Reflection

     When I began this course, I was quite intimidated by the projects that loomed before me. I had never heard of a portaportal, much less the tk20. I worked on a page of a website last year using weebly.com, but that didn't compare to a complete website devoted to your own classroom. I have never made a digital story, and this proved to be the most challenging of the projects; i.e. getting the audio in sync with the video, which never actually worked to my liking, but I think if you were using a really good program, you could do a lot with a digital story. So, I looked into it.
     I looked at flickr.com and was quite surprised by endless possibilities to incorporate digital storytelling into a curriculum. How much more interesting would a history or science presentation be? Instead of the same old boring routine of standing in front of a class and reading from index cards, you could present an entire digital story complete with pictures, audio, and text and keep everyone's attention. Also at flickr.com, they have a current events, galleries, commons and places section. Each one contains pictures/digital stories that others have uploaded for most anyone to view. You could see photos of any place in the world, visit outer space through NASA, or visit archives from the Smithsonian and public libraries. This feature allows countless ways of exploring any subject.
    The best part of digital storytelling is the involvement and personalization of the story created. Students could feel accomplished when they presented their project to the class on the SMART board, instead of plain white paper. It would give them a sense of ownership, something they could be proud of. If they work in groups on a digital story, there would be little room for one getting left out or one doing all of the work; it would require equal collaboration. I used to think technology hindered creativity. I now see it's quite the opposite. Creativity is not just glue, colored paper, and fancy scissors anymore!

Creative Commons

I just watched the video by Creative Commons, Wanna Work Together, for the fourth time. I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago. I didn't quite understand what could be so great about giving up the rights to your work. I was thinking, if I create it, then I want the credit for it. So I kept thinking about the concept and watched it a couple more times pondering the idea...Now, after working on the class website, I get how important this site is, especially for teachers. Teachers often have such a limited budget that they may not have access to the work available on sites like Creative Commons if it wasn't free. This site allows anyone and everyone to share anything and everything that they want. It's an entire community of support. It's nice to be able to search for new ideas when your brain has run dry and you need a little help. It's a simple video with a great idea that you shouldn't miss...
https://creativecommons.org/videos/wanna-work-together

Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes is a simple yet successful video that illustrates how technology needs to be a part of classrooms today. Mr. Winkle wakes up after a long, 100 year sleep. He finds himself in a world completely foreign. He doesn't understand the buildings and computers. He finds himself filling ill so he goes to a hospital. There, he is perplexed and again afraid by the technology he sees being used. He must leave. He stumbles upon a school. Things are more familiar here; the kids are sitting at their desks, taking notes as the teacher rambles on about 'the important things in life'. There is no invasion from that crazy world he had visited before...Mr. Winkle is very comfortable here and if he's comfortable then something is not right.

     This movie does an excellent job at supporting technology. I am not the biggest fan of technology, definitely behind the times, but when I watched this video it helped me understand why technology is important in the classroom. Why wouldn't it be? Look at the gadgets kids carry around these days, iPods, Blackberries, and others I know I'm not aware of! Being logged on is a way of life, look at Facebook and MySpace. They eat, breathe and sleep technology.  My family and I went camping Thursday. I just knew the campground would undoubtedly have Wi-Fi because it was only thirty minutes from the 'Boro-not so much, no signal at all. At 3 a.m. last night, as I was listening to the raccoon ravage our site for the third time, the sun couldn't rise fast enough. I couldn't wait to get back to civilization and get back to the internet to continue this blogging adventure! I decided I have been like Mr. Winkle for way too long and I have to stop fighting the future. 

     It is quite apparent that kids today are different than 20 years ago. They need to be inspired a little more. They relate differently and aren't going to succeed with the same old classroom. And that's ok! We as a community need to come together and realize it is time for change. The world is evolving yet the classroom is staying the same. Technology has to be part of the daily curriculum. Kids today are far from being like Mr. Winkle so they need to be appropriately taught.