The Power and Simplicity of a Digital Story

When I first read the assignment for the digital story, I was a little overwhelmed. It sounded like it would be extremely difficult and time consuming. While it did take a little time, it was extremely simple, and the result was very powerful.


I decided to do my story on my 14 month old daughter, Mackenzie Rayne. This made sense considering she has been the center of my universe since before she was born, and I have what seems like a million pictures of her. If I couldn't make this work, there are issues outside the realm of the assignment.

After spending a little time selecting my photos, I had to find a song to use for the background music. I went will Seasons of Love from the Rent Soundtrack. It went well with both the message and time frame. The song talks about the ways to measure love during the course of a year, which is what my theme was all about...Mackenzie's 1st year.

When it was finished, I showed it to my wife. She didn't cry, but she was very moved. Grandma and Grandpa were equally touched, not to mention her aunt's and uncle. What took me a matter of a few hours has become a memento that will be used to embarass her with later. After all, that is our job as her parents.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Classroom Organization...The Little Things

I have long been aware of the importance of classroom organization. Even this year, I have been trying to make it a point to notice the differences between what I have seen in the past and what is done at Dominion Trail Elementary. As it turns out, it's the little things that make the biggest difference.

It seems fairly obvious that we want our classrooms to be as organized as possible. When I think about this, I am usually pondering my file cabinet, my desk, book shelves, etc. Today I noticed for the first time, even though it had been like this all year, how my third grade class organizes their pens and pencils for each student.

Third grade at DTES is departmentalized, meaning they switch classrooms for different content instruction. While this is the first time I have seen this in third grade, it is not a new concept for me. What is new is how the teachers handle the pen and pencil issues. She keeps a container on each group of desks filled with pens for marking assignments and pencils to be used during class. I know this sounds trivial, but it is genius! When students switch from class to class, it is a given that at least a couple students will forget their pencil. This way, the problem is eliminated. Also, because the pencils are pre-sharpened, there is virtually never the delay for students to sharpen their pencil. This simple step provides the classroom teacher as much as four or five extra minutes of instruction time.

I think the reason this was just noticed is the second grade class I work with started a program called Power Up this week. The students travel to preassigned classrooms for math enrichment/remediation. We spent the better part of three minutes handing out supplies to the students. Some students brought their own pencils, while others needed to have them supplied. You ask who needs a pencil, and inevitably, someone needs a pencil and does not ask for one creating even more delay after the lesson has begun.

Believe me...I know this sounds silly, but the little things you can do to keep instruction fluid are ultimately...priceless!