50 different web 2.0 ways to tell a story

It's a sign that the holidays are gradually drawing to a close that I have started to have some more teaching ideas. After a three month hiatus from all things teacher orientated I am now starting to get in gear for the coming school year.



Anyway, one of the things I experimented with last year was digital story telling (see here and here) and it seemed to be something that my private students enjoyed (see here) since it allowed them to produce videos that could be put on their blogs. As well as getting them to practice their English it also gave them the chance to become comfortable with the technology (never a given).

Yesterday, I happened to come across a great post in Joe Dale's blog which links to a great site which has 50 different web 2.0 ways to tell a story. It includes ideas of how to tell a story, how to find tools to use and where to get pictures if you don't wish to use your own.

With the widespread adoption of mobile phones with camera and recording capabilities mean that students are now in the position to produce their own videos/photo stories with the one thing you can guarantee they'll have with them.

For more story telling tools click here.

Digital photoessay

I came across this great page on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards site. It is a wonderful example of a teacher sharing their ideas and using technology to give a more vivid sense of what they are doing in the classroom. So often what we read is a rather dry account of an activity which doesn't really convey how it works in a real - life situation.

What Anthony Cody, a teacher at the Bret Harte Middle School, Oakland, has done is not just set his ideas down in words but added video and PowerPoint presentations. In this way the photo-essay project he did with his class is much more accessible. Also you can see what the students produced here.

I was just imagining the kind of lessons that I could do if I had access to some of this equipment.