Digital Stories in the Classroom

In class we were assigned to make our own digital stories using our favorite quote about teaching and education, and images we liked that went along with our quote.  We used Photo Story 3 to create the story. This assignment falls under the ISTENET standard 1 which is "Facilitate and Inspire Student learning and Creativity."  Digital Story telling is a great way for students to express themselves and show their creativity. I plan to use photo story in my classroom because I enjoy using technology in the classroom and I believe that my students would enjoy it as well.  I think photo story is a creative way to express a story and build viewer interpretation of the story which also facilitates student learning and creativity.  One lesson plan I could use in my classroom could be a getting to know your peers lesson.  I could use this as a first day assignment as an activity for each of the peers to get to know each other instead of going around the classroom and just telling each other.  They can describe their interests, heritage, favorites, ect. while also showing pictures to help visualize their story. This activity will build connections between peers.