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Matt’s Media Tips 3-26 Can you Picture This? Last week I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia with Dean Shareski (@shareski) participating in his fantastic Digital Storytelling session. During his session he explained how you can tell a story in just six words. While this format is not a new concept it is definitely a great writing exercise. In 1920 Ernest Hemingway was credited with authoring one of the first and most poignant six-worded stories ever written. Legend has it that his colleagues bet him that he could not write a story in less than 10 words. His response? “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” So this got me thinking, and Googling, different six-worded stories to share with you. I found a bunch of great stories, but the one on the right was one of my favorites. Within Discovery Education you have access to over 28 thousand images - all of which could be used to tell a great story. Creating a six-word story is a great way to incorporate writing into your classroom. Here are six ways in which I think you could make these stories work: 1. Use as an activator to introduce a concept. 2. Use as a short formative assessment. For example, you’ve just taught a lesson on the Life Cycle, Water Cycle, Bicycle (sorry couldn’t resist). Now challenge your students to find an image and create a six-word story that demonstrates their understanding of the concept. 3. Use as micro-grammar lesson 4. Introduce a lesson on similarities and differences
“247” Van Horgen and Anne Ulku. Six Word Story Every Day. September 14, 2010. Accessed March 25, 2012. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ sixwordstoryeveryday/4991426617/in/photostream
5. Combine graphic art and writing to create a story or an ad that you might see in online or in a print magazine
6. Help ELL students master a concept or challenge your foreign language learners to create a story in the language that they’re learning And the list could go on and on - you’re really only limited by your imagination. I even found a great lesson plan on creating a six-worded memoir on Read Write Think.org’s website. Check it out by clicking on this link - Six Worded Memoirs.
1
Of course I had to take a crack at creating two stories myself. Here are two that I created. The first story is with an image from Discovery Education, and the second...is with an image that most people see every day. The words, in both cases, are obviously mine.
2 Great White Shark Opening Mouth. Prod. Corbis. Corbis, 2012.Discovery Education. Web. 25 March 2012. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.
Which brings me back to the Dean’s Digital Storytelling session.
One of the sites that he featured was http://ipiccy.com. This site is awesome. I love it for its simplicity and ease of use. All you have to do is upload an image and then choose to add text. It gives you a bunch of great fonts to choose from and a very simple way to add text to your image. Resizing your text and imagery is as simple as sliding your cursor from left to right. When you’re finished with your project, click on the “Share and Save” tab and it saves your work right onto your computer! If you want to add text, songs, and motion to your six-worded story then I highly recommend using www.PhotoPeach.com to do so. Like iPiccy it is super simple to use. Here’s the caveat - in order for you to keep with the one-image/six-word theme, you’ll have to copy your image six times into your Photopeach. But once you do you’ll be able to add captions, motion, and songs to your story. Now here’s the challenge. I’m calling all readers to submit their own six-worded story to Matt’s Tips and Tricks. I’ll select six. Then I’ll put them back out to you for your vote on April 9, 2012. The three with the most votes by April 15, 2012 will each receive one Flip Cam. Please use one of the two sites listed above to create your story. If you use iPiccy, upload your story to www.youtube.com and provide the link to your work by answering the last question in my feedback survey. If you use PhotoPeach then provide the link to your Photopeach by answering the last question in my feedback survey. Happy writing, you have roughly two weeks...starting now!
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
The MeeGenius! app for iPad, iTouch, and Android mobile devices makes today’s Matt’s Tips and Tricks featured app. It is a free download and includes quite a few free books. What I like about this app is that it highlights the words as they are read aloud on the screen. The graphics and images that correspond to each story are very nice as well.
Time (EST)
Link
3/26
7pm 8pm
Discovery Education Builders 101 Learn to select from provided content and add your own to create exactly the assignments your students need. Put the power of Discovery Education to work for you to create engaging, relevant, and rigorous experiences.
3/27
4pm 5pm
Techbook Admin Webinar. This training will cover: Navigation of the My Admin Site Managing User Accounts (students and teachers) Managing Student Access Running Usage Reports
3/27
7pm 8pm
Ayuda! Pomoc! Tulong? Help! ‘m Working with an English Learner in a Digital Land. Presented by Jannita Demian. With diverse classroom populations, your ability to differentiate feels more important than ever. In this session, explore Discovery Education through the lens of Language Learners and see how digital media and technology can engage and benefit students from all backgrounds
3/28
5:00 6:00pm
Discovery Education Science Techbook Overview. Discovery Education presents the Discovery Education Science Techbook. During this session we will provide an overview of the Science Techbook, focusing on the resources and lessons found within the service
3/28
5:00 5:45pm
Diving into Detailed Reports Discovery Education Assessment. In this event we will detail in depth the Comparative Growth Report (existing), and provide an overview of the Interactive Item Summary. Attendees will learn when to turn to these reports, and how they can be used to differentiate instruction
Additional books can be purchased for $1.99 or $2.99. You can download this app by following this link for the iPad and iTouch. Follow this link for Android mobile devices.
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 3/19/2012
3/12/2012
2/27/2012
2/13/2012
2/6/2012
1/30/2012
1/23/2012
12/19/2011
Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App
Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps.
12/12/2011
It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device.
50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads
11/28/2011
What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps
Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).
11/14/2011
Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps
Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App
11/7/2011
What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app
10/24/2011
Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app
1/18/2012
In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Live Webinars, Quizlet App.
1/9/2012
Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students
11/4/2011
10/17/2011
10/3/2011
What is a DEN Star Member?
The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate First Six Weeks Aggregated about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking. Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. With over 100,000 members providing Spirit of Innovation Challenge professional development to over 600,000 Spooky Edition educators worldwide, the DEN connects Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City teachers both on-line and in-person. Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Discovery Educators have exclusive access Halloween Card Creator Apps to a wide range of resources, professional Stick it to IT development activities, networking Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator PuppetPals Apps events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 community. Become a DEN Star today! FAQs Customer Service Receives
9/26/2011
9/13/2011
Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay! Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE
Help Me Make Matt’s Tips and Tricks Even Better I am always looking for ways to improve Matt’s Tips and Tricks and your feed back is invaluable to me. With that in mind I’ve created a short 15 question survey. I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts. If you can take a moment to fill out this super fast survey it will go a long way to making each edition better than the next!