Two More SITE Sessions: Digital Photography and Social Networking

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: The Use of Digital Photography to Enhance Literacy Development in Young Children
Lauren Cummins, Regina Rees, and Kelly Bacroft, Youngstown State University

  • What do we know about literacy development?
    • Young children are natural storytellers, and they “write” stories through pictures
    • Children use pictures to help them remember about their story and be able to tell their story in more vivid language
    • Students write more when they are motivated
  • What do we know about digital imagery?
    • Images provide a motivating “hook” for students to get into writing
    • Photography lets children speak with pictures
    • Visual “think alouds” can helps students support the writing process
    • Learn content
  • Will the use of digital imagery to write a story increase a child’s amount of words produced and effective use of story elements?
    • Five day workshop, 1.5 hours per day
    • Urban elementary school
    • Thirteen third graders
  • Workshop outline
    • Day 1: Elements of an effective story
    • Day 2: Learning to use the cameras
    • Day 3: Choose images and storyboard
    • Day 4: Creating final story
    • Day 5: Story celebration
  • Results
    • Pre-writing sample from same prompt as compared to post showed increase in many students’ scores
      • For instance, 42 words in original story up to 107 in sample story shared here
      • Lowest increase was at least 67% and an average of 233%
    • Reflections:
      • Children tended to focus on telling about the pictures and needed more experience in storytelling with the pictures
      • Storyboards helped with the story elements
      • Most of the children took pictures of their families and this changed the story prompt for some
  • Implications
    • Children can improve their literacy skills through the use of digital imagery
    • This is especially true for urban children
    • Writing prompts need to be related to children’s read world experiences
    • Students are interested and motivated

Social Networking in PreK-6: What Are Webkinz, Club Penguin, and Other Online Communities All About?
Nancy Yost, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

  • Social networks
    • Profiles
    • Network
    • Photos
    • Videos
    • Personal Journals
    • Connecting with families and friends
  • 8.2 million 3-17 year olds were expected to visit virtual worlds in a month (eMarketer research group)
    • Where are young children going?
    • Why should we be interested? For instance, 10 million Peguin Club members.
    • They give kids a context for using social networking and instant messaging
    • Maybe we need to look at how these sites are used and figure out what’s there and how, perhaps, they can support ISTE standards and classroom connections
  • Content Analysis for Social Networking
    • Access
    • Parental Controal
    • Safety information
    • Ages for which the site is designed
    • Types of interactions allowed
    • ISTE standards addressed
    • Content standards adressed
    • User friendly?
  • Webkinz
    • Purchase a stuffed animal and get access code (then you get a one-year subscription to the website) and get to look at all the merchandise you can get virtually and for your stuffed figure
    • Parental controls to keep informed, page on safety information
    • Club house that has structured chat and they tried to have an open chat, but they closed it
    • Academic/content games in the Webkinz world
  • ISTE Standards
    • 1: Creativity and Innovation
    • 4: Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Decision Making
    • 5: Digital Citizenship
  • What’s next
    • Overview of all sites, with recommendations for educational uses
    • What opportunities might we be missing by not using social networking sites in our classrooms?