For the most part, I have really enjoyed playing with Animoto this week. I was able to create a little introduction that I will be able to use in my classroom next year. I also have already started showing other teachers in my school how to use it. If I got it to work correctly, I have embedded my Animoto video below.
Looking at the different parts of a "Good Digital Story" according to Bernajean Porter was interesting. There are parts that I am good at: "Living Inside Your Story", "Unfolding Lessons Learned", "Developing Creative Tension". There are others I need to improve upon due to my love of verbal communication, these would be: "Economizing the Story Told" and "Showing Not Telling". "Developing Craftsmanship" is something that I feel that everyone can improve upon since no-one is perfect.
The Presentation Zen chapter really reinforced what I found I need to work on while reading DigiTales. I need to not overwhelm my students with words or pictures. I need to use more "Empty Space" and use "Contrast" to better effect. If I overload my audience with information, I have lost them. I need to remember to simplify and stay on the message I want to convey.
I really like Animoto, however, embedding it was a different story. It took forever to do, and I couldn't tell you how it finally worked. I introduced my students to it today, checked out the laptops, and they are starting their projects tomorrow. They seem really excited. My only suggestion is to set up another gmail account and then set up another educator account using that. Our librarian was doing that today, so another teacher in our building could use it. I haven't tried it yet, that's tomorrow night's project. Hopefully all goes well. Transient students are a problem, believe me I know.
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