Tell A Story in 5 Frames With Flickr

Check out my newest (and currently - ONLY) new story on Flickr!http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdisharoon

I believe that telling a story in 5 frames with Flickr provides teachers and librarians with a tremendously good opportunity to encourage literacy across the curriculum. First and foremost, it requires students (and teachers) to be precise and economical--that is, telling a story with little to no words, forces the reader/user to use what has been provided to infer what happened, what's happening and what will happen next. I like the idea of potentially using 5 frames to help students create, talk about and share processes. Questions like, what's happening here, what's going to happen next, how do you know, are great opportunities to think through process and outcomes. Assignments using this siteware could include having students create and present video journals. Ideas may include: something I feel passionate about, what I did this summer, what my family means to me, something impactful in the world that I would like to change, etc.

Secondly, this platform provides students and teachers with an opportunity to think across the curriculum and integrate key links between subjects. For example, I am working on an integrated unit plan on volcanic activity in Science and Math (5th grade) and want to incorporate Social Studies and ILA. A 5 frame story is a great way to continue the Science/Math themes but explore what we have learned in difference ways either through Writer's Workshop (using what we know about science/math related information) to write about what happening in the photos or synthesize what we have learned to create an entirely new narrative. For example, I love the idea that volcanoes can be both destructive and creative forces. In Social studies I may build on the destructive properties we learned in science and math and use the descriptive narratives in ILA to talk about how volcanoes can be creative--where cultures are created and how those cultures incorporate volcanoes and volcanic imagery all throughout that culture.

For me supporting balanced literacy in the classroom means giving my students an opportunity to read, write and present (share) information that they have learned (preferably by making connections across the curriculum). I believe that telling a story in 5 frames with Flickr is an excellent way to use technology to achieve that goal.