Some thoughts on some of the exploration sites:
Digital Storytelling: I have some experience with this. I have used both of the Toontastic and Sock Puppets apps. I like Toontastic for older students, it gives them more options and they can put more detail into their stories. Sock puppets is probably best for younger students because it is so simple. I like the way Toontastic makes students think about the different parts of the story. I also like some of the character and setting options available. I think I would use Sock Puppets with K - 2 students and Toontastic would work best for 3 - 5. I would also like to explore the possibility of doing some video storytelling and using the iPad and iMovie to produce the video.
Flipped Classrooms: I think this is a good idea for older students but I don't know how successful it would be for either younger students or students from low-income situations. In my building access of technology at home would be a major issue. Almost 90% of our population is on free or reduced lunch and so there is not a great deal of technology available to these students outside of school. I would also be concerned that younger students may not fully comprehend what they are hearing and do not have the opportunity for clarification or questions. I do however see some benefits of using this with older and more connected students. By taking care of the instruction outside of the classroom it opens up more opportunities for different types of work during the regular class time. This would be especially helpful in giving students a better opportunity to work in groups.
Iphonography: I found this interesting because of my background in photography. My first degree was in Mass Communication and I focused on still and video photography (no pun intended). I have spent some time as both a professional news and commercial photographer for both stills and video. One of the reasons that I chose to leave this behind was the need to carry so much stuff. Most days I felt more like a pack mule than a photographer. Since that time things have become much smaller. Now almost everyone has the ability to take still photos or video all the time. This has changed photography on all levels. People are no longer limited by how much film they want to buy and process or by how much equipment they have. As a result the number of photos and videos has exploded. I heard a statistic that said that more photos will be taken in 2014 then in all the rest of history combined. This also presents a good opportunity for educators. We can now document almost everything very easily. I have found myself taking pictures of students working, students projects, brainstorming we have done on the board, examples that both I and the students have created, notes, and many other things. I think this type of use will only continue to increase.
