M.I.A.

I've been a little MIA (Missing In Action) on this blog lately! I see that my last post was at the end of March. Since then we had Spring Break and then the whirlwind started with testing and the end of the school year. I kept in touch through Twitter, so if you follow me there or on Facebook you know that it's been a busy ending to the school year.

Taking care of seven schools with Technology Integration is no small task. I do love my job and wouldn't have it any other way. The highlight of the month of May was helping several teachers with slide shows to present to their class, end of year programs, etc. I am proud of all of those who I helped and some who did much on their own. The pride I see in a teacher's face when they learn a new way to use technology is golden! Many teachers "graduated" from the old inserting pictures in PowerPoint and fighting to make the music work to the easier MS Photostory program. Some even tried using Windows Movie Maker. Not only did some teachers try to attempt making Photostories themselves, some even collaborated with my co-worker and I came up with projects for the students to work on. What a perfet project for students to help keep them focused after testing is over.

I am now enjoying my first day off for the summer. I am off this week and then will work next week for our state Tech Conference (KYSTE).

I hope to blog a little more often now that summer is here. I definitely plan to blog when I take my trip to Washington, DC at the end of this month for NECC (National Education Computing Conference)!

Happy Summer Break!
Susan

PhotoStory

Good evening! It's time for another tool of my trade! Today I want to talk about PhotoStory which is a free download from Microsoft. This is a great way to get students involved in Digital Storytelling.


I just spent today at one of our district elementary schools with two 3rd grade classes creating a PhotoStory video that went with their study of Martin Luther King, Jr. Students had drawn pictures that showed various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and various scenes of freedom. One class had a Reader's Theater and another class had a poem. I let each class record their performance of their play or poem using Audacity. With PhotoStory, the user is able to Import the pictures in and make transitions, record narration, etc. At the end, the user can attach music or sound files. We attached the student recitations along with a short clip of the ending of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The students were so proud.


Another use of this program has been used from a group of 7th grade students I worked with last year. They had written a memoir piece for their writing portfolio. We had them bring in photographs and put them in PhotoStory and narrate the story using the writings from the memoir.


At the end of the PhotoStory once the pictures and sound files are attached, the project can be saved as a Windows Media File. Photostory is a great alternative or next step up from PowerPoint.

Enjoy the Evening!

Susan