Originally, I chose to write about mythology in children’s ...



Annie L Tsui

CUIN 7358

Dr. Bernard Robin

Final Semester Project Report

December 16, 2008

Originally, I chose to write about mythology in children’s literature after reading and discussing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book for Boys and Girls. During a class session which included 1001 Arabian Nights, I decided to add this section in the final project. The use of technology to link courses will allow students to be aware of the educational resources required to enhance student learning and reinforcement. The project will create new learning experiences for the user and reflect upon the users own capabilities regardless of generation. The chosen topic is about oral storytelling, its beginnings, and how the stories chosen unite the people by developing moral character resulting in society as it is today. The stories from both books relate to the concept of “storytelling.” How did storytelling begin? A listening ear and an excellent memory are two of the characteristics required of a traveling storyteller. Children gather and listen to tales involving fantasy, science fiction, magic, creativity, history, geography, and adventure. These tales would be suitable for any generation, but children should be the most impressed with it.

I will refer to the College and Career Planning course I plan to teach in spring 2009. Students are required to do a research project for their career options. Instead of just doing a written report, an interview, and book/internet research within an allotted time frame, asking the student to “invent,” instead of just “reporting” would be alluring to them. The simplest would be to incorporate Picasa (collage), but for the more adventurous students, using PhotoStory is challenging. Since the report would focus on personal experiences, I feel the student would be “in tune” with this idea. So, in addition to the norm of lecture, group work, one-to-one, lab component, or individual work; the notion of invention would be appealing to the student. In this respect, the course is linked with technology. Additional resources such as the free software, websites and information recently provided in CUIN 7358 opens a wide variety of choices. However, it is best to keep everything very basic and simple for beginners. Elaboration is not expected, just enough to wet your whistle and an appreciation of learning something new. Both the Picasa and PhotoStory software fulfill the requisite.

Hardware used

Dell Latitude D820 Laptop, Dell Optiplex GX270, or Homebuilt computer

Patriot 8G Flash drive

HP Scanjet G3010 Scanner

HP PSC1315 Printer/Scanner

Samson Microphone

Software used

Photostory3

Storyboard Template1 (script/images/narration/transition)

Microsoft Word 2003 (script)

Microsoft PowerPoint (background slides/designs)

HP Image Zone (scan illustrations from library books-copyright laws?)

Microsoft Office Picture Manager (edit)

Google/Yahoo (download still images)

Audacity (possibility) or Goldwave (possibility)

AcousticaMP3 (possibility)

Windows Movie Maker (music)

ITunes!

Specific books were used for the content of the project. Stories and illustrations from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book for Boys and Girls; Houston Public Library books-The Tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves retold by Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand; Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves retold by Walter McVitty and illustrated by Margaret Early; King Midas by Eric Metaxas and illustrated by Rodico Prato; and The Arabian Nights retold by Neil Philip and illustrated by Sheila Moxley were chosen to use in the project. Again, many still images were obtained from Google/Yahoo. The Internet was used in obtaining the music and some portions of the text which were credited. The chorus of Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” describes the feeling of a fireside story…”Take me away…” For the first part of the project, the music will be flowing symphony type (earth) and in the second part, Rimsky-Korsakov highlights Scheherazade’s storytelling to her husband, Sultan Shahryar. I also used PowerPoint to create the title frame of the stories and the background. However, I was disappointed to discover the animation for text used during this program does not transfer into PhotoStory, so there is no movement of the text involved, only transition.

My storyboard template will may be out of sequence for some of the frames. I included and scanned additional illustrations for Ali Baba and King Midas from children’s library books. So, my concern is of the copyright laws, but I did acknowledge the illustrators of the children’s books I scanned. As my project slowly developed, I am concerned the additional illustrations/images showcased (conservative/flashy…) may be considered too flamboyant or trashy. However, variety adds flavor to the story. As I listened and watch the wma file, I made adjustments to the transitions of the images that appeared either cut off of the frame. Another concern is the music. Since I included other frames, I created new music files instead of deleting and recreating them. There is an occasional (but very slight) noise at the end of some of the frames.

First, I was a little overwhelmed in the beginning, but as the hands-on application and the expectations of the assignment were explained throughout the semester, I thought to myself, “I can do this. It just takes time.” With so many software options to choose from, it was not easy to decide on the ones to use. I tried not to deviate from anything I had learned in class. Of course, the hands-on-application in class sessions worked best for me. This course opened a “whole new world.”

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