Transliteracy is defined on Wikipedia as

The ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks. The modern meaning of the term combines literacy with the prefix trans-, which means “across; through”, so a transliterate person is one who is literate across multiple media.

Ryan Nadel, in an interview on Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning, defines transliteracy even further:

“The most fundamental notion of transliteracy is the ability to adapt. It’s creating a literacy and fluidity between mediums that’s not tied to space or modality.”

I agree with Ryan: Transliteracy is closely related to “fluency“:

• the ability to know when to use one media over another
• the ability to move effortlessly between media
• the ability to comprehend, build upon, and remix different kind of media
• the ability to relate, communicate and connect via multiple forms of media
• moving between media feels: intuitive, unconscious and smooth

Let me share a transliterate learning opportunity with you that I created (Art, iPads, QR codes, Language Arts and Digital Storytelling)  in collaboration with our Art teacher, Mrs. Gutterman and the 4th grade classroom teacher, Mrs. Teitelbaum?

During Art class, fourth graders adapted Vincent van Gogh’s chairs and placed things on and  around them that were important to them.

In Language Arts, students wrote a script, explaining their choices of what they drew and why it was important to them.

We all gathered in the library to record their script as an audio file on the iPad. We used the AudioMemos app (free) to record. Students then emailed the wav file to me.

1. I then converted the .wav files to mp3 files with Garageband, since I did not know if all mobile devices would play .wav files easily.
2. These files were then uploaded via FTP to our school’s server
3. I inserted the URL of each mp3 file into http://goo.gl
4. Clicked on “Details” to get to the generated QR code
5. Saved the QR codes as an image file

I inserted the images into a page and then printed the QR codes out for the Art teacher to attach them to the original art work.

Now anyone with a QR scanner on their Smartphone, iTouch or iPad walking by the art work, can scan and listen to the student artist’s audio reflection. The next step was to create a poster to catch the attention of the visitors and parents walking by and give a short explanation of what to do with the QR code

In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November’s concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning.

Since then, my colleague Andrea Hernandez and I have set down to create a visual using the above model to include concrete examples from our school to illustrate to our teachers what tasks are considered in the substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition stages. We want to be transparent in showing our expectations of basic tasks being led autonomously by the classroom teachers to teach and support students without the necessity of tech support to be present. At the same time, we wanted to emphasize the progression and show what transformational teaching and learning looks like.

As we were populating the chart, it became clear to me that the stages were part of a time line, a process that an individual and an entire school cultures had to go through in order to transform and leap from “preparing students for 1970s, 1980′s 1990′s to preparing them for 2020′s and beyond” (Heidi Hayes Jacobs). Once I saw the imaginary time line, I also felt that that the stages coincided with how (21st century) teaching and learning was seen. We used to see it as a:

Tools Set:

• we taught keyboarding classes
• we had classes that taught a specific version of a office program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• we emphasized file management
• we supported teachers when they did not know which button to click for printing
• we gave instructions, such as “click in the upper left corner for the drop down menu and save”, we gave new instructions when the software package, platform or version changed
• we gave tech support to upload, download and resize images

Then we started to understand that it was never about the tools, but about the skills teachers and students would acquire when using these tools.

Skill Set:

• we blog to teach and learn about writing, communication, networking, presentation, publishing, commenting, reflection, organization and collaboration skills. Blogging is about Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Information Literacy and Global Awareness.
• we use wikis to understand about copyright, evaluation and analysis of Information, collective knowledge and new writing genres.
• we skype in order to expose and connect teachers and students locally and globally to peers, experts, eye witnesses. We become more fluent in networking and and information literacies, speaking, listening and presentation skills are honed.
• we teach bookmarking skills to help teachers and students cope with the exponentially increasing information available. Finding, evaluating, analyzing, tagging, categorizing, organizing, connecting and remixing of information are just some of the skills necessary for that
• we podcast (audio and video)  to allow students to express themselves and their knowledge in more than the written form. We incorporate storytelling in order to give students multimedia skills as well as expose them to visual literacy and information literacy.

Now, it seems that teaching and learning will not necessarily move from the “enhancement” to the “transformation” stage with a tool set and the necessary skills alone. In order for teaching and learning to become transformative there also needs to be a

Mind Set:

• Our world has flattened and is interconnected
• Information is just going to continue to grow exponentially
• Students of today and tomorrow learn differently than we did
• We are life long learners
• We are self-directed learners
• “How we connect with each other is how learning occurs” (Stephen Wilmarth)
• “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler)
• “Collaboration and sharing knowledge are highly prized skills” (Alan November)

Take a look at the following graphic and keep a time line in mind, as well as the stages mentioned above to move from substitution to redefinition. Does this make sense to you? What would you add?

The more we podcast and have our students create video clips or other digital storytelling projects, the more we need to teach storyboarding as part of the process. Being able to pre-visualize how your story will unfold is becoming a vital skill to have for storytellers.

Storyboards are defined as:

Graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.

In the book by Roger Essley “Visual Tools for Differentiating Reading & Writing Instruction: Strategies to Help Students Make Abstract Ideas Concrete and Accessible”, he says

Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written languages, used by ancient cultures before text evolved and as a natural bridge to text. The Chinese language was built using pictographs. Egyptians used storyboards, or hieroglyphics, first etched in stone and later written on papyrus, to organize a complex society and to rule the ancient world.

Pre-Writing is defined as

Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by drafting, revision, editing and publishing. Elements of prewriting may include planning, research, outlining, diagramming, storyboarding or clustering.

I have experimented with several storyboarding tools, from the paper and pencil method to iPad apps. Students and I are both finding the creation of the storyboard extremely helpful as we are collaborating on creating podcasts and movies.

I created a Word Doc, that is easily edited with the title of the storytelling project and printed out to be distributed to students. (Download the Word Doc Template)

Storyboarding Template Created in Word

We have also asked students to directly use their writing journals to storyboard their ideas for a script. Students use their storyboard to write their script in sequence and to supervise and help as we edit the movie together.

Individual Storyboarding in Journal

Storyboarding in Journal

One of my favorite places to create a storyboard together with the students in on the SmartBoard. We use the Notebook software to draw the different scenes that will need to be filmed and which actors will be participating in each scene.

Collaborative Storyboarding on SmartBoard

The following storyboard  was also created with the SmartBoard Notebook. This time we used screenshots to illustrate the images we were imagining for the green screen background replacement.

Collaborative Storyboarding with Screenshots

We printed the storyboard out for all students to have and to use as they were going to write their parts of the script. It helped them understand their individual role in the collaborative whole of the story. Once we finished recording the script (which often happened to be film completely out of sequence) , I made it a point to involve students in the editing process.

As the storyboard area of iMovie was displayed on the projector, students were using their paper storyboard printout to help me drag and drop individual video clips in the correct order , add sounds,  transitions and text. The storyboard made it possible to pull all the individually written scripts and out-of-order filmed video clips into a coherent sequence.

I am just starting to experiment with storyboard apps on my iPad. I am sure similar apps exist for the Android market or other tablet computers.

Storyboards Premium allows you to create a background scene, insert actors and text.

StoryPages HD allows you to draw your own board and add text in a different pane. You can move different pages in order on the page grid and email the final board as a pdf file.

How about inviting the Art teacher at your school to teach a lesson on storyboarding techniques to your students?

For more examples of storyboarding, take a look at the following article and posts:

• R.Alfonso’s blog EETT & Making Movies
• What Are Storyboards?
  Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written languages. Storyboards are widely used because we know pictures combined with text offer a rich synthesis of information that can entertain and inform. The pictures in picture writing can be simple cartoons, photographs, or sophisticated technical diagrams. This technique can be an invaluable tool when differentiating reading and writing instruction….
• Differentiated Instruction: Developing a Storyboarding Classroom
  Tips on how to use visual tools, such as storyboarding, to differentiate instruction in a reading program….

I can’t stop thinking about Digital Storytelling and its role in schools of the future. Digital Storytelling naturally weaves through so many 21st century upgrades to the curriculum. The importance of being able to tell a story, the skills to be able to tell a story digitally, is increasing with the need to

• disseminate the story further and reach a wider audience
• amplify our voice to an authentic audience
• make our story available in different media channels

As the tools for digital storytelling are becoming more sophisticated and at the same time easier to use, in terms of mobility and price, the opportunity to produce a quality, professional looking story are within the reach of “even” elementary school students.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Green Screen for under $20 (Chromakey muslin background) and pinned it to the wall in my room.

Students were naturally curious about the green screen and immediately got excited as I showed them what was possible with test recordings of them… sending them to the moon… making them stand in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris… all without even leaving our school campus.

The third grade teacher immediately jumped on board as she was preparing her Social Studies unit on “Our Community”. We decided that students would create another episode of the Seminole Swamp Morning News Show.

In addition to creating a storyboard and writing the script for the show “Jacksonville for Kids by Kids”, students had to think of an appropriate setting by choosing an image that would replace the green screen they would be filmed in front of. Their imagination was not limited by any field trip budgets or time constraints.

Collaborative Storyboarding with Screenshots

We practiced a few times in front of the green screen to show kids how to interact with the “not visible to them” background as I was filming them.  They got the hang of it pretty quick.

Take a look at the final video and pay special attention to the Florida map and the alligator a the zoo. I chose to use the webcam in my macbook to directly record into iMovie in order to minimize any movement while filming. We also tested out different clothing colors on students to see which ones would work best with the green screen. Bright pink, white and purple seemed to be a great combination, while green and blue had some issues to transform students into see-through ghosts.

Take a look at the finished story of our third graders (news show format) to teach others about the community they live in. Remember again, that the green screen and iMovie was just the tool to get the kids excited and motivated while at the same time supporting their creativity in script writing.

It is time for another chapter in the series of Digital Storytelling for Educators posts. When I wrote The Guide to Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators (2008), I did not have a Smartphone yet and had yet to envision a device like the iPad.

audio recorder

Recorder adapter for early iPods

I remember being out in the field with my digital camera, video camera and all kinds of devices and accessories to be able to capture images, videos and audio. Once captured, I had to take all the devices home, import the files to my desktop or laptop and then start editing with any chosen storytelling tool.

Our digital life has changed since then…

…devices like the iPhone and iPad have allowed to capture media easier and streamline the editing and publishing process.

There are many storytelling apps available, that allow you to take advantage of taking your own media footage and editing them on the go. There are also apps available that support the storytelling process with storyboarding and as a step by step guide for characters, plot, settings, introductions, conclusions, etc. Being able to take pictures and video footage on the same device where they can be edited and then immediately be uploaded and disseminated is a game changer in my eyes.

Imagine the possibilities of students taking the devices on field trips or on location to interview eye witnesses or experts for research projects.

I have been experimenting with a variety of mobile storytelling tools. Here are a few that I have tested out and see tremendous potential for the classroom.

iMovie

Garageband

Vimeo

Storytelling with or without your own media:

Storykit

Storyrobe

Toontastic

Strip Designer

StoryPatch

PuppetPals HD

FLipBoom

InAWorld (Drama)

Silent Film Maker

Storyboarding apps

StoryPages HD

Storyboards Premium

In Florida, the fourth grade curriculum calls for students to learn about the explorers of the 15th and 16th century who came to its coast and influenced the history of the state. As the teachers and I were sitting together to plan the upgrade of the unit, we looked at the instructional goals, standards and objectives, reminded ourselves of 21st century skills and literacies we wanted to incorporate into the lessons for students to be exposed to, practice and “live and breathe”.

I shared with Mrs. R. the Explorer Mixbook project I had co-taught with a teacher from another school. We decided to also create a storybook, using Mixbook again, where students contributed different parts from a common storyline. In contrast to the previous project the story would be a narrative fiction with historical facts intertwined instead of a non fiction book. During one class, students collaboratively worked on ideas for a possible storyline and how each explorer would be represented and how groups would be able to research and contribute their portion of a story.

Brainstorming a storyline

Students started getting their creative juices flowing and kept coming up with more and more ideas to add to the list. Excitement in the class grew larger by the minute. The classroom teacher saved the notebook page with the ideas jotted down as an image and uploaded it to their classroom blog. She extended the brainstorming session by asking her students to add their storyline ideas as comments to the blog post. The class would vote on a final storyline once back in class. Here are a few comments:

Collaboratively writing the introduction and conclusion

Students then started their research about their assigned explorers. They also looked for creative commons or public domain images that they could upload and use for their storybook. Once found, they uploaded the images to Mixbook. For a step by step tutorial how to use Mixbook, take a look at the following chapter of my Digital Storytelling book.

Uploading Public Domain images to Mixbook

Students took turns to create and design the layout of their individual pages and then inserted and formatted the appropriate images and text.

Layout & Text Entry

Upgrade to 21st Century Skills

Upgrade to 21st Century Literacies

Upgrade to Digital Learning Farm based on Alan November

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Take a few minutes to watch the following “Quality Commenting on Blogs” video by third graders. Then follow along the description of the creation process and “behind the scenes” work that went into the production of the video. Let’s dissect the video creation and look at the learning process itself.

…and watching our own 2nd grade class’ tutorial “How to Navigate the Classroom Blog”,…

…our third graders were ready to create their own video about “Quality Comments”. For the ones that believe a 5 minute video takes about 5 minutes to produce… you are in for a surprise…

We started out by brainstorming what we already knew about commenting. What does quality even mean? What would a “quality comment” on the third grade classroom blog mean? We then compared what we came up with with Mrs. Yollis’s advice.

Quality Commenting Brainstorming

We really liked how Mrs. Yollis’s video had their Panda bear woven into the script. So our third graders came up with the idea of writing their scripts around being a newscast. It was a perfect timing, since one of our school’s family had just been featured in our local news.

Watching a sample Newscast video clip

It was time to introduce the concept of storyboarding. How could we make sure that we were going to include all of the brainstormed ideas of what a quality comment was in our news show? What characters would we need in the show? Who would take what part?

Storyboarding as a Class

The class created a collaborative storyboard that everyone was happy with. The next part was for each student to write their script. What were they going to say in the movie? How could they teach others how to leave a quality comment?

Students wrote their scripts, had them peer edited and classroom teacher approved before they went into the computer lab to  type the group scripts (anchors/reporters/interviewees)  into a Google Doc, which they shared with me.

A tip I learned from Dean Shareski’s K12Online Conference Keynote was to use my iPad as a teleprompter. I had downloaded the iPrompt Pro app, then copied and pasted each group’s script from the shared Google Docs into the app and we were ready to start filming.

Students were reflecting, writing and drawing about their experiences during the process of creating the video in their (paper) journals.

I also tested out another iPad app: StoryPagesHD. I was pretty impressed with the app, since it allowed to directly draw the scene in one pane and type (or copy/paste) the script in another one below. It was also very practical to be able to move each scene to different positions after they had been create in the Page Grid layout. Once the storyboard was completed it was easily exported as individual images to the Photo Gallery or e-mailed as a pdf file.

Filming started and the kids were very enthusiastic and patient as we had to re- film several scenes over and over again. They started to be their own critics, wanting to do their best work.

As we filmed different scenes (out of order due to time challenges, illnesses and absences), the storyboard became even more important. Although students did not edit the video directly, I tried to involve them as much as possible in the process. By projecting the iMovie project onto the big screen, I asked them to use their previously created storyboard and “read” alongside as the movie played. I paused several times in between to have them help me “predict” the next scene and help me drag and drop the correct clip into place. They also helped suggest appropriate text titles placed onto the movie clips and had the final say in approving the movie before it was exported.

Extending the Classroom

We could have ended learning about quality commenting with the completion of the video… but… how do you make more connections for your students? How do you take learning off the pages off the book, open up the walls of your classroom and tear down the barriers of subject separation in the context of the school day? How can we extend the learning that took place during the production of the video?

It was a logical choice to try to connect with Mrs. Yollis’s class from California. It was them who inspired us to start thinking about quality comments. After reaching out to Mrs. Yollis on Twitter, they immediately left us a comment on our blog.

Students could put their newly found “quality commenting” skills to use by responding to their California peers.

Mrs. Yollis's comment on our 3rd grade classroom blog

We arranged a skype call with Mrs. Yollis‘s class. The students loved recognizing their students (and Panda!) from the video. We learned a lot about their state and school community as well as shared facts about ours.

Take a look at Mrs. Yollis’s blog post about our Skype connection or view this short video below.

The conversation between the two classes is continuing  via the classroom blogs!

@Ben

Florida is two hours away from Orlando. How far is Los Angeles to Disneyland?

Evie, Jonah, Yoni

We had a wonderful time skyping with you! One thing we learned is that the highest point in Los Angeles is 14,000 feet. Thank you for letting us skype with you.

Your Friends
Ben, Drew, and Zoe

The differences between Florida and California are California has mountains and Florida is flat. California gets earth quakes and Florida gets hurricanes. California doesn’t get much rain, Florida gets a lot!

your friends from Martin Jay Gottlieb Day School,

Jamie and Elior

Hi this is Liam,Itamar and Zachary from the 3rd grade we loved skyping with you we learned a lot.How long did it take to make your movie? What inspired you to make your movie? Did you get the idea of making your movie about quality comment from watching another video?We would like to skype with you again! The ocean here is very warm most of the year it’s in the eighty’s.

Dear Mrs. Yollis,

We enjoyed skyping because we learned new things about California.
We like skyping because you get to meet people around the world.
We think it is cool that you live 20 miles away from L.A. !

From,
Rebecca,Savonnie,Ethan

Lindsay and Adia said…

Warmly,
Lindsay♥ and Adia♥

Dear Rebecca, Savonnie, and Ethan,

This is Lindsay and Adia from Mrs. Yollis’ class. We loved your comment! It doesn’t seem as if you are beginners! You are amazing commenters!

We had a fun time skyping with you too! Have you ever been to Disneyland in L.A.? If you have been in Disneyland before, how did you like it? Did you meet any Disney characters? What was your favorite ride?

Both of us have been to Disneyworld in Florida. Adia loved meeting Minnie Mouse because she was so cute! Lindsay liked meeting Mickey. It was extremely fun!

P.S. Adia earned her own blog and she included the URL for you. It is above their greeting

Dear Ben, Drew, and Zoe,

We loved skyping with you. It was wonderful learning about your community, and sharing about our community. A similarity is we both live near the ocean. A difference is that we live across the country! We are very excited to be your blogging friends.

Warmly,
Jaden and T:-)cker

So, do you still think that creating a 5 minute video takes about 5 minutes? Do you still think that the only thing that students “got out of” filming the video was FUN? It was NOT about using the technologies and creating a movie.

It was about

• the writing process: brainstorming, pre-writing, drafting, revising, proofreading and publishing
• all the skills and literacies that students touched upon and practiced
• extending the classroom and finding an authentic audience
• making connections with experts and peers from outside of our local community
• collaboratively working together

Take a look at the following template, I have been using with the teachers to plan and reflect when upgrading a lesson or unit to include 21st century skills, literacies and the roles to empower learners (based on Alan November)

The “X” indicates a role that we did not assign to anyone in this particular upgrade. It is not necessary to use all the roles all the time, but by documenting the roles that were used we, as planners and facilitators,  become aware of what we might want to focus on the following upgrade.

Digital Storytelling is a wonderful and natural medium of the 21st century.

Digital Storytelling Skills

And here without further ado is the final product. The Seminole Swamp Morning Show:

Students are so proud of their work, that they are preparing to invite their parents into the classroom to present the story “Behind the Scenes” of the creation of their video.

By taking images of every step of the process, we created another storyboard. This time we used PowerPoint to show the scenes. Each student will be responsible to tell about one step of the process with the appropriate  slide being projected in the background.

This blog post has been in the making for over 12 months.The first part was written (and then left in the draft folder) in November of 2009, while the second part is being written as the unit was unfolding over the last few weeks.

I began working with our Middle School Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Kuhr, to upgrade one of her units (Author’s Point of View).

I wanted to:

• describe the teacher’s train of thought from the moment, I approached her with the idea of taking reading of short stories to challenging students to create a podcast narrated from a different point of view.
• compare the initial lesson objective the teacher envisioned to the unexpected lessons the project taught teacher and students.
• her journey of podcasting for the first time, playing and staying one step ahead of her students when working with Garageband.
• document 21st Century skills, students were being exposed to and were practicing.

I wanted to document in way:

• that could it could be shared on our school’s (private) professional development Ning, so her colleagues could be inspired by her “courage” to just try it out and by the possibilities upgrading a “once traditionally taught unit” could bring to their own class
• that it could be shared on our school’s 21st Century Learning blog to keep the school’s parents informed of what their children were experiencing in the classroom. What skills are we teaching our students? What are digital natives capable of creating?
• that it could be shared on the Langwitches Blog in order to reach a wider audience than the one of our small school community. Reach out, so educators from around the world could get an idea that would, in turn inspire them, to try something different in their classroom and as a result reach more students from outside of our school.

Ripple Effect

Sharing what one is doing, sharing what one is learning along the way, will not only allow for reflection, but it also will create a ripple effect. A ripple effect that in turn will touch the lives and the future of others.

As the unit upgrade and the podcast project progressed, I kept documenting via a draft on my blog. Mrs. Kuhr was faster than I was and wrote a fabulous documentation and reflection of her lesson on our school Ning. With her permission, I am cross- posting:

LESSON:
To Teach the Literary Element – Author’s Point of View

OBJECTIVES:
Students will learn the various points of view and be able to identify them in literary works. Students will explore how point of view affects a story’s plot. Students will learn to discern the subtle differences between author’s point of view and perspective, and how to employ each in their own creative writing.

Next, the SET INDUCTION:
I love to tell stories, so I began with a 1st person narrative about an awkward situation that involved me and several others. After I told the story, I asked students to imagine the thoughts and emotions of the other “characters”; how the story would differ, say, if told from a 3rd person omniscient point of view. Or, better yet, what kind of stories would the others tell?

Then, APPLICATION: Each class read a short story from their literature texts -

• 8th: The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
• 7th: The Foghorn and All Summer in a Day, both by Ray Bradbury
• 6th: Eleven by Sandra Cisneros

and was asked to identify the author’s point of view. Students were then instructed to imagine how their stories would change with a different character’s or object’s perspective. Discussion ensued, and though the repartee was thoughtful and stimulating, I felt I needed something more concrete by which to evaluate. I had recently spoken with Silvia about the successful podcasts she was doing with the lower grades and wondered if the same technology could be used as an assessment tool…

Alas, the PODCAST: Using Garage Band, each student recorded a retelling of the story he/she read from a perspective other than that of the original narrator. Students could select a minor character, the protagonist or an inanimate object to tell their tales. In some instances, students were allowed to create characters (a.k.a. the “fly on the wall”), as long as they stayed true to the storylines. After recording the narration, enhancements (e.g., sound effects, music) could be added to the podcasts.

Finally, ASSESSMENT: Actually, the podcasts themselves are the means by which I will evaluate whether or not my objectives are met. As students finish, they will present their podcasts to their classmates, first explaining why they chose their particular perspectives. In each case, the class is responsible for identifying the author’s point of view.
Note: Though higher level critical thinking and creative imagery were my goals, what transpired produced a whole new skills set in digital storytelling. As a result, I asked my 8th graders to create a generic Podcast Rubric for all grades. Hence, in addition to the lesson’s objectives, students will be assessed on podcast content, technical production, and presentation.

WHAT WORKED:
The majority of the students “got it”. They were able to use perspective and point of view in a creative writing/storytelling scenario. They were enthusiastic, focused (for the most part), and exhibited pride in their work. Peer review was more “critique” than “criticism” – always a plus. And I learned more about podcasting and Garage Band than I ever thought I would – or could!

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:
Concurrent recording. Oy! There were not enough places to hide and record in quiet. Background noise was a problem, and editing often led to volatile frustration. Time was also an issue. I had originally scheduled 5 class periods per grade for this assignment. (I should have known better.) We are now on week 3.

WOULD I DO THIS AGAIN?
Yes, with tweaking. Now that I know what’s involved, I’ll begin with a definitive rubric that reflects objectives and goals, add a production schedule, and stagger recordings.

e

Lisa Nielsen from  the Innovative Educator  wrote around the same time as I had started this blog post (in November 2009) “21st Century Educators don’t say “Hand it in”, they say “Publish it!” . In my opinion, Mrs. Kuhr took the step towards becoming that 21st century educator. She moved from having her students “hand in” a written response to a prompt to allowing students to add elements such as voice and sound effects to support their character’s perspective as they were recording a podcast. She also realized that her usual assessment rubric was insufficient. She invited her students to join her in creating a new assessment tool that would reflect, not only the basic literacy skills, but also the their podcasting skills.

Fast Forward

Fast forward 14 months. We are in 2011 and Mrs. Kuhr has the previous year’s experience under her belt. Podcasting (and Garageband as a tool) do not scare her anymore and she was ready to repeat the “upgraded version” of her author’s point of view  unit with her students.

Current 8th graders had had the experience with podcasting as 7th graders (with a different story). When presented with a new story, they were also given a choice of media they could use to express “their” chosen point of view.

A few students chose to create individual podcast files, while others decided on a collaborative episode. The latter group worked hard to come up with job descriptions and divide the responsibilities among themselves.

Students assigning their own job responsibilities

Here are the jobs they came up with:

• Project Manager
• Assistant Manager
• Sound Manager
• Scribe
• Script Supervisor
• Technical Assistant
• Liaison
• Character Coach

They also collaboratively designed a rubric for their point-of-view project.

Students Helping Create their own Assessment Rubric

Here are a few examples:

• The Tell Tale Heart retold by 8th grade (collaborative group work)
• The Tell Tale Heart retold by the old man’s heart (William)
• The Tell Tale Heart retold by the old man (Manya)

One students chose to create a PowerPoint to express yet another point of view (the bed)

7th graders were also given a choice of media (audio, video, powerpoint, essay, multimedia poster, etc.). They all chose to create a multimedia poster with Glogster. Mrs. Kuhr quickly created a teacher and student accounts and had them in business in no time.

Glogs are interactive posters that can include different media (images, audio, video, text). All student-created-projects (glogs, powerpoint, videos or podcasts) involved dealing with, finding and using digital media for their creations. A mini-lesson evolved around the issue of Copyright and Fair Use grew out of this need.

Rikki Tikki Tavi Glogster

Rikki- Tikki- Tavi Glogster Example

Students created their glogs about a specific character from the story and their unique point of view. They linked to each other’s glogs to tie the story together. Some students used more text and links, others were heavier on images and some even inserted audio.

Where do we go from here? How do we extend the learning further? How do we “upgrade” more parts to include more 21st century skills and literacies ? How can we give students more job responsibilities to empower them and take ownership in their learning? That will be part of Mrs. Kuhr’s and my reflection before next school year’s Author’s Point of View unit rolls around again.

• Speaking in Tongues: A Film. A Challenge.
  (tags: world_languages video)
• 21st Century skills
  The main idea was 21st century skill outcomes
  (tags: 21st_century_skills video_conference)
• Googlios
  google apps and e-portfolios
  (tags: digital_portfolios google_apps)
• My Grandma Ruth -
  Great storytelling example:
  With that in mind, I tried to draw the world where I grew up to go along with my memories of my Grandma Ruth, who was so much a part of that world.
  (tags: storytelling)

• Kauai Pacific School: Digital Storytelling – Schools of the Future
  A look at how Kauai Pacific School has integrated digital storytelling into their curriculum.
  (tags: digital_storytelling videos 21st_century_learning)
• The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook
  (tags: facebook privacy infographics socialnetworking internet_safety)