Photographs

Sitting here in the warm sunshine looking out over the vast vista of central Alaska, I find myself surprised at the way this place has begun to pull at my heart. I wish I knew how many times I have told people that, “Alaska is okay, but it is not home”. Now I wish I could say that is completely true.

Home. What a simple sounding word. So many common sayings pop into my mind like; “Home is where the heart is”. How I wish it were that simple. But what if your heart is in two places? It is a sad and sometimes lonely feeling to gaze into the distance and think of loved ones who are so very far to the south. Yet, a joyful feeling is also intermingled within me to see the joy and adventure on the face of another who is also so close to my heart.

Home. Will it ever be a simple choice for me? I don’t know. But for now it is here in the heart of Alaska, a beautiful place that I have found myself loving for its wild beauty and vast distances, even though it is much too great a distance from the place I originally called home.

Futuring

Grading or Assessing Videos

Watching the videos School Train and Hannah-Fox were really interesting. They were so different in their styles it really made me think about ways of setting up a rubric that would be able to accurately score a variety of student products.

Points to consider

• Supporting documents


• 1">Consistency of theme-including music, picture or artwork styles, and video effects


• Purpose of videos-Did the video meet the needs of the intended audience?


• Clarity of message

Classroom Impacts of Pod Casting
Watching Epic, I really enjoyed the science fiction/documentary feeling of the video. The dates and details of the advances in the last 50 years have truly been amazing. The imagined future happenings involving technology were believable and thought provoking. As a teacher, the ways my students will need to be able to interact with technology and the skills they will need is something that I would like to help address with needed skills.

I have a couple of concerns as I consider podcasting with my students:

Safety of students

I have considered doing some podcasting with my students,and have learned about some sites that have been set up specifically for school use. Working with 5th graders, I want to be sure that I consider their safety if they will be creating documents that may be seen of the Web. A couple of sites that might help with this would be NING and Voice Thread.

Quality and appropriateness of published materials for school use

Anytime school work is published for distribution outside of the school, I want to make sure it is high quality work. Correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting need to be considered. I also need a way to make sure the work is school appropriate BEFORE it gets posted.

Using SabrinaJourney for Teaching

This video has so many good qualities,it would be a very good video to use for teaching the idea of creating videos to tell your own story. With its use of repetition, simple photographs and author narration, it conveys a clear, understandable message that is very pleasant and understandable to everyone. I also felt this was an example of a movie that would be relatively easy to accomplish as far as the required technology.

Who's alisa r?

I am currently a resident of the beautiful Copper River Valley where I live with my sweet husband. I also have two dogs that are pretty worthless-but lovable anyway. We love to get outside into the awesome lakes, rivers and mountains every chance we get. I've been here in AK for 12 years and I come from NM.
Teaching Fifth grade is what I do for a living and also for fun(most days). I've been working on an ED Tech degree for a few years now and decided it is time to finish it up. I needed an elective and was really glad to hear that this digital storytelling class was going to be offered. I attempted some digital story telling with my students last year, but I needed some extra knowledge about how to do it better. I'm looking forward to learning MANY new things.

Hello! Digital Storytellers

Hi everyone!
I look forward to a great learning experience with all of you!