gauge the noise level in the classroom. We have used it to better understand levels 0-3 and hold them accountable during quiet work time.

Pic Jointer

Liz showed me this handy app for posting pictures on your blog. Rather than posting individual shots, you can join them into different collages. Here's an example with the 5th grade solar system projects.

Sites worth visiting!

Here's the list of sites that are useful if you have any extra time or can't find your list.

Class DOJO

Until Monday, I had never heard of this cool website.  It's called Class DOJO and it's a great tool for classroom discipline.  Lisa Pierce introduced me to it.  Jeff also said he's used it in the past.  It's so cool!  Here's a link to check it out: http://www.classdojo.com/
There is a Demo Class you can play around with if you are interested.  If you choose to add your class, you can give each student an alien-like picture and they earn points for positives and loose points for negative behaviors.  You can tweak the points as you see fit.  I'm sure there is plenty I still need to learn about it, but it's exciting for our class now.  :)