What I learned from digital storybooks...

This week’s project was a really good learning experience for me. Creating a digital storybook was not daunting at all, except initially when I wasn’t aware of how uncomplicated it would be. I watched a few other projects of my peers as well that retold stories and poems in a digital storybook format. They used pictures of themselves and narration to tell the stories, and one group used clay to create their pictures. The other storybook I watched had illustrations done by its creator. How cool! I think creating a digital storybook allows for so many different approaches. It doesn’t have to be used just for a story, it could be a poem, a science experiment, documenting a class talent show with clips of each performer. I see so many applications for my classroom with this digital medium. Students could write and perform their own stories to be turned into movies, or could be burned onto cd’s to present to their families as gifts at the end of the school year. They could also draw their own pictures and collaborate together to form a class storybook to be published onto a class website. Children in younger grades could “sculpt” clay creations to be assembled into a storybook. The possibilities really are endless! Thank you Dr. Graham for showing us this great classroom tool! This is one bit of technology I definitely am no longer afraid to try on my own again and will be using in the near future in my own classroom.