Wisconsin

This past week was a special one for me as I had a chance to spend time with some extrememly talented and inspiring people and learned a lot of things worth knowing!   I love weeks where I am the learner and all around me are wonderful teachers who inspire!

I spent two days at Appleton East and West High Schools with DEN Educators Brian Bartel (Brian has one of the BEST DEN Blogs I have yet to see), Dale Basler, and Judy Owen helping educators understand the vast potential of unitedstreaming in the classroom.  Brian even tagged team me along with his wife to see the new Appleton Big Picture Theater showing of All Things Egyptian. How cool is this to have a big picture theater within your own community.  If you get to Appleton, Wisconsin be sure to plan to get to the The Big Picture Theater!   What I love is that the owners support educators by giving them a chance to see the programs free of charge before they are even released!  See the Educator Section of the web site for more details.  Check out the online free teacher resource guides!

Next on my week’s agenda was a visit with Technology Coordinator, Kevin Messman, of New Berlin School District.   Kevin is an amazing and supportive Technology Coordinator who understands what really makes a difference for teachers — opportunities to grow and learn how to enhance in struction using well-founded technology integration strategies.   His leadership has provided tremendous support for educators who want to grow professionally.  Each summer a program is provided to enhance instruction through technology. 

Last summer’s program provided opportunities to learn how use Bernajean Porter’s model technology spectrum chart to move lessons from literacy level to adaptive and transformative.  Teachers also had an opportunity to learn how to incorporate SmartBoards and Smart Tools software into the classroom.   

Did you know that New Berlin School District has approximately 100 SmartBoards and two Smart Exemplary Educators who are also Wisconsin DEN members? 

Toni Heinowski and Rachel Yurk are featured in the just released Best Teachers, Best Practices section of i.e. interactive educator - SmartTech’s quarterly professional journal.   

I also was lucky enough to be able to visit Rachel’s 6th grade classroom at Poplar Creek Elementary School to view and videotape an engaging life science lesson on cells and cell division.  Resource specialist and DEN Member Lisa Conway was also on hand to help share and support how effective technology and visual literacy skills are embedded into New Berlin’s overall educational technology program.

What was really impressive was how Rachel used her SmartBoard to link to video clips downloaded from unitedstreaming and use them seamlessly within instruction.  Her students said use of the SmartBoard and unitedstreaming "makes learning much more interesting and easy to understand" and that it’s boring to be in a classroom without such cool resources.   Rachel was easily able to navigate the videoclips, review concepts using various frames of cell struture and division, re-play video, label parts of the cell with the Smart tool pen, and even capture the interactive discussion notes if needed for a student who missed class today.   You can now ask questions and discuss SmartBoard instructional strategies via Rachel’s own BLOG on our national DEN web site!  Please visit her blog and post comments, questions, and let’s all get SMART!

I also stopped by New Berlin’s Orchard Lane School where I found DEN member Jack Chamberlain’s fourth grade student cooperative learning groups deeply involved in a Wisconsin Explorers WebQuest.   One of the groups was viewing unitedstreaming explorer videoclips for background knowledge at one of his classroom computer stations, while others were busy collecting and creating special explorer artifacts and researching online.  Great strategy, Jack!!

Onwards home to western Wisconsin… but there was one more wonderful visitor to come.   

I had an exceptional evening for my husband, Dan and myself, as we shared dinner with Bernajean Porter - one of my own real life heroines!   We all have heros and herorines who inspire us, who mentor and guide, who lift our hearts and spirits. Bernajean does that for me and, I would guess, everyone whose life she touches.  Her wonderful digital storytelling resources, Digitales, has provided insight and vision to all those who seek to share their own stories.

Bernajean is a charismatic and deeply devoted educator, storyteller, educational technology visionary and *real* person who loves life and humanity.  Her heart is as big as her unlimited educational technology wisdom. Okay… so I am a FAN!  And, proud to say so!

Being the hostest for the evening, I met Bernajean at the LaCrosse (WI) airport which meant that I must welcome my guest in style with some "momentos" to take back to her Colorado home.  What better represents Wisconsin than the noble dairy cow and some western Wisconsin cheese? I had no idea that cows held such a special place in Bernajean’s life until we sat down and shared Da Um Jeitinho. 

Da Um Jeitinho is Bernajean’s own personal tale that unfolds one of her own childhood dreams and her strong spirit of perserverance. 

You will find it in her Storykeeper’s Gallery in the "Living Memories" section. 

Each of these digital story examples uses a personal or family experience to develop a living memory with a moral, an a-ha awareness, or a specific lesson learned.    I think this type of story makes for the best story for your first digital storytelling experience as each of us have life lessons to share which provide rich content and impactful messages.

Now, go find out what Bernajean and cows have to do with perserverance and a life long lesson to which all of us can relate!  :-)   

Once you view Bernajean’s own story… be sure to spend more time in the Storyteller’s Gallery as these are wonderful models for your OWN digital storytelling adventure! 

Have you ever spent a day with a group of educators who inspire and energize each other so much that you want to capture the energy and take it with you? I have!

It was an honor to spend March 23  with teams of educators from the Verona Area School District.   Twenty educators and support team members came together to share their skills,  digital storytelling ideas, creative talents, and to support one another in their ultimate goal of developing a powerful story to share with their students! 

Frank Devereaux, 6th Grade Teacher -Savanna Oaks Middle School, works hard to find just the right unitedstreaming video clip for his digital storytelling project.  This former pilot has found his niche as a beloved Verona MS teacher and Wisconsin DEN member. Frank has been sharing amazing projects such as his very cool plate tectonics slide show which will soon be uploaded to the DEN site in the Educator Resources area.

These exceptional Wisconsin DEN educators and colleagues are developing amazing stories relating in almost every imaginable curriculum area… from Tong Xiong’s story about the Peaceful Nation of Laos and the impact of the Vietnam War to Patty Werner’s powerful language development project using unitedstreaming clips and multi-lingual word and phrase building skills for language learners. Deb Donley, Educational Technology Coach (ETC) and her colleague, Nancy, share thoughts on a project under development.  

Technology Director, Betty Wottreng, assists Patty Werner while Tong Xiong explores MovieMaker’s sound tools.

Kurt Knueve’s wildlife ecology project will be told through the eyes of a wild animal while Deb Breunig’s Chinese folklore study of the ancient poem, Mulan… will incorporate authentic narration and interpretive imagery. 

Here Kurt and Bill Lemberg (DEN member and ETC) work on some ideas for Kurt’s imaginative project.

The power of global collaborations and students sharing their culture and day-to-day life at New Century School with students at the American School in Valencia, Spain provides the setting for Larry Gundlach and Tyler Rivera. 

Paula Wick hard at work on her digital storytelling project.

Creativity is alive and well in Verona! Everyone was ready to dig in and work on their projects in iMovie, MovieMaker, or PowerPoint.  Prior to our day’s workshop the Verona ETC’s helped guide their colleagues in the pre-production tasks.  Each educator identified their project goals, gathered raw assets (images, unitedstreaming video clips, their own video clips, and sounds, music, artifacts to scan, etc.) and came prepared to learn more about Digital Storytelling and develop their stories through a full afternoon of hands-on time.

Successful Digital Storytelling workshops require teamwork and Verona’s Technology Director, Betty Wottreng, has provided the visionary leadership needed to support educators. From Karen and Zach, technical support team at Verona High School to each Educational Technology Coach (all Wisconsin DEN members) it is clear that Verona’s educational technology program is uniquely empowering.   Everyone works towards common goals… empowering teachers so that they can, in turn, enrich and empower student learning!

Challenges always arise in digital storytelling workshops… how do we get around issues of dealing with multiple sound tracks when MovieMaker can support onlay a limited number of these tracks?  What tool should we use to convert video files to the needed format?  (Try Rad Tools or Quick Time Pro!)  How should we save our files while working on these video projects if we want to move them to another location?  Do we have fair use rights to utilize a particular video clip found or sound file?    What are the best search engines to find sound files?   

Laura Lindquist. Verona ETC and DEN member, discusses her elementary school’s team challenges with Rita and Sheila Stenseth. Rita (HS ETC) and Sheila are Verona High School educators and DEN Members.

Betty Wottreng and HS ETC Rita Mortenson (who played a major role in facilitating the workshop- thank you, Rita!!) share thoughts during a break in the action.

We all enjoyed a delicious Panera Bread lunch and time to share stories, our hurdles, and how we manage resolving issues.

It was a day of hard work AND a day that gave these educators a chance to grow their digital storytelling skills and share their successes and the challenges! Congrats to these amazing educators who know the power of sharing and helping each other!

DEN Maryland recently held a great workshop on MovieMaker 2.1 by Microsoft - a free digital video editing program which many educators have found to be an excellent digital storytelling software for Windows XP OS computers.   Check out what Rachel Amstutz, DEN Maryland Field Manager, shares about last Friday’s MovieMaker event!  You will find a POWERPOINT slide show and two useful resource handouts shared by Rachel and her team of DEN leaders.  Very cool.

MovieMaker’s user-friendly interface is easy to navigate and enables you to create digital stories using images, sounds, narration, music, and videoclips.

That’s what the DEN is all about — empowering each other by sharing resources, sharing experiences, and helping us all grow professionally and as colleagues and friends.     With that in mind… here is my Digital Storytelling Helpful URLs for anyone who would like to have resource links relating to Digital Storytelling which are powerful assists to developing your digital story.

Download _jan_wees_digital_storytelling_helpful_web_resources.doc

Also, check out DEN Illinois’ Strong Ties to Digital Stories where you can learn much more about related digital storytelling resources and techniques in digital storytelling design that will enhance your project.  Thanks to Dick Marchessault, DEN Field Manager, Illinois!

If Wisconsin DEN Member schools have a Windows XP computer lab environment, MovieMaker 2.0, a flexible technology coordinator willing to help with setup for a workshop and the willingness to host a MovieMaker digital storytelling event, let me know!  I have just today submitted a 2 credit course overview to Viterbo University and hope to be able to offer Digital Storytelling as a summer 2006 course for DEN members and interested educators.  :-)  Summer is a great time to get these workshops scheduled but the calendar is filling fast so please connect if you would like to host an event!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Digital Storytelling opens a new creative world to everyone brave enough to give it a shot.  Are you fearless?  Do you enjoy a challenge?  I do… always have.   I took on a bit of a challenge this past weekend when Linda Chiles, MO/KS Field Manager, invited me to help present a Digital Storytelling session in Wichita, KS.

One hundred and twenty-five Wichita Public School and area educators explored many unitedstreaming-related integration strategies on 2/18/06. Linda sponsored a fun day-long unitedstreaming event with the help of WPS instructional technology director, Robin Surland. And, they did a GREAT job! (Wow… WPS Technology Department has tremendous programs and resources in place for educators! Check out their online resources for educators! Very impressive!)

It was rewarding to see so many teachers exploring Digital Storytelling for the first time and experimenting with a free Microsoft program, Windows Movie Maker 2.0, as the primary storytelling construction software tool. 

I do not consider myself an expert on digital storytelling (far from it!.  I am just someone who has seen the amazing end products that talented teachers are developing when they understand how to work with the digital media technology tools.   I have dabbled in digital storytelling as a CESA #4 Technolgoy Director wearing my "trainer’s hat" helping educators in learn how to edit digital video on the Windows platform.   

I led many Pinnacle’s Studio (which I love and is reasonably priced but not free) dv editing tool workshops and have found this truly exciting.  Why?  Because everyone of us has a great story to tell through digital media… be it an instructional lesson or a personal, heartfelt story! However, I found that many of my teacher-student’s end products were missing the mark. The stories seemed to wander, lack engagement, become tedious due to overuse of transitions, etc.    Good projects are built on a strong foundation!   

So… how do you begin?  I usually begin by exploring the resources of multiple experts for guidance. I found my deepest and most valued understandings in wisdom of Bernajean Porter.   I have been lucky in knowing Bernajean and working side-by-side with her.  Truly, one of my favorite educational technology leaders!  Visit Digitales, Bernajean’s gift to all of us wanting to plunge ourselves into the Digital Storytelling experience. Her on-line resources are rich in content and meaning.  First stop… find out what digital storytelling is.   Digital storytelling is much, much more than just taking images, video clips, and sound and blending them together in a multimedia project.

Next, take a look at Bernajean’s 7 Steps to Creating a Digi Tales Story which details the essential elements and serves as a guidepost to helping us begin our creations.    I also value Jason Ohler’s approach to Digital Storytelling.  His on-line resources also provide much insight into development of a powerful digital story but with a different approach than Bernajean’s.

If you need good storyboarding template to help plan your project do a Google advanced search like the one pictured here. Try restricting the file format to PDF type as often excellent resources are formatted this way so that all end users (Mac and Windows) can open the files.

I located 95 hits using this search strategy.  There should be plenty of good examples of storyboards within the resulting group of hits. My favorite elementary level storyboard is one available through Time for Kids. You will find a wealth of reproducibles available on-line there!

Next, be sure that you spend a good deal of time thinking about the Six Elements of a Good Digital Story.    The best digital stories are ones in which you have immersed yourself either through first-hand experience or have spent much time researching, brainstorming, discussing, reviewing, living vicariously. Your digital story is a reflection of who you are, how your perceive the world, the lessons you have learned, a sharing of a bit of yourself.  That story might be very personal.  It might be focused on a benchmark moment in life.  A student who changed you forever.  The love you have for your subject matter.  The love you have for teaching.  Begin where your comfort level lies and with a story that is meaningful to you!

Note: Next time I will share some of my favorite digital stories!   If you have some helpful Digital Storytelling resources to share please post your comments!   I am also including my table of helpful web resources for Digital Storytelling Download janweedigital_storytelling_helpful_web_resources.doc

I consider this list of URLs to be a good start, but not comprehensive, so please help us by sharing your favorite web resources not on this list and why you like them!

Start crafting your stories and you will find it both rewarding and addictive! (in a good way!)