It's hard to believe Week Five is over! With each passing week ing ILT 5340, I feel like I have developed more skills and a better understanding of the theory and the mechanics of digital storytelling.
I was particularly able to connect this week's readings to practice this week. In my work life, I am busy developing a program for a brand new school which will open in a few short weeks. Launch High School has been specifically chartered as a blended learning program with a focus on entrepreneurship. It is one of many of the opportunities I have had professionally in my career that just leaves me wondering at the serendipity that is my life. I have been trying throughout the semester to think about what group annotation might look like in a high school environment. By the time I completed reading and annotating this week's required readings I had ideas for every member of my new staff about how they could implement hypothesis in their classes and how they could inspire students to read more closely and more thoughtfully--but more importantly more collaboratively in the classroom.
The two readings on the letters to the next president put some flesh on those ideas which made it possible for me to send them out to my staff. I truly believe this is the most contentious presidential election in my lifetime and having tools our students can use to tweet, blog and message the candidates is an empowering element that we have not had in previous election cycles. Using this in our Social Studies classes will give our students a whole new perspective on the process.
The highlight of the reading week was truly the annotation flash mob. I had honestly never thought about this--but am now envisioning doing this as a collaborative exercise in a classroom--either as a pre-reading exercise or as a way of starting a collaborative discussion. The 30 minutes I was able to spend in the flash mom was incredibly illuminating--and provided a lot of inspiration.
So in terms of my professional practice--this is a week of transference for me. I'm much more able to transfer this week's readings to our school's practice in the coming weeks. Most of all, my horizons are a bit wider.
On the artistic/creative side, I have LOVED this week's daily creates. The mashup became a group project in our household which means that my daughters have learned how to use transparent images to create mixes of their own. It is the ultimate in DIY when my kids join in and muck around with me as we figure out new programs and see what we can do. There are so many great ways to complete the daily creates and I am learning to just sit back and have fun with each one as it comes up.
Bring on Week Six!
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