Digital
stories can be made on several different websites. Most of the storytelling websites cost money, but some let you
create short clips for free. The website that was used
to create this digital slideshow was Animoto. The website and directions
were very clear and had many different options to choose pictures and music
from.
In the video I created, A Day in Madrid, I showed my viewers
some different sites around the city of Madrid, Spain. I could definitely
imagine using this in my classes to show my students architecture, historic
places, and culture of different places in the world. This
seems like a great way to organize pictures and show them in a fun and engaging
manner. In the language classroom, you could introduce different units with
photographs, music, and text from different themes or places in the
world. Students could also create different slide shows using Animoto or
a similar site that could allow them to be creative in bringing their ideas to
life. Animoto could be an alternative to PowerPoint, field trips, or
digital storytelling. It can also
enhance work the students may already be doing, such as science projects or
book reports. Students with limited English skills could also create a
video to introduce themselves to me and / or the class. It is
important to note, however, that many
English language Learners and refugee students do not always have access to
digital photos or even the internet. This might be an activity that the
teacher would have to bring the students to the school's computer lab to do.
The teacher and computer lab instructor could help students find images
on a site like Flickr or through some
sort of clip art. The teacher could also ask students to bring in any
photos and they could be scanned on to the computers. Technology is such
a good tool to use with ELLs, but accommodations must be considered before
assuming all of your students have the ability to use these tools. In this way it could possibly have the added
bonus of teaching students how to use technology.
How have you used sites like Animoto in the
classroom? What did you do and how did it go?
You have presented some important things to consider when using technology with students. Particularly with ELLs I totally agree with you that it can be very beneficial to plan teaching tech skills as well as language skills. Many ELLs come to us with limited exposure to tech tools and their ESL class can be a good place to acquire these 21st century skills.
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