PE4_storyjumper

I have chosen Storyjumper for my Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario (RILS). I want to thank Karen Sigmon for finding this program and using it in her blog assignment. I blogged and looked at other programs, but I think my expectations were too high. Storyjumper seems to be a better choice for taking my challenging steps into the classroom technology instruction realm with this administration. My special education students will benefit from the fun and ease of the tool.

Storyjumper is a place to create and discover stories for kids. You can use your own art and photos, or use the sites art choices. Students are able to share their stories online for free or they can purchase a hardcover book of their own creation. I am hoping that my students will become more engaged in the writing process and be more motivated to do their work.  Digital storytelling is a part of my action research project. So, here I begin.

Creating My Account

I have created a My Class in Storyjumper. It was very easy and the students are not allowed to use their real names. You can choose to have the site generate user names or you can give the students user names. I choose colors to make it easy for my students.

Creating My Class

Getting Started From School & Getting Started From Home

After I typed in the students names and their usernames, the program generated a page to print for each student to take home, listing their user names and unique passwords making it very easy for me and the parents to have prompts and instructions

I learned that I need to be at school to do certain things.

It's easy to get started.

Let's get started!

This week is the teacher’s convention. It is held in Atlantic City and all public schools close down for two days to allow the teachers to go and soak-in vendors, workshops, freebees, textbook companies and professional learning. I am in professional development heaven. It is the largest teacher convention in the world. About 60,000 teachers go to Atlantic City’s Convention Center for one or two days. Today’s plenary speaker was Diane Ravitch. She is a wonderfully articulate woman who is championing teachers and trying to strike down NCLB.

I have noticed that since I started this program, EMDT, that my views on reality are changing. It gets more difficult to face my classroom reality. My mind has shifted to cyberspace and all of the possibilities that may give us. While here at convention, I listen to people that teach in normal districts. My district is not normal. We have been under state control for 20 years. We are in worse shape than when they took us over. Every school operates differently according to how the principal wants it to be.

For years I have ignored how much this district drains the teachers of their spirits, it was the only was to survive. When I go to convention it's frustrating to see how few problems other teachers encounter, or much they are supported. It's energizing to get new ideas and to want to race back to class to try them all out. Then the reality smacks me back in my face and I have to take a really deep breath and go back to that classroom and try to be the teacher I was while at convention.

In my current placement, the administration doesn’t appreciate technology. I don’t feel comfortable placing the students at the computer. I am going to push and do what I feel is right. I want to be able to teach the way some of the people in this class are. They don’t have a thought or hesitation about what they do with technology. All I have are computers in the room. No interactive white boards or anything else. I will start to do what I know will increase my students engagement in their lessons.

I begin with Storyjumpers. I will be committed to not worrying about the reaction from administration. If I get really brave, I will be able to explain and justify why I will be using some of the new tools that I have found to be useful because of the EMDT program.