Whoa! I am a little overwhelmed with all of the options for creating digital texts, but I think I’ve found the ones that would work for me in my classroom. I put together a project with Slide where I documented the life of my dog Marlee thus far. I really liked that I could be so creative with the Slide program and that the music looped with the whole video. The uploading of images took a little longer than I would like, so that would mean multiple class sessions for students if they were using the program.

As far as the captioning video programs go, I have to be honest, and say that I am not very impressed. I think that the one that Dr. C showed us is cool, but actually doing it is way too time consuming and frustrating for me. Even with help from classmates, there were just too many steps to the process. I tried using the YouTube, Overstream, and Jing process, and found each step to be a little more complicated than the last. I’m sure there are students who would zip through this process being a little more tech savvy than I am, but I still do not think this is a project I would use in my classroom. For students who are not so tech savvy or who have trouble following multiple directions, this project would be a nightmare.

PhotoStory is by far my favorite tool related to digital texts. I found it to be quick, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. I think that kids would really enjoy using Photo Story and would be able to make a project in at least two days time if not just one day. I made a Photo Story of pictures documenting mine and my fiance’s relationship to date. I was also able to add music to the project and really liked that there was an option for actually adding in a voice to the project.

I think that there are a lot of great possibilities for using digital texts in the classroom. I think programs like Slide and Photo Story would be a great tool for students presenting learned information, creating a unique book report or research project, and for me as a teacher to make meaningful slideshows and movies that would document students’ time in my classroom. Especially for those kids who can never afford a yearbook, I could easily make a digital yearbook and burn it to a disc for them to have memories of their year in 6th grade. I also like the idea that Kari gave in class about using digital texts to teach kids a lesson while a substitute is in my class. I could really envision doing that and it would actually give the kids something beneficial to do while I was out instead of the usual worksheet or busy work that has to be left when a sub is needed.

Overall, I am excited about the things I learned using digital texts and maybe with a little more exploration time, I could get the hang of the video capturing.

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