LightintheWoods

This is my first uploaded draft of this children’s story. This piece has seen much trial & error many edits to get to the stage it is at. I am still not totally satisfied with the final product but am posting it here regardless. It is my hope that some will view the story and decide to offer suggestions on my writing and the design. Together with your input I hope to make this story better and more refined.

A more detailed post on my reflections and procedure for preparing this story will follow. I have had a lot of fun creating this story from the photo’s of John Maschuk (whom I haven’t found an online link for yet, but will).

*NOTE: Please click through to the YouTube Page. The pesky You Tube image embeded on my video within the blog detracts from the graphics and covers my writing.*

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Where do pineapples come from? 10 points for the first right answer.

Technorati lists 1,085,251 posts about balance. It exists everywhere. Push and pull, pull and push, forces shape us and what we do. By recognizing forces that shape us, we become aware, and in turn gain control. My intention for this digital story was to depict the relaxed and fun end of the balance scale.

To complete the task I ended up using iMovie on my MacBook. I was all set to use photostory after viewing David Jakes tutorials, but when push came to shove, I shoved myself into the unknown world of Mac. It took a little time to figure it out, but I did, and I am glad I did. iMovie is a great tool full of neat features.

Over the weekend, I compiled photo’s and video of my favorite activities at the lake. My biggest challenge was remembering to take the camera with me. To beef up the story I then used some of my friend Jeremy’s photo’s from his time at the lake last summer and a couple pic’s from flickrstorm.

I am happy with the end product, but do recognize some weaknesses and things I want to do different with regards to timing and sounds. I also thought it would be cool to voice over a poem or reading that encapsulates my thoughts, feelings and reflections on my time out there, but alas, I ran out of time. Perhaps next time. Possibilities are endless with how digital storytelling can be used.

So without further ado, my weekend of relaxing.

Tonights ECMP class was very cool; the topic was digital storytelling. The power of technology was evident as we had 2 well known blogosphere gurus, David Jakes and Wesley Fryer participating in our conversation. Both of the gentlemen added some great insights and really reinforced Dean’s teaching. I really learned a lot. I see digital storytelling as a very empowering tool that allows to student to plan, compile and create a meaningful story that is their own. The options are seemingly endless. Digital storytelling is powerful education.

Following class I explored David Jakes site on storytelling. His PhotoStory 3 Screencasts are very good for learning how to get started with this particular program. From there, I viewed his screencasts on flickrstorm that have been posted to teachertube. I definitely foresee myself useing this program with my students because it saves time by directing the searching of images. Students can use it, or teachers can prepare photo sets for student use.