Digital Story reflection

1. What? - Summarize the Digital Storytelling experience. What did you learn? What is this technology best used for? Will you be using it in your future classroom? Why or why not?
I learned how to take still pictures and turn them into a digital story with the addition of audio compilation. Since I needed to combine an audio track with a musical track I also learned to use garage band on the Mac. For a history teacher this technology is best used for an attention grabber at the start of a unit or as a wrap up piece. I will definitely use this technology in my classroom, in fact I intent to use the story we created as an introduction to a World War II unit. I feel this type of visual teaching is very useful in teaching history.

2. So What? - What does this experience say about you as a teacher? How are you developing with regard to the INTASC and NETS standards? Evaluate your personal and, if applicable, group performance on this project. Be very specific.

This experience opens many doors to the teaching if history. Instead of searching for the perfect video to open or close a unit, I can now create one. I feel that I have grown immensely in my technical abilities to prepare a digital video. I feel that my group worked very well together. We both have a passion for American history and where excited to share some of that passion with the rest of the class.

3. Now What? - What professional goals have been inspired by this project or have not been satisfied by this project (include at least 2)? Describe specific steps for meeting these goals.

I would like to have a digital story in place for each of the major units in history and I would like to teach my students to create their own digital stories as graded projects. I can begin now preparing my digital stories or at the very least start to collect pictures and music for the digital stories. I can also play with the different programs available to digital story making, this further understanding will help my confidence in my abilities making it easier to instruct my students.