In both lessons presented, you will find that Narrable allowed students to showcase and demonstrate their understanding of their learning through digital storytelling. It gives them a creative platform where they can use photos that they have either found online or use their own original works of art. Digital storytelling allows students to upload, view, record, and edit their stories and Narrable helps to facilitate this process with an easy-to-use site, for students of all ages K-12.
As students navigate this site, they are not only able to apply their existing knowledge, but go a step further by adding their own personalizations that make it possible for them to express their learning in very unique ways. Students can collaborate within groups, classrooms, and even online to view and share each other's stories creating a more learner-centered experience. Students were given choices which made it a more authentic learning experience for them instead of the teacher instructing who was doing what.
We feel that Narrable helps teachers and students reach the Redefinition stage of SAMR because students can use this to create a task that was previously inconceivable. Students were able to take what they learned, narrate their digital story to their audience, and share it with others outside of their four walls in a classroom. In both lessons, students were able to share their final creation with other students by posting it on our class website. This gives students the ability to share with others. We could also share our site with another class outside of our school learning the same things for a wider range of collaboration.
Both lessons meet and even exceed the ISTE Teacher Standard 2.a. Standard 2.a. asks teachers to design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. In the Kindergarten math lesson, students were able to use what they've been learning and apply it. Although Kindergarten students may not be able to completely write a detailed math story that demonstrates understanding of the math operation application, this gave them an opportunity to tell it! They were able to "write" their story by drawing and speaking.
ISTE Teacher Standard 2.c asks teachers to customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. In the Grade 2 science lesson, students who typically do not enjoy writing were so eager to share their stories and explain it verbally using Narrable. Students who do not like to draw were given the option to find pictures free to use on Pixabay, while students who love to showcase their artistic talents were eager to share their drawings in a new way. Some students who do not want to use audio were given the option to just write captions for each of their pictures. So Narrable was able to be adapted to meet the personal needs of many diverse learners easily!
One of the barriers to effectively implementing Narrable was the lack of technology. These lessons can take longer than expected when students are sharing a small number of machines and/or not working in small groups depending on the number of machines the teacher has access to. The other barrier was since Weebly is blocked by our district, students weren't able to view the other students' work we posted on the class site. An alternative would be to create a class google site instead to allow for the communication and sharing described in these lessons since Google apps are permitted sites for our district. It is important to also note that there are two sites for Narrable. The old site found at https://old.narrable.com/ allows teachers and students with free accounts to share their Narrables through email, Pinterest, or embedded on a blog site. The new Narrable site found at http://learn.narrable.com/ does not allow these features unless you have a paid account. This is important to know before setting up your account. Read more here as Narrable explains this transition in their blog.
As students navigate this site, they are not only able to apply their existing knowledge, but go a step further by adding their own personalizations that make it possible for them to express their learning in very unique ways. Students can collaborate within groups, classrooms, and even online to view and share each other's stories creating a more learner-centered experience. Students were given choices which made it a more authentic learning experience for them instead of the teacher instructing who was doing what.
We feel that Narrable helps teachers and students reach the Redefinition stage of SAMR because students can use this to create a task that was previously inconceivable. Students were able to take what they learned, narrate their digital story to their audience, and share it with others outside of their four walls in a classroom. In both lessons, students were able to share their final creation with other students by posting it on our class website. This gives students the ability to share with others. We could also share our site with another class outside of our school learning the same things for a wider range of collaboration.
Both lessons meet and even exceed the ISTE Teacher Standard 2.a. Standard 2.a. asks teachers to design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. In the Kindergarten math lesson, students were able to use what they've been learning and apply it. Although Kindergarten students may not be able to completely write a detailed math story that demonstrates understanding of the math operation application, this gave them an opportunity to tell it! They were able to "write" their story by drawing and speaking.
ISTE Teacher Standard 2.c asks teachers to customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. In the Grade 2 science lesson, students who typically do not enjoy writing were so eager to share their stories and explain it verbally using Narrable. Students who do not like to draw were given the option to find pictures free to use on Pixabay, while students who love to showcase their artistic talents were eager to share their drawings in a new way. Some students who do not want to use audio were given the option to just write captions for each of their pictures. So Narrable was able to be adapted to meet the personal needs of many diverse learners easily!
One of the barriers to effectively implementing Narrable was the lack of technology. These lessons can take longer than expected when students are sharing a small number of machines and/or not working in small groups depending on the number of machines the teacher has access to. The other barrier was since Weebly is blocked by our district, students weren't able to view the other students' work we posted on the class site. An alternative would be to create a class google site instead to allow for the communication and sharing described in these lessons since Google apps are permitted sites for our district. It is important to also note that there are two sites for Narrable. The old site found at https://old.narrable.com/ allows teachers and students with free accounts to share their Narrables through email, Pinterest, or embedded on a blog site. The new Narrable site found at http://learn.narrable.com/ does not allow these features unless you have a paid account. This is important to know before setting up your account. Read more here as Narrable explains this transition in their blog.