Using computers in the classroom opens up an exciting avenue of learning. Many teachers use Photo Story 3, a free download from Mircosoft Office: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx . It is colorful and user friendly. It can be adapted to any age level. In Photo Story, students create a story using photos, text, and music. They learn how to research a topic, sequence their story, site a source, and locate pictures while they work on reading, writing, and science or social studies skills. Then they practice oral skills by presenting their project to the class. This is a great resource. It teaches many computer skills while working on academic ones as well. It is a fun and easy way to incorporate technology in the classroom.
This technology was presented in a workshop at the Upstate Technology Conference in SC. I was impressed by the computer skills this first grade teacher was able to teach in her classroom. She has an assistant that comes in when needed and has trained her students how to help each other. By the end of first grade they were able to download the program to their computer, if it had been erased by another class, create Photo Stories by importing pictures and creating text. It was a very interesting session and I look forward to trying Photo Stories with my nephew who has autism and in my classroom next year.
picture from: plus.maths.org
This technology was presented in a workshop at the Upstate Technology Conference in SC. I was impressed by the computer skills this first grade teacher was able to teach in her classroom. She has an assistant that comes in when needed and has trained her students how to help each other. By the end of first grade they were able to download the program to their computer, if it had been erased by another class, create Photo Stories by importing pictures and creating text. It was a very interesting session and I look forward to trying Photo Stories with my nephew who has autism and in my classroom next year.
picture from: plus.maths.org
I have never used Photostory but I went to a session about it too. Now I'm interested in giving it a try.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that she was able to use Photostory with such a young group of children. I think this shows that sometimes we underestimate what children are capable of when it comes to computers and technology. Maybe some of us are simply afraid of using these programs ourselves because they seem so foreign to us. I think it's important for teacher to make sure they're staying up with the current trends in technology so they can utilize these tools in the classroom.
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