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Debora Wood's Story
Engaging Students’ Curiosity With New Technologies
While teaching reluctant writers as a Title I reading teacher, I discovered the lesson "Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images." In this lesson, students create a Microsoft Photo Story book using the Curious George character that so many children love. I used this lesson to help students plan scenarious about the troubles that Curious George gets into when he visits our school and then create a story. For my group of six first-grade students, each student chose one setting and staged it, and then I photographed it for them. I printed the pictures and pasted them onto the Storyboard Screen Sheet. Each student wrote a page on the storyboard and then narrated their page within the Photo Story software. The students were so excited to be using the technology that they could hardly wait to come to class. They were so proud! We broadcasted their book on our school's closed circuit TV for the whole school to see!
My students’ excitement about using technology in this lesson inspired me to increase my knowledge of technologies available to me. The inclusion of technology in this lesson engaged and motivated my students to create and express themselves through writing projects.
Check the list of interactive resources on ReadWriteThink.org, and be sure to practice with them before introducing them to your students.
For introduction lessons or differentiated instruction, consider using a lesson for a lower grade level with your students.