Digital Story Project Blog

At first, I thought the digital story project was a little overwhelming, because it was difficult to decide exactly what aspect of teaching I wanted to make a story about and to decide the best way to represent what I picked. However, once I got past that point, I really enjoyed creating a digital story that was about aspects of teaching that are important to me. It was challenging to find the right pictures and words to get the right idea across, but it was still fun and forced you to be a little creative. Aside from all of the credit slide confusion, this was a fun project. I think this project fits Number 2a on the ISTE NETS Standards. It is,
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

a.	design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

This project was based on a digital tool and definitely got students to be creative. Also, it is more difficult to show what you know or to make a point in so few words, therefore, students really have to have done their research or figured out exactly what the want to say in order to create the digital story.
I found a lesson plan called "Technostory" in which students had to create a digital story about themselves travelling through a magical land. Not only did the students get to be creative about the pictures and sounds used, but they got to come up with a really fun and creative story about the magical land and also about their adventures there. I think this is a good way to emphasize the storytelling itself over the digital medium.