The Social Web for Early Elementary

Shifting Literacy from Individual Expression to Community Involvement

Learning Goals

1. Provide an overview of the concept of New Media Literacy, its theoretical foundations and development over recent years.

2. Examine the various new media literacy definitions and related theories.

3. Provide an in-depth look at a number of free Web 2.0 tools and applications that pre-k educators can use to create standards-based learning experiences that are engaging, foster creativity, and relevant to the current and future needs of their students.

4. Address instructional strategies that enable teachers to promote collaborative, independent, and differentiated learning, adapting to the needs of each learner with a focus on content standards.

The Social Web

Blogs and Wikis  

Blogs

What is a Blog?

• Blog is short for weblog.
• A blog is a frequent and chronological publication of comments and thoughts on the web.
• A blog is often updated daily and contains all information that the person maintaining the BLOG (Blogger) wishes to share with the world.

Blogging in the classroom

TEACHERS

• School-to-Home Communication
• Announcements
• Calendar
• Newsletter
• Classroom Happenings

STUDENTS

• Reflections or journals
• Dialogue with peers
• Communicate with teacher
• Group work

Effective modeling of blogging

Teachers can effectively model the blogging process for students by developing a blog to post classroom announcements, calendar, newsletter and happenings.  Within a kindergarten room, this might mean simply posting a picture of a paintbrush and the word ‘ART’ on the calendar days that students go to art class. Instead of checking a chart or a bulletin board for this information, students refer to the classroom blog, something they can do at home or at school. A teacher’s blog can become an important and easily accessible resource used to communicate with students, parents, the community, and the world!

EXAMPLE - Building Blocks

Blogging Resources

Blogger

Wordpress

How to Start a Classroom Blog, Edublog or School Website

Wikis

Digital Storytelling with VoiceThread

Digital Storytelling definition

Center for Digital Storytelling

University of Houston - The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

"Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories."

VoiceThread explanation

• Voicethread is a FREE web-based interactive digital storytelling application.
• Voicethreads are online slide shows of images, documents, or videos.
• Voicethreads enable viewers to comment on any slide via text, audio or video comments, or drawing on the image itself.
• Voicethread can be used to safely publish student work to a global audience on the Internet.
• Voicethreads can also be shared PRIVATELY with students, families and other classrooms inside and outside your school.

VoiceThread website

"A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam)."

Instructional rationale

"One of the best ways to enhance student learning, boost student achievement, and improve student engagement is to incorporate digital storytelling as an instructional strategy. Students can demonstrate their knowledge of content, develop higher order thinking skills, improve their digital literacy skills, and harness the power of visual literacy in digital storytelling projects"

• Wesley Fryer - from "Using Voicethread for Digital Conversations"

Examples

Kindergarten-2 Voicethread Examples

Eleven Thirteen Fourteen Interesting Ways to use Voicethread in the Classroom

VoiceThread Resources 

Wesley Fryer's "Teach Digital"

Bill Ferriter's "Using Voicethread for Digital Conversations" (includes printable handouts)

Voicethread 4 Education wiki - comprehensive collection of VoiceThread examples from students and teachers of all ages and groups

VoiceThread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums - Edutopia article

Social Networks and Virtual Worlds

SMARTBoard Resources

K-2 templates