Goal+2

Goal 2:- to improve the student's confidence and enjoyment in both oral and written storytelling
 * Goal 2 **

This goal has been linked very closely to my first goal, since it is looking at the enjoyment and confidence levels of the children as they use the digital storytelling tools. I opted to look from a more qualitative point of view, in that I have questioned the children informally, observed participation and had the children complete a smiley questionnaire. In hind sight, I should have completed a questionnaire about story writing prior to using the digital storytelling, but I did not think of it until I had commenced my activities. So instead, I have looked at samples of their written work in relation to outcomes for Stage 1. In addition to the smiley questionnaire, based on a Likert scale (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 61) which I used at the end of the activities, I participated in observations and conversations with the children throughout the process. High levels of enjoyment were obvious as the children took photos and then added their stories. Some of them wanted to practice several times while others were confident to simply record and were happy with some prompting along the way. Although I included planned written work for the IWB activities about the monster drawings, there does not seem to be a marked improvement in writing as yet. It will take more practice and time for the children to transfer some of their new learning. I have observed some increased use of adjectives in several writing activities, but overall the improvement at this point has been minimal. On reflection, I am not as happy with the wording of my goals as I would have liked. It was very difficult to show improved quality and I think that true results would require a much larger qualitative or quantitative study to be sure. What has occurred though, is that the children are much more willing to write, having gained confidence as they have shared their stories with the other children in the class. The comparison of their story with the brainstormed class ideas, has been particularly successful in achieving this outcome. Also since it would have been almost impossible to teach this lesson without the integration of technology it shows how I am beginning to change my practice on a daily basis.