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LIBE 477 – Reading Review Blog #3

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Research Synopsis

For those new to my blog, this post is my third post for an assignment I am doing for a library course at UBC.  I initially started out wondering how to incorporate technology and digital literacy skills in a play-based kindergarten classroom. Along the way I have narrowed my topic and am now in the process of learning more about digital storytelling in kindergarten.

In my last blog post, I listed 5 resources that I found to be helpful in understanding how to use digital storytelling and why I would want to use digital storytelling in the classroom.  While gathering these resources, I came across many others.  I chose the 5 I did because I wanted a variety of sources.  I have academic papers, magazine articles, a blog, an interview between educators and a news article that all speak towards the idea that digital storytelling helps students develop traditional literacy skills as well as New Literacy skills.

Marsh & Vasquez’s interview “Aligning Instruction to Developmental Needs in Critical and Digital Literacies” has actually made me question my entire notion of “developmentally appropriate practice” (2012).  This reflection could be dedicated to entirely different blog post! However, their interview has also created a foundation to better understand the other resources I have chosen which discuss digital storytelling more specifically!  Marsh & Vasquez suggest that even young children can engage in the practices we generally see with older students who are using web 2.0 tools if these practices are “framed in ways that are meaningful to [students]” (2012, 154).  Marsh says “anything is possible if you stage it in ways that are meaningful to children and embed playfulness and creativity at the centre of pedagogy” (2012, 154).  Vasquez says that we can’t just hear about the latest technology and incorporate it into our classroom (2012, 154).  “We need to be sure we are actually starting from young children’s experiences” and build it into what is going on in our classroom (2012, 154).

In the other resources I have selected, the authors discuss their experiences with digital storytelling in kindergarten.  Candreva (2010) states “digital storytelling provides opportunities to practice and reinforce developing literacies and allows teachers of young children to use instructional technology in transformative ways” (3).  While, I wish this quote said that digital storytelling allows students to use technology in transformative ways, I believe this is what is at the heart of every resource I have found.  A common theme among the resources is that digital storytelling allows students to learn 21st century skills including planning, collaborating, constructing meaning and sharing as well as developing traditional literacy skills such as oral language, fine motor skills and printing with paper and pencil (Candreva 2010 & 2012, Liotti 2010).  Matt Gomez’s blog as well as Liotti & Haggety’s paper (2010) provide many examples of how to incorporate digital storytelling into the classroom as well as a list of web 2.0 tools that can be used to create digital stories.

After reading through all of my resources, I believe that my students could benefit from using digital storytelling.  As Marsh & Vasquez said, I need to “kid-watch” and incorporate this technology into the classroom by starting with the “children’s experiences” (2012, 154).  Currently, the majority of my class is obsessed with princesses and princes.  They use our costumes as royal outfits; they write in their journals about queens and kings; they make crowns in the art centre and they have an elaborate recess game they play.  Perhaps, I could find a meaningful way of using this interest to make a digital story with the class.   Initially, we could create a class story so that students could become comfortable with the tools as well as the process.  As students become more comfortable with this new method for storytelling, I could gradually release control and students could create their own story.  Now, I need to find the time in our already very busy schedule to do this!

 

Citations

Candreva, C. (2012). Digital storytelling in kindergarten: Merging literacy, technology, and multimodality. 72(9), 3230-3230.

Candreva, C. (2010). Paving New Pathways to Literacy in the 21st Century. School Talk , 15(2), 3.

Gomez, M. http://mattbgomez.com/category/digital-storytelling/

Liotti, N., & Haggerty, K. (2010). Falling into Technology. School Talk , 15(2), 4-6.

Marsh, J., & Vasquez, V. (2012). Aligning instruction to developmental needs in critical and digital literacies. Language Arts, 90(2), 151.

LIBE 465 – Journal Reflection #1 MARC Record

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MARC Record for Allegiant by Veroinca Roth

This is the MARC record I created:

010 ## $a2013941315 (I had to look online for this)
020 ## $a9780062024060
$c21.99
100 1# $aRoth, Veronica
$d 1988-
245 10 $aAllegiant
250 ## $a1st ed.
260 ## $aNew York
$bKatherine Tegan Books an imprint ofHarper Collin’s Children’s Books
$c2013.
300 ## $a526 p. :
$c22cm.
490 1# $aDivergent Series
$v3
520 ## $a The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believe in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal.  So when offered a chance to explore the world pas the limits she’s known, Tris is ready.  Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.  But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind.  Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless.  Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves.  And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature – and of herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.
650 01 $a Science Fiction

Reflection:

The task of creating a MARC record was definitely a challenge.  I think reading a MARC record to find information is much easier task than the creation of a MARC record.

I ran into the most difficultly with the 650 field.  I did not know which subject headings to use.  I had looked up the first book in the series, Divergent, to see how this field looked and there were several subjects listed. I did not know how these subjects were determined. I tried to locate a subject guide but was unable to find one.  Professor Cho provided me with a link to a more detailed description of field 650 but even that did not help me to determine which subjects to list. Would someone doing the cataloging for a book need to read it before determining which subjects to use?

I tried looking for resource that summarized the MARC fields in plain English because I had a difficult time understanding the descriptions given in Part VII of “A Summary of Commonly Used MARC 21 Fields” but was unsuccessful.  This makes me wonder how teacher-librarians can effectively use the MARC record if we don’t understand what the fields are for.

When I compare my MARC record to the MARC record for Allegiant in the Library Congress Online Catalog, I see that I have missed some punctuation.  For instance, I have missed a period after the author’s last name and a comma in the publisher’s field.  I did not know where to list that Allegiant is hardcover but I see in the Library Congress Catalog hardcover is listed in the 020 field in brackets after the ISBN.

Something I found interesting is that even when I compared the Library of Congress Catalog’s MARC record to the MARC record on the Surrey Library’s website there are differences.  For instance, Surrey’s record shows science fiction under the 655 field but the same subject is listed under 650 in the Library of Congress Catalog’s field.  655 isn’t even listed in the “Summary of Commonly Used MARC 21 Fields.”  Why is there this difference? Before creating my own MARC record, I thought that with the detailed fields and rules for each field all MARC records would be the same.  Now, I can see there is a lot of room for differences caused by the choice the person inputting the data makes.

LIBE 477 – Reading Review Blog #2

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After reading the draft proposal of the “Profile for Digitally Literate Students in Grades K-2” the BC Ministry of Education has posted, I have further narrowed my topic.  I will be looking for resources about digital storytelling in Kindergarten.   I have chosen this topic because one of the blogs I read recently made a post about a story their class created.  I wonder what 21st century skills digital storytelling helps students develop.  I wonder how to make digital storytelling fits into a play-based curriculum.  I am also interested to see how other kindergarten teachers weave digital storytelling throughout the curriculum.

My new key words:

Digital storytelling and kindergarten

Digital storytelling and early childhood education

Digital storytelling and 21st century skills

Digital storytelling and digital literacy

Resource #1

“Aligning Instruction to Developmental Needs in Critical and Digital Literacies” by Jackie Marsh & Vivian Vasquez

Jackie Marsh, & Vivian Vasquez. (2012). Aligning instruction to developmental needs in critical and digital literacies. Language Arts, 90(2), 151.

This article is a conversation between Jackie Marsh and Vivian Vasquez discussing “how young children approach literacy learning in unique ways” (2012, 151).  They also discuss “how teachers can use kid-watching to discover individual children’s patterns of development as they engage in reading, writing, critical literacies and digital literacies in and out of school settings” (Marsh & Vasquez, 2012, 151).

Resource #2

Digital Storytelling in Kindergarten: Merging Literacy, Technology and Multimodality by C. Candreva

Candreva, C. (2012). Digital storytelling in kindergarten: Merging literacy, technology, and multimodality. 72(9), 3230-3230.

This is a long dissertation but it compares digital storytelling and writing workshops to traditional storytelling and writing workshops.  It provides the reader with a better understanding of how to incorporate digital storytelling into a classroom.

Resource #3

21st Century Literacies: Young Children Reading and Writing in a Digital World

Articles within this publication:

Vasquez, V. (2010). ipods, Puppy Dogs and Podcasts. School Talk , 15(2), 1-2.

Liotti, N., & Haggerty, K. (2010). Falling into Technology. School Talk , 15(2), 4-6.

Candreva, C. (2010). Paving New Pathways to Literacy in the 21st Century. School Talk , 15(2), 3.

This issue of School Talk contains three articles related to 21st century literacies.  The articles discuss young learners “becoming readers and writers in a digitally mediated world” (2010, Garcia & Chiki, 1).

Resource #4

http://mattbgomez.com/category/digital-storytelling/

This blog contains many examples of digital storytelling in Kindergarten as well as many links and reviews of web 2.0 tools used to create digital stories.

Resource #5

http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/exploringPractice/ICT/DigitalStorytelling.aspx

This resource is from New Zealand’s Ministry of Education.  It describes what digital storytelling looks like in early childhood education, gives two exemplars and describes the process for creating a digital story.