Digital+Camera



media type="file" key="PhotoStory1_2.wmv" width="300" height="300" Photo Story 1

media type="file" key="PhotoStory2.wmv" width="300" height="300" Photo Story 2


 * Digital Camera Description**

This project is actually two in one. The first photo story is meant to be a teaser to activities that the children will engage in, where as the second presentation is meant to be used as an instructional tool to lead students through a set of exercises. Although both activities are meant to be used for teaching, they will be used in different parts of various lessons.


 * Summary**

The first story is a story built around parachute shapes that the children will make. The photo story is in place of a verbal telling of a story to get the students excited about working together to make parachute shapes. The photo story is a visual fairy tale about students using the parachute to escape a storm. The pictures in the photo story are of student having used the parachutes to make certain shapes with it. Thus, I integrated the outcome of the activities with a story. Not only will this excite the students about making the shapes, but it will give ma visual reference point to show the students some of the shapes that will be making.

The second story is meant to be used for a warm-up, study break, or some other two minute exercise routine. The story is a set of exercises broken down step by step. Pictures were taken of each stage of the exercise, and then I had a student narrate the story and explain what each exercise is and how to do each step. The story is meant to be whimsical and fairy tale like as to engage the students fully in the experience. The story can easily be used to get the students used to doing an exercise to the point of repetition.


 * Reflection**

I f ound this project to be the simplest thus far with a powerful lesson at the end of the project. The taking of the pictures and making of the photo story was both easy and not very time consuming. I had no major technical glitches, and both projects came out nicely.

What was most exciting for me was the involvement of the students in the process and seeing the students and adults reactions to the projects. I showed the first story to the students and simply asked them if it would get them excited about using a parachute. Their answer was a resounding yes. They were very excited to watch it, and they read aloud every word they saw. They even pointed out the different students they knew on in the story and reacted to each new effect they saw.

The second story was the real winner of the two however. That is because of the student involvement. The students I used in this project were so excited to be involved that they kept asking me for a week after we took the pictures when we were recording the narration. The picture taking was easy and fun. It took less than a half hour of time. The real enjoyment came in doing the narration and making the pictures turn into a story.

I had a sketch of an idea of what I wanted the theme of the story to be like. I did not, however, prepare a written story for the student to read from while recording. We sat down together to create the story. I asked her what was happening in each picture and what we should say in each part of the story. She expressed her ideas. I wrote them into sentences in Microsoft Word. She would practice each sentence then we recorded it. She came up with rhymes we used too. I simply helped guide her and make sure everything flowed and made sense. At one point, the student even corrected my grammar mistakes.

When we finished, we showed off the project. The students that saw it loved it. They wanted to record their own story. The adults smiled and were proud. Some asked how we made that. But most of all, the student was so proud of her self. Her confidence was beaming, and that was the best part of the whole thing.


 * Maryland Technology Student Standards**

//6.A.1, 2, 3,4, 5, and 6//


 * Standard 6:** Technology for Problem Solving and Decision Making: Demonstrate the ability to use technology and develop stratagies to solve problems and make informed decisions.
 * **A: Students use technology tools to:**
 * 1. Collect Information**
 * 2. Compare information from different sources**
 * 3. Analyze findings**
 * 4. Determine the need for additional information**
 * 5. Draw conclusions**
 * 6. Communicate conclusions, inferences, and ideas**