Final Digital Story

This week we put the finishing touches on our digital stories before turning them in. As I was watching my digital story I tried to envision what it would look like from a child's perspective. I realized that my text at the bottom of the screen was really hard to read because of the location and color of the text. I learned from a friend that I could enhance the text by having a black background behind the text. I also learned this week how to make transitions from one slide to the next. Overall, I'm really happy with my final digital story and cannot wait to use it in my classroom to introduce field trips!

Digital Storytelling

 

This week we learned how to use iMovie to create a digital story for the kiddos in our classroom. Prior to this assignment, I have made several movies through iMovie for my child and family study classes. Through this experience, I found out how easy and efficient iMovie is. However, I have never used iMovie to tell a story about what the children will be learning or experiencing inside or outside the classroom. During this assignment, I learned how to put captions on each picture that could easily been seen by all children. I also learned how to insert transition pages that can be used to ask questions before and after pictures are shown.

Now that I have learned how to make digital stories, I can hardly wait to make more for my own classroom. I can see myself using digital stories to introduce a new topic, for field trips, learning new routines/skills, and for assessment purposes.

Digital Diagram - Seasons

This week we completed our digital diagrams. I chose to do a digital diagram on the four seasons because it is relevant to what children are learning about in preschool and kindergarten. Before this assignment, I had never used or heard of digital diagram. I really enjoyed using this tool because it was easy to use and provided a lot of pictures that I could use for my diagram without searching for them on the internet. I can really see myself using this tool in the classroom and allowing children to add their own knowledge to the diagram as the learning occurs.

Digital Diagram

Today, we learned a small fraction about digital diagrams. Dr. Obannon showed the class examples of digital diagrams to help generate some thoughts and ideas about our own diagrams we will be creating. I am have created diagrams before with kindergartners and first graders but have never created one digitally. I believe the diagrams we will be creating on the computer will enhance the children's learning because of the use of videos, sounds, and pictures. I can see myself using digital diagrams in my own classroom to introduce new topics, develop K-W-L webs, and to represent the children's learning.

Interactive White Board

I am so excited to learn about and start using the interactive white board to teach and make lesson plans. I have used the interactive white board at my preschool practicum site in Lenoir City and have found that children really enjoy using the white board to learn. With that said, I have had some experience using an interactive white board but have no experience developing lesson plans on a flipchart. When I first pulled downloaded the flipchart I felt completely lost. To familiarize myself with the program, I went to Prometheam Planet and viewed other flipcharts so I could get an idea of what they look like and how I can develop my own.  I will have to explore all of the possibilities of making a flipchart and make sure that the lesson I create is interactive and fits the needs of all students in my classroom.