Storybird - ICT, Creativity, Freedom, Fun

So, If you haven't yet experienced anything to do with the wonderful Storybird, I suggest you put your hiking shoes on and wander over to it. A great resource with easy to use format and interfacing, Storybird allows you to write your own stories and use existing artwork to create it into a digital book that you can share. There's options to read stories and browse artwork, as well as very clear and concise information for parents, teachers, artists and so forth. You create your own account which is used to store all your stories in the one place, but also you can create a 'school' or 'class' account which makes it easy for teachers to monitor what students have done/are doing.
Click here for blog on further pros of having teacher account
Here's a storybird I prepared earlier...
http://storybird.com/books/mousies-discovery/

Modern Family shows us just how big the digital era is

Please have a look at this clip - it's funny and really demonstrates the shift in society's reliance on technological items (especially younger generations).We used this at the end of our ICT presentation about PD for teachers around ICT. Basically we were trying to make the point that as technology is such a big part of taday's world, teacher's need to know about it! As well as this we need to make sure PD is directed at the right level for each teacher and we also pointed out that in-house PD sessions are much more effective than external sessions.
Also, going back to the clip from 'Modern Family', the whole episode is pretty hilarious. The older daughter ends up winning as she fools her parents into thinking she's talking on her mobile. Her father, thinking he's won, straight away grabs a laptop and she then reveals that she'd carved the shape of a mobile phone out of a bar of soap, and coloured it in with a permanent marker and spent the last two days talking to herself.

Comment on peer's ICT & VELS post

Please see my comment on Alex Louie's page:

http://alexmei.blogspot.com/2011/09/ict-vels.html?showComment=1317606654022#c6643538987765442100

Thanks,
Emma

ICT Assess #1 (part 2, ICT and VELS)

This post addresses the notion that “ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding,” within the context of Drama/Media Studies. At year 9 levels, VELS also states that ICT is about developing pathways in terms of use of technology, individual and collaborative projects, and using appropriate ICT tools for research, modelling, publishing, decision making and problem solving (VCAA, VELS, 2011.)The class that I am thinking of as I write this are a Year 9 Actor’s Studio class. Actor’s studio is a unique subject to the school in which there is a meld between Drama and Media Studies – students learn about camerawork and stagecraft elements, and acting for film and the stage. They also do digital portfolios, record radio advertisements, work in groups to film scripts they’ve developed from storyboards and already performed for an audience, create vokis (take a look on the right hand side, there’s on there if you’ve never heard of them!) Students also think about audience perspectives as live audiences or audiences of films.

With all this in mind, the subject is obviously very much involved naturally with ICT. Students are using technology for specific and integrated purposes rather than something that has been added into their course just so the teacher can say they’ve thought about ICT.

The focus here is specifically upon knowledge-building among teams. Just in learning about new and relevant technologies together, students are also being supported by it. ICT is a natural part of the course, however that does not mean that all students are familiar and natural with the ICT components that they encounter. When students work in groups, they are able to pool their learnt and general knowledge, and share their ICT skills with their classmates. They are able to use ICT to demonstrate concepts and explain ideas. It is evident that those that are more knowledgeable enjoy and are proud of sharing their skills, and those that may know less are not embarrassed to ask questions as they feel that they are part of a team.

Students get to experiment with technology such as HD video cameras and simple editing programs which hopefully they have a good learning experience with and then decide to further study Drama and Media. Students learn as a group even though they start the subjects at different levels, and make creative decisions about which type of camera shot to use, how fast-paced they want to edit their material, and what those decisions indicate to the audience in their end product. They work in groups for their main filming tasks, but have previously scripted it, acted it out for stage and created a storyboard for their filming. This overall process is a fantastic example of students helping and collaborating with each other, all supported by ICT.

Examples at 4.25 for:

• Visual thinking
  use of ICT tools and manipulation techniques that support visualisation of thinking in specific learning situations; for example, use of image-editing software to explore the concept of style in two-dimensional art. Obviously use of video camera, digital cameras, editing programs.
• Creating
  experimentation with formats designed to enhance the organisation of information contained within contemporary communication tools such as blogs. Students create their own digital portfolios and their learning is supported through discussion boards.
  
  Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority, 2011. Victorian Essential Learning Standards
  (URL:http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/ict/stages.html) [Accessed 25/8/2011].
  
  Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority, 2011. Approaches to Learning and Teaching – ICT Level 4-5
  (URL: http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/progression/ict.html#lev5) [Accessed 26/8/2011].
  
  Examples of student work:

 

I missed the ICT class today but...

So, I wasn't in the ICT tute today as I've been suffering from an ear infection.
However, I read up that we were doing work on PhotoShop, so this afternoon I jumped on my Apple and altered some images. I've worked as a Graphic Designer and also taught year 10's about how to use Photoshop. Let me know what you think, original photos are first on the left.
Emma

 

Wow!
So, not too much time in the last two weeks to be writing on here. Been very very busy at my school, teaching Actor's Studio (a subject that's a mix of Drama and Media Studies for year 9's) Drama (Year 7's) and English (Year 8's.)
I've done lots of interesting activities with my classes and feel like I'm building up a rapport with the majority of students. I try to include lots of hands on and varied activities to keep the students engaged and wanting to learn more. In the English class I've been doing a study on the novel "The Outsiders," Within this we've done some work on persuasive language around the issue of knife crime and are now looking at debating on the same issue. I have shown this class a few youtube clips (links below) to have them thinking about different issues that may arise, as well as different people that are effected by knife crime.

I also edited a compilation of different music pieces for my year 7 students, all of varying natures, so that they could practice walking as different characters as inspired by the music.

Gotta go now, lesson planning away but more details to follow.

E-diddy.

The Media Studies teacher in ICT

Hi All,
Am just sitting in class as others are playing with Windows Media Maker, learning how to edit videos. As a Media Studies teacher, i feel as though I know quite well how to do this, therefore am just working here (with permission from the tutor of course!)

So as we've been trying to discuss ways you can use video in class, I thought I might just expand on this and list a few ICT related things that a Media Studies teacher will at some stage focus on in both theory and practice within their classroom.

Here goes:

Camera work, basic operation - on/off, stills and movies, charging, zooming, panning, using tripod

Film appreciation/narrative

Pre-production planning, storyboarding
Lighting, eg. 3 point lighting, use of redheads

Audio, including in-camera, boom mics and lapel mics

Editing, including titles, credits, cutting and sorting footage, smooth transitions & continuity, audio and soundtracks

Music Video, analysis, genre work, filming, editing

Photography, use of a digital camera or film camera, photographic composition

Photoshop editing photos
Use of programs for print layouts such as InDesign

that's about all I have time to write now, but it goes on!