by Janice Friesen

Digital storytelling is a great way to help students become fluent readers and to be proud of their writing. It allows students to develop their writer’s voice while listening to their physical voices. These are the goals of my Digital Storytelling after-school class for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and it is great fun. Here is a sequence of six to eight sessions that we often follow at our school to create digital stories.

Day 1: We begin with their writing. In the first session, students choose a piece of writing and practice reading and recording their stories. These are only first audio drafts. The goal is to give them a chance to hear their own voices and to learn how to make and save an audio file. At the end of the session, we listen to each other’s recordings and notice what worked and what did not. 

Day 2: During the second session, we start collecting pictures to use in their stories. I encourage children to find, take, or draw approximately 10 pictures. At our school, we have laptops, and students learn to find pictures in a safe way on the Internet. One search engine that’s great for locating appropriate pictures uses the Safe Search filter from Google. I also introduce their teachers to important copyright guidelines. If students choose to draw their own pictures, we love the creative drawing tools at KerPoof Studio. 

Days 3 and 4: The next sessions are working sessions. Everyone will be at a different stage in their writing, finding pictures, or recording their voices. We have mini lessons on topics when there are lots of questions. At this stage, it is important to keep in mind that there are multiple ways to record a digital story. 

• If your computer has a built in microphone, students can record their voices directly into the computer.  Often, these built-in devices are not of the highest quality, but they will definitely work.
• A second option is to use an external microphone that you plug into the computer. This works much better and there are many possibilities. A microphone with a headset is a great idea, as it allows listening and keeps other sounds out.  
• A third way students can record their voices is with a digital recording device or a Smartphone with a free or inexpensive recording apps such as Audacity or QuickVoice. These devices often work well. However, the audio files students create then need to be imported into the computer, so this third option requires a few additional steps. You can learn more about how to create high quality audio recordings at http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/4-simple-tips-for-recording-high-quality-audio/.

Days 5 to 8: Somewhere around the fifth session, I introduce the idea of putting all of the pieces together into one movie. Using Windows Live Movie Maker, I show them how to open the program, import their pictures, video and voices, and then put in transitions, titles, and scrolling credits. A few students understand many of these steps the first time, but most benefit from at least two or three different explanations before they can accomplish these tasks independently. Occasionally, we run into some challenges when our Internet connection does not work, but when that happens, I have found the following ideas work well to use the time effectively - even when the server is down:

• Have the students practice their fluency skills by reading their stories to each other.
• Use the time for them to do a digital drawing using a program like Paint that they can use in their stories. Save their drawings onto a thumb drive so that they can be put into their folders on the server when it is back up again.
• Pass out a storyboard and give them time to plan which pictures they want for their stories. You can find great examples of storyboard templates to share with students at http://www.printablepaper.net/category/storyboard.
• Use the time to teach them the basics of Movie Maker. Challenge them to make a simple movie using the sample files found on the computer. You can find a short overview of Movie Maker at http://www.saskschools.ca/resources/techref/moviemaker/movie.html or a more comprehensive tutorial at http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2. Then, young children may later incorporate these additional movie-making skills into their digital writing toolbox. 

Following this type of sequence means that in six to eight sessions, the students will have created digital stories that give them a powerful writing voice while also being able to demonstrate the skills they have learned. A collection of finished stories from our own sessions can be viewed online at our school’s video gallery. Overall, I have found that even though the process can be unpredictable, the skills that students learn and their growth as writers make it all worthwhile.

For more information about Digital Storytelling, you might enjoy the tips and examples outlined in Digital Storytelling: Expanding the Potential for Struggling Writers, by Ruth Sylvester and Wendy Lou Greenidge, reprinted from The Reading Teacher and found online at Reading Rockets.  

Janice Friesen is a self-employed teacher in Austin, Texas. Her business I’m not a Geek.com helps people to be successful using technology. Her searchable blog http://helpimnotageek.blogspot.com offers tips for successful use of technology. 

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association's Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video, and audiobooks for children and young adults–including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, and Printz awards–at its Midwinter Meeting in Dallas.

A list of all the 2012 award winners follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:Dead End in Norvelt written by Jack Gantos

written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

Caldecott Honor Books: Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco, Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith, and Me … Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell

Disciplinary literacy has received a tremendous amount of recent attention. Whereas a one-size fits all approach to literacy instruction fails to recognize reading and writing practices unique to particular disciplines, disciplinary literacy provides a means to appreciate and employ strategies appropriate to given content areas. Moje (2008) argues that young adults must learn the practices of experts in the field and the discourse used during those practices. Such an instructional approach can help students learn how knowledge is created and shared within specific disciplines. 

There are at least three ways that technology is integral to disciplinary literacy. First, technology can introduce students to the three tenets of disciplinary literacy: discourses and practices, identities and identifications, and knowledge (Moje, 2008). Technology can be a means to provide students access to each of these three tenets, particularly in areas where they might not normally have access to the identities or to the actual practices of unique disciplines.  Second, technology can be a medium for content area teachers to learn the best practices within disciplinary literacy instruction. Third, technology has become ubiquitous in many disciplines. As such, it forms the thread of the discourse, identity, and knowledge within those disciplines. Said differently, technology moves from the means of instruction in the first two methods to the actual content of the disciplinary literacy instruction in the third example.

Recent research has highlighted this relationship between disciplinary literacy and technology. One example comes from the work of Dr. Michael Manderino at Northern Illinois University. In a paper entitled, "Social Networking as Discursive Practice: Developing Disciplinary Literacy in History", Manderino (2011) studied a group of US History teachers who used a social networking space for students to create fictitious profiles.

Given the author's interest in multi-modal, student-generated artifacts, students were asked to create an authentic historical profile of someone from the 1960's using pictures, video, and music (p. 13). One of the most interesting findings is that the "use of multimodal sources resulted in higher engagement and richer historical meaning making by students... In terms of disciplinary learning, the use of multimodal sources provided deep engagement and helps foster the student to see the complexity of history" (p. 18). 

Such research provides promising findings for the use of 21st century tools in studying, obtaining, and practicing content-specific knowledge and skills. Future research should continue to find ways to understand and differentiate the roles of technology as both medium and content of disciplinary literacy instruction. 

Manderino, M. (2011, April).  Social networking as discursive practice: Developing disciplinary literacy in history.  Symposium paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. 
Symposium Paper Link (If you are having trouble with this link, try the Google Scholar Link.)

Moje, E.B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(2), 96-107.

TILE-SIG Feature: Making the Professional Development Shift

TILE-SIG Feature: Web Watch: The New York State Science Teacher Website

Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG)

Over 380,000 students in twenty-eight states have committed to celebrate Digital Learning Day, a national awareness campaign designed to celebrate innovative teachers and highlight instructional practices that strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students.

The first Digital Learning Day will be held on February 1, 2012. It is the culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children. Digital learning is any instructional practice that is effectively using technology to strengthen the student learning experience. Digital learning encompasses a wide spectrum of tools and practice, including using online and formative assessment, increasing focus and quality of teaching resources and time, online content and courses, applications of technology in the classroom and school building, adaptive software for students with special needs, learning platforms, participating in professional communities of practice, providing access to high level and challenging content and instruction, and many other advancements technology provides to teaching and learning. In particular, blended learning is any time a student learns, at least in part, at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and, at least in part, through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.

“I’m excited to see the momentum building for Digital Learning Day,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “These states have really embraced the issue and are planning exciting celebrations within their own states to support the national discussion about effective applications of technology in education.”

On Digital Learning Day, a virtual national town hall meeting will be broadcast live from Washington, DC, and will highlight four to six satellite locations. The town hall meeting boasts support from twenty-five core partners made up of national membership organizations, and a broad array of stakeholder groups, including principals, school board, content area specialists, and instructional technology professionals;  twenty-seven states that are planning their own statewide celebrations; twenty-six instructional technology experts who are hard at work developing toolkits and resources to support educators at all the state, district, school, and classroom levels; and nationally known companies, such as Intel Corporation, Google, and SMART Technologies.

The celebration of Digital Learning Day will be tailored within each participating state. Some activities these states are planning include a proclamation from the state governor, a showcase of student work through digital learning, lesson plan contests for teachers, announcements of digital learning projects, and highlights of promising practices within and among states.

Visit www.digitallearningday.org to learn more about Digital Learning Day or to read the Alliance for Excellent Education’s report The Digital Learning Imperative: How Teaching and Technology Meet Today’s Educational Challenges.

For example, on Digital Learning Day, the Indiana Department of Education will kick off the state’s twenty-nine-day ―Web 2.0 Challenge. Then, on each day in February, it will introduce a new resource complete with tutorials and tips on its blog. The challenge is for educators to explore the shared tools and post thoughts and ideas about how they could use them to enhance student learning. Additionally, the state will encourage districts to post a three-minute video telling their own Digital Learning story to the Indiana Department of Education YouTube channel.

"Educators all over Indiana work every day to advance and expand their efforts to take advantage of technology to improve student outcomes," said Candice Dodson, director of eLearning at the Indiana Department of Education. "Digital Learning Day gives us—and all states—a chance to shine a light on the exciting ways digital learning is happening in schools."

All are welcome to participate in this celebration of innovation. Act now! Join the important national and local discussions by signing up to learn more about Digital Learning Day at http://www.digitallearningday.org.

The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. For more information about the Alliance for Excellent Education, please visit http://www.all4ed.org.

The National Center for Family Literacy is accepting applications for the 2012 Toyota Teacher of the Year.

The winner will receive $20,000 for his or her program as well as a free trip to the 2012 National Conference on Family Literacy (NCFL), which will be held from March 25 through March 27 in San Diego. This will be the 16th year for the annual award. Criteria with an emphasis on parental engagement and a doubled grant prize are both new this year.

The application, which should be completed online at http://www.famlit.org/toyota-teacher-of-the-year-nomination-form/, is due no later than February 1, 2012.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of NCFL family literacy specialists, who will review nominations looking for high-performing teachers with the following criteria:
• Work for a family literacy program, Title I elementary school, preschool or community organization based in the United States. 
• Serve parents and children with a strong intergenerational approach to helping them learn together and/or use innovative ways to engage parents in their children’s education;
• Exhibit a record of success;
• Have novel ideas for expanding their program to benefit families and/or reach to engage more families; and
• Serve communities and families with high literacy and socioeconomic needs.

The selected educator will be honored at the National Conference on Family Literacy along with receiving the grant, and one runner-up will receive a $2,500 grant for his/her program and a scholarship to the conference. The recipients will be notified by early March.

The form must be completed by the nominee’s principal/director/supervisor, and nominee must answer the final question. Programs may nominate up to two educators but must submit a separate online nomination form for each.

For more information and guidelines, visit http://www.famlit.org/toyota-teacher-of-the-year-award-selection-criteria/.