Reading, Writing, Visual Literacy, and Digital Storytelling
Our students are growing up in a media-centric environment. As teachers we often acknowledge the power of images, video, animations and music to inform or distract our students, but in many cases we are not leveraging the power of multimedia to help students improve their reading and writing skills. In this working session we'll explore some research findings related to visual literacy, reading and writing skill development, and learner use of multimedia technologies. We'll explore how free technologies like VoiceThread (www.voicethread.com) permit students and teachers to use multimedia technologies to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills, assess student learning, and permit safe publishing of student work on the global stage of the Internet for moderated, interactive feedback from parents as well as peers.
Referenced Resources and Links:
- Why Visual Literacy? by Dr. Lynell Burmark
- Integrating Media into the Classroom by Dr. Lynell Burmark
- Classroom 2.0 Keynote for K12Online07 by Clarence Fisher
- VoiceThread.com
- The Great Book Stories - digital storytelling project
- MabryOnline Podcasts - Amazing digital stories created by 6th, 7th and 8th grade students
- Getting a New Haircut - A VoiceThread by Rachel Fryer
- Oklahoma Digital Centennial Project / Celebrate Oklahoma Voices - Professional development opportunities for teachers
- Oklahoma World War II Stories Project
- Wordle: Create tag clouds for data or blogs
- Wesley's workshops and curriculum on digital storytelling
- Wesley's blog: Moving at the Speed of Creativity
- Wesley's social bookmarks on digital storytelling
As Canadian secondary teacher Clarence Fisher observes, students "expect to be part of the discussion, part of the living thing that text itself is becoming. This is how we get kids excited about language, about writing, about thinking: by giving them the power to be part of the conversation." Come learn how to use free web-based learning environments and computer technologies ALREADY in your classroom to support your students' development of reading, writing, and oral communication skills.
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