October 2020 Agenda—Wausau, Wisconsin
Begin at 9:00am
Getting Connected
Digitally…Socially…Spiritually
Devotion
Saul’s Armor
Luther and the Printing Press
God Texts the Ten Commandments
Reformation Polka
Announcements
1. The next workshop date is scheduled for Thursday, November 12th.
2. North Wisconsin District Virtual Conference on Thursday, October 29th
Review
Let’s take some time to reflect on last month’s TEC21 Challenges and share experiences. Share a success, a challenge you experienced or a lesson learned. (Facilitators, look to your participants’ September Reflection Responses to help guide your discussion. Also, if you’re looking to integrate some tech right at the start of the workshop day, some facilitators like to utilize collaborative tools during this time to so teachers are actively learning right away. Here’s an example of Brett Meyer using Google Slides to review with his Concordia Faculty cohort.)
Goals
- Discover the value of engaging your students in a digital storytelling project.
- Explore digital storytelling tools and resources to use with your students.
- Identify a tool or resource to share with a colleague.
Digital Storytelling
Everyone has a story to tell! What’s yours?
Literary Basis
“Digital storytelling has emerged as a fundamental, cross-curricular technique that provides structure for both sharing and understanding new information. It has become an essential way of providing information and enhancing education…by making abstract or conceptual content more understandable. In all disciplines, it offers more ways to engage students and enrich learning through the inclusion of digital media that represents, illustrates, and demonstrates. Digital storytelling brings together text, graphics, audio, and video around a chosen theme, often with a specific point of view. Bernard Robin observes that a digital story may be a personal tale, a depiction of a historical event, or simply a way to creatively impart information or provide instruction. In the classroom, they can also foster collaboration when students are able to work in groups, and enhance the student experience through a personal sense of accomplishment (Robin, 2006). The National Council of Teachers of English in 2003, challenged teachers to develop instructional strategies for students to master composing in nonprint media that could include any combination of visual art, motion (video and film), graphics, text, and sound—all of which are frequently written and read in nonlinear fashion (Porter, 2008, p. 11). Included was the process of digital storytelling, where information is conveyed in a way that is more engaging than plain text.” Strategies for digital communication skills across disciplines: The importance of digital stories (Links to an external site.)
Common Core writing standards require writing and publishing using digital tools beginning already in Kindergarten and continuing through Grade 12.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
Photostory 3
Examples:
Church History
2nd Grade Year-in-Review
Ten Commandments
Adobe Spark
Examples:
Cheese factory
Fish Hatchery
Low-tech option: Paper Slide Storytelling
Stop Motion Video
Examples:
Video Creation
iMovie
Digital Citizenship Integration
Whether students are learning in-person, remotely or in hybrid scenarios, online learning activities are a part of the education process. As educational leaders, we have the extraordinary opportunity to be a positive influence in their lives when it comes to modeling and teaching them about digital citizenship. Common Sense is a nonprofit organization dedicated to provide parents and teachers lessons and resources to teach children in grades K-12 skills and responsible behaviors to thrive in the 21st century. Below are their six core curriculum topics. Check out their website HERE.
- Media Balance & Well-being
- Privacy & Security
- Digital Footprint & Identity
- Relationships & Communication
- Cyberbullying, Digital Drama & Hate Speech
- News & Media Literacy
Digital Tools & Resources

Shadow Puppet
Highly rated app
Up to 30 minute videos – free for classroom use
Tutorials and ideas included

Story Jumper
Create, illustrate, and narrate books online
Creation is free, then various costs for types of books
Have you ever heard of Genius Hour? Listed below are several resources to help understand what it is all about and why some teachers have been integrating this project-based learning strategy into their classrooms. Jerrita Staehr, one of our workshop facilitators, created all of the necessary assets for TEC21 Teachers to use either for themselves during their TEC21 experience or to make copies and adapt them to use with their students. She’s broken it down into steps and provided wonderful examples and templates. Excellent work, Jerrita, and thank you for sharing this with everyone! Here’s a link to the shared Google folder with all of her resources if you are are interested: Jerrita’s Genius Hour TEC21 Style Resources.
- “What is Genius Hour?” (Genius Hour)
- How to Build Community Leaders of Today – And Tomorrow – Through Genius Hour (EdSurge, 2017)
- Genius Hour in Elementary School (Edutopia, 2017)
- Tips and Tricks to Keep Kids on Track During Genius Hour (MindShift, 2017)
- Inspire Drive, Creativity in the Classroom with 20-Time (20-Time in Education)
- 20-Time Projects in Education: 41 Projects in 4 Minutes (YouTube, 2014)
Math aids Math graphing activities for the upcoming holidays
Digital Voice recording. Lots of explanations and examples of the importance of student digital storytelling
Reformation resource Provides a primary source and writing activity to use with social studies (Middle school)
Imagine Forest Create online stories with story starters, crafts, and a library
Pic-Lits New and old versions that combine writing and photography
Digital Books Make digital books in Google Slides
Digital Storytelling Project Examples Many examples of digital storytelling ideas and apps
Tiggly Storymaker Build Words and tell zany stories with them $2.99 app
Photostory 3. A free download for digital storytelling
Lunch Hour at 11:30am/Back to Work at 12:30pm
Project Development
TEC21 Challenges
- Digital: Engage your students in a digital storytelling activity or project. Share your experience by posting for others to see!
- Social: Post a question, an answer, a resource, a picture of your students working on digital storytelling, or an example of a student project to the TEC21 Educators Group on Facebook.
- Spiritual: Be a resource to at least one new person on your faculty before we meet again.
Reflection
To open the reflection in its own tab, select HERE.
Dismiss at 2:00pm
My Contact Info
Sue Lilienthal
St. Paul Lutheran School
Stevens Point, WI 54481
715-344-5660 School
715-341-0873 Home
mamalilipad@yahoo.com