Digital Texts

I created a digital storybook using the PowerPoint template that was linked to the class syllabus. I choose to create one about myself that I can hopefully use with younger kids next year if I get to change grade levels. This year I used an idea I got from Dr. Frye's website and wrote a Me Map. I was able to use it to introduce myself my to students and then they wrote one of their own. It was a great way to get to get to know all of my students. Next year I hope to use this one to introduce myself and let my students use the template to create one of their own.
I found the template easy to use and think that children would find it easy also after they are shown how. When trying to decide how best to share my digital text with the world I had some problems. My county's firewall prevents me using badongo to upload my file. I tried convincing the person over technology at the the county office to take down the firewall but she insisted that I use Gaggle's file sharing capabilities to share it. I was able to successfully upload my book onto Gaggle but I don t' know who to share it. I e-mailed the tech guy 3 times and he never got to back to me. He is coming on Monday to do another round of Gaggle with my students so I plan on asking him then. For now I used badongo from home to upload my book. This will work for our purposes but I'm now sure how to share it with students and let them access it from home. I could download it to the county server and post it that way onto my webpage. I guess I will find out on Monday how to share the Gaggle page. Click here to see my digital text.

Reflections and Implementation
I had fun creating my digital text. I hope to allow students to create one before the year is up and after the EOGs. We went on a field trip to Maple Grove and I would like to have my students to create a digital texts about the house, the family, and the artisans we saw outside. Next year I think it would be great to create one about the alphabet, Letterland characters, popular books, and field trips. Without the stress of the EOGs I'm hoping there will be time to do some fun stuff like this.