Photo Story

Below I will present my resource which I think would be interesting to work with in a classroom.

What the resource is, how it works and what you need to make it work

Photo story is a program that we were introduced to when we studied the Swedish course in the spring. I liked the program and tested it with my VFU students last time I had VFU. They thought it was great to do something different, something that they have never done before.

Photo Story is a program where you can make movies/stories by creating images, text, music and speech. You begin to think of a story that you want to tell, it can be about anything. If you are going to use this in the classroom you should probably put limits on what the story will be about. Otherwise, it may take too long for the pupils to get started.

Once you know what the story will be about, it is time to begin to look for images related to your story. Again, it is good to set limits of the number of images because it may take some time for the pupils to find or create them.

When you have your images it is time to start doing the story in the program. First you upload all the pictures you want to include in the story and then you sort them in the correct order.

^This is how it looks like when you upload and sort the images^

Next, you will write the text (if you want any) on your pictures. You can select the type of style, size, and color your text will have and where on the image you want to place it.

^This is how it looks like when you write text on the images^

Then it is time to record the sound. You speak to each image at a time, so you have to decide in advance what you want to say to each picture. If you are not satisfied with the recording you can redo it as many times as you want. If you need to do it too many times, maybe you should shorten the text to that image.

^This is how it looks like when you record the sound^

When you have done the recordings you are almost done with your story. Now you just have to add some music to it to reinforce your message. You can either choose the music from the program or you can upload your own music.

Now you are done with your story. Just be sure to preview the story because when you have saved it you cannot do any changes in it.

To work with Photo Story you will need a computer and to download the program. You can find the program on this link: http://microsoft-photo-story-3.swedish.toggle.com/ or by searching for it on Google. When you have the program on your computer you will also need a microphone so that you can talk to the images.

How the resource can be used by teachers

As a teacher you can make your own Photo Stories to show students how the program works and how the result might look like. You can also use it to capture the students' interest in lessons. Instead of only speaking in front of the students, you can use this to make it more fun to listen. Students may use multiple senses and you can relate it to the Swedish Syllabus for the subject English. For example:

• Students should be able to do simple presentations
  
  
• Students should learn different ways of searching and selecting texts and spoken language in English from the internet and other media (Läroplan 2011)

By doing Photo Story students can make simple presentations as a story and they can also search for texts and images on the Internet and create stories according to them.

How the resource can be used by pupils

The pupils can make their own stories. Again, it is important to have the time to show the students how the program works, if they have never done it before. Older students can also teach younger students how to use the program. It gives the older students opportunity to practice how to give instructions and the younger students will practice to listen and follow instructions.

Problems you may encounter

You have to devote much time to it and because it is technology, problems can arise sometimes. When I did Photo Stories with my VFU class one of the computers hung up and the pupils had to redo their story, so keep that in mind when you decide to work with Photo Story in a class. If you are a teacher in the younger ages, note that the students often need much help and I suggest not doing it alone in a class with many pupils. Perhaps you can cooperate with another class so they can help each other?

As a summary, I do recommend you to try both to make your own Photo Stories to show to the students and also to let your students create their own stories. It is fun and the students will learn much from it.

/Susanne Burman