Amy

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__Activity 1:__
=== I agree that the importance of the written word is at risk of losing the battle to images and a more visual world. I am not sure that this is completely bad. People have long been forced to write reports and essays that could contain some pictures, but those pictures were viewed as "fluff". Now that we realize the value that images have in creating meaning and even furthering understanding through graphics, why not take advantage? I great image can not only help us understand text, but also help us remember it by linking the text to that image in our memory. Images can be very powerful. That being said, in the back of my mind I am hearing that old saying, "Everything in moderation!". It would be a crime to swing our pendulum all the way to the image side and abandon the importance of the written word, especially specific, well-chosen words. ===

=== ﻿The need for technology education gets more important every day. It is not necessarily about memorizing facts anymore, but having the skills to find information when we need it. To me, it is almost as if there is so much information available that we cannot possibly learn it all. However, if you possess the right skill set, you can access any information that you need. It is more about processing, making obvservations, and synthesizing information than remembering it. This higher order thinking is admirable, but schools cannot keep up with this kind of education. ===

=== Curriculum does not yet reflect the importance of images, at least not in the elementary grades. Elementary teachers understand the use of powerful images, especially with non-readers. However, assessments still tend to focus on the written word more than anything else. I know in my classroom I encourage drawing pictures, but only if they complete their writing first. Unless the assignment calls for it explicitly, pictures are less of a priority. Most often, even when I ask for a picture as their final product, some written words accompanying it as labels or captions. I know some of my students even view drawing pictures as "babyish" already in first grade. It will be interesting to see how the students and parents' viewpoints change over the next few years as this image vs. word battle unfolds. === === Jen says: I agree with you on all points. I think kids see pictures books as baby books and chapter books with no pictures as older kids books. Hopefully teachers will instill in kids the thought that pictures help us learn to read and should continue to be a big part of understanding our world even after we learn to read. ===

Carrie: Amy, I agree that it is technology has helped to stop the old practice of simply memorizing information and spewing it out. Students definitely need to have a higher level of thinking than previous generations.

__Activity 2:__
=== The website that explored powerful historical images struck me the most. As stated earlier, images help us to remember the text. In this case, images help us remember a particular event. Perhaps, even mort importantly, they help us to remember how that important event made us feel. So much so, that when we see that image again the feelings rush back and hit us square in the chest. I remember the image of the challenger exploding. It makes me feel confused and sad. I remember thinking that the teacher aboard was gone. Then I looked at my seventh-grade science teacher, sitting across the room from me, and felt sad for the kids who just lost their teacher. ===

Criteria for including an image in a digital story:

 * 1) creates a mood
 * 2) draws out an emotion
 * 3) conects to the story being told
 * 4) has a point of interest
 * 5) logical, not random
 * 6) cannot tell the story without it (or else it should be out!)

__Activity 4:__
===During Black History month I teach my first graders about some famous African Americans. We talk about Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglas to promote a discussion about slavery. Then we jump forward in history to the Civil Rights movement and learn about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges. In between the lessons on these two historical time periods, in hopes of making a connection, I would like to show my students the following picture:===




 * 1) ===﻿First I would have them talk with a partner for a minute and come up with one comment and one question.===
 * 2) ===Next, I would have them share their comments and I would write down their questions on the board.===
 * 3) ===Then we would discuss each question and see if we could come up with an answer.===
 * 4) ===If it did not come up already, I would point out that the metal box under the white drinking fountain is a cooler. Then I would ask what they thought about that or what that meant.===
 * 5) ===Finally, __//as an assessment//__, I would give them a picture of a person with a "thinking bubble". I would ask them to write in the thinking bubble what they believe the man in the picture was thinking.===
 * 6) ===We could share some pictures and hang them up to see everyone's ideas.===

This lesson would lead right into the next day's lesson on the Civil Rights movement and why people thought it was so important.
Audra~ ﻿Great lesson Amy. I think the image is VERY powerful and should strike up some great conversation! Jen says: I am so glad that you approach this topic with students at a young age! Thanks for being part of the solution and not the problem!! Carrie: What a powerful image! I really admire that you recognize Black History Month in your classroom. I should do more of that indeed.  __Activity 5:__ === "What You Wanted" is a very moving digital story about a girl remembering the father she lost when she was seventeen. I think it is a good example of a __//dramatic question//__. She actually has several questions, written but not spoken, in her story that wonder what her father would have wanted. At the end she remembers her father saying to live her life for herself and no one else just as he had quit engineering to return to a farm life. ===

=== "A Venom Called Breast Cancer" is an emotional tribute to a sister-in-law and mother who died after feeling the sting of breast cancer. The //__quality of images__// in this digital story is excellent. I was especially drawn in by a photo of a man with his hand over his face. All you could see was one eye. It was used twice to show the shock of each women's diagnosis. I thought it was quite effective. ===

=== "Stolen Memories" is about a beloved grandmother who faced a variety of illnesses related to her life-long addiction to smoking. The storyteller mourns over the fact that her grandmother missed many important moments in her life, first because she was homebound, and then later because she had died due to respiratory complications. I think the //__purpose of this story__// is clear. The storyteller wants others to learn from this tragedy. ===