The 21st Century Teacher » digital storytelling

21CT: Plurknovelas – Fictional digital storytelling with a plurk!twist

Frank's Blog - 21CT — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:29:24 +0000

I have kicked off the first “Plurknovela” a collective digital story told by Plurkers around the world. Wanna join in the fun? Join in here: Melissa was much older than her …

Be sure to include the word “Plurknovela” at the start of each new digital story so that we can search on them (inside Plurk) and document them in our wikis, social bookmarks and such. I have created a wiki page to collect and share these Plurknovelas. Please add yours too! Plurknovela Wiki. Diigo and del.icio.us users: be sure to tag your Plurknovelas with “plurknovela” and “eduplurk” in your social bookmarking and other sites (see post comment from Claudia for more details).

Also, check out another Plurk! initiative, the Plurk-Book-Talk series. So with Plurk! you can collaborate on a fictional digital storytelling novela with a Plurknovela or discuss a book with P-B-T.

Frank-metaweb wants to start a routine of Plurknovelas. Digital Storytelling with a plurktwist. Let the fiction begin! – Plurk.com

21CT: How do you use Web 2.0 in classrooms?

Frank's Blog - 21CT — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:52:44 +0000

How about sharing your thoughts on Web 2.0 with Brian Van Dyck (aka the PodPirate), Mike and others from Grand Canyon University and around the world. See the larger original Voicethread.

Related Resources:

Want to make your very own voicethread with your students or for professional development? Then see this helpful online Voicethread guide from Silvia of Langwitches fame.
Looking for great resources on digital storytelling?
EFL Voicethread forum community, Voicethreads for Learning English.

May 16th, International Day for Sharing Life Stories – Digital Storytelling

Frank's Blog - 21CT — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:19:03 +0000

Been looking for that perfect moment to dive into digital storytelling? Here it is!

http://www.ausculti.org/

Great opportunity to start a digital storytelling project with your students.

The Center for Digital Storytelling is based in Berkeley, California. CDS is a non-profit training, project development, and research organization dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell meaningful stories from their lives. Our focus is on developing large-scale projects for community, educational, and business institutions, using the methods and principles of the Digital Storytelling Workshop. We also offer workshops for organizations and individuals and serve as an international clearinghouse of information and resources about storytelling and new media.

Other digital storytelling resources:

Please add more Digital Storytelling resource links in the comments area. Thanks!

Create your own comic strip MakeBeliefsComix.com

Frank's Blog - 21CT — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:09:14 +0000

This looks like a lot of fun .. gonna give it a try ….

MAKE BELIEFS COMIX! Online Educational Comic Generator for Kids of All Ages

Posted for Bill Zimmerman at wmz@aol.com

Dear Reader,

I want to share with you news of my newest educational
project and also ask for your help to make it succeed.

A year ago I launched a new web site
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com where children and
adults can create their own comic strips. They can
select from 15 fun characters with different moods –
happy, sad, angry, worried – and write words for blank
talk and thought balloons to make their characters
talk and think. There also are story ideas and prompts
to help users create graphic stories.

This site can be used by educators to teach language,
reading and writing skills, and also for students in
English-as-a- Second-Language programs to facilitate
self-expression and storytelling, as well as computer
literacy. It is now being used in 160 countries by
educators. Some educational therapists use it with
deaf and autistic people to help them understand
concepts and communicate. Parents and children can
create stories together, print them to create comic
books or email them to friends and family. Others will
find the site a resource to be creative, calm down and
have fun.

Because so many Spanish-speaking users asked us for
the ability to write their cartoons in Spanish as well
as in English, we recently upgraded the site to accept
words written in Spanish, including appropriate accent
marks. This can be a useful tool for someone who is
learning Spanish as well as someone whose first
language is Spanish. This feature has also been
expanded to other other languages, such as French,
Italian and German.

I am hoping that you will share
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com with your colleagues,
teachers, students or readers of your publications and
resource lists. The site is free with no advertising.
Any help you might offer in getting word out about
this project is very appreciated. If you can suggest
other people or groups whom I might contact to make
them aware of the site please send me their names,
email addresses or phone numbers. Any list-servs I
might join?
Relevant Internet resource sharing groups would be
helpful, too. It takes a community to build a useful
resource like this one.

As one who learned to read with comic books, I know
that creating comic strips can help people tap into
their creativity and practice their language and
storytelling skills. The site is free and stems from
my lifelong mission to create resources that help
people find their voice and express themselves. The
concept for makebeliefscomix.com is derived from my
earlier books, Make Beliefs and Make Beliefs for Kids
of All Ages (which can be found on my other web site:
http://www.billztreasurechest.com ).
A Make Beliefs interactive feature appeared for 13
years on my syndicated Student Briefing Page for
Newsday, and in National Geographic’s World Magazine.

I hope you like http://www.makebeliefscomix.com and
will use it in your work and personal life.

Your feedback is welcome and very helpful.

With thanks and every good wish,

Bill Zimmerman
Author and journalist
Online Educational Comics Launched to Encourage
Writing, Reading and Storytelling in English, Spanish,
French, Italian, German
wmz@aol.com