Digital Storytelling - Week Four

One thing I really enjoyed this week is the Presentation Zen video. Although I didn't really understand all the Judo connections, the things he was saying about delivery of presentation were very intriguing. I, for one, have been in many meetings where the presentor doesn't know when to stop. I do not want to be one of those people! My favorite thing about the video was the outtakes at the end. It really showed us a whole other side of Garr, which made him seem more personable and not like quite such a stiff shirt. I wish I had seen the outtakes before I read the book. I think I would have had a whole different perspective on his teachings if I had.

This week's work although interesting, seems totally overwhelming. While I'm learning a lot about presentation, I feel that I would be learning a lot more if the weekly workload was not so huge. I find myself rushing through assignments so I have time to get through each one. I rarely have time to look at the extra things at the beginning of each session's work. I know they are very valuable and could probably teach me a lot, but I go to the things that are going to be graded and do them first. When all the graded assignments are done, it's Wednesday again and we start a new week. I'm not trying to complain, because I'm really enjoying everything I'm learning in this class and will use every bit of it in when doing presentations in the future. I just wish I had a little more time on each assignment so I could do my best work.

Digital Storytelling - Week Three

I have mixed feelings about this week's lesson. First, I am very excited to try Animoto. I applied for my educator's account, and am now waiting to hear when my account has been approved so I can get started. After watching the Presentation Zen video, I was very anxious to start modifying my old presentation to fit the Zen recommendations. However, this is where I got hung up. When we were asked to post an old presentation last week, I chose the worst one of mine I could find, which was a presentation I was assigned to do in an earlier class in this cohort. However, I've realized that the presentation I chose was really an essay put on slides. So when I tried to modify it, everything I had on my slides would now go on my handout, and I have nothing left on my slides; no opportunities to insert a graph or picture anywhere! I am wishing I had chosen a different presentation in the first place, but I haven't really done a Powerpoint in years, other than the ones I've done for this cohort. I guess I'm kind of stuck!

Digital Storytelling - Week Two

There are many ways in which I can use Digital Storytelling in what I do. I teach third graders, and I wish I had known half of this information when I did my nursing home project last year! I decided to integrate technology into a project I had done for a few years. Each year my students are paired up with nursing home residents whom they interview and get to know over the course of the school year. They use the information they learn about their residents to write a biography of their lives, which they present to their residents at the end of the school year. The residents love it, and my students get to learn from members of our elderly community, which is something that many of them would never have experienced otherwise. Last year I decided to upgrade the project and have them make movies about their residents using Windows MovieMaker. However, I didn't know anything about Digital Storytelling yet, and I hadn't really researched MovieMaker enough, either. My kids enjoyed the project, but it didn't really turn out like I planned. I really think the knowledge from this class would make the difference with this project.

I would also like to use VoiceThread with my students. I think it could really help them with their math processes, for instance, if I gave them a problem and had them each tell how they solved it, like we saw on some of the example Voice Threads. This is just one of the MANY ways I could use Voice Thread in my classroom.

I will also definitely use all the information I've learned about my previous PowerPoint presentations and where I've gone wrong. When presenting to my colleagues or the school board, or my classmates in this cohort, I will be able to apply all I've learned from Presentation Zen to improve my presentations so I don't bore my audience to death.