Digital Story Telling

Utilizing technology in the classroom is definitely one of the "musts" these days - I often encourage my students to look-up definitions or information using their phones (my computer is always open to the student(s) who don't have that technology). Why do I have to be the fountainhead of knowledge? (I often don't know myself!)

Another exciting idea is "digital story telling" using mobile devices and computers.

Last year I gave my students a poetry project. In groups they composed a poem or a message, then using their phones, they were to take photos of words throughout the school, community, their homes, etc to compose their poem/message. They added music and other transitions that they wanted to. Wow. I was blown away by the work they did! Where they started and where they finished were miles apart. It was one of those moments as a teacher when I was very, very proud of the "learning" going on in my classroom.

iPads are all the rage, especially with Apple releasing the iPad 2. Here are some ideas for the iPads, but often iPhones/iPods and other computer devices are capable of the functionality as well.

Digital Story Telling with the iPad

H/T Free Technology for Teachers