My Digital Storytelling so far....

So far my digital storytelling is going fine.  It's funny but the thing I found the most difficult was the graphic organizer.  I know that's supposed to be the beginning stage but I found myself wondering if I had enough.  I don't typically brainstorm using a tool like that.  I'm a note-maker.  It's easy to see however, that the process follows all the steps of process writing.

1. Brainstorming/prewriting, which is where you decide on a topic, list where you can find information and think about who your audience will be.
2. Putting research into your own words.  Create sentences and paragraphs and share with someone to get suggestions for revision.
3. Revise taking into consideration what others have said about your writing.  Make it better by replacing or rearranging words and paragraphs.  Read it aloud to make sure it flows correctly
4. Rewrite your draft with all correction and revisions in a clear concise manner.
5. Publish your writing and ask for feedback.

I think #6 is one of the most important steps in the process and it's one that gets left out quite often.
     6.  Reflect on the process and identify what, if anything, you could have done differently and what you did
          well.
I was fortunate enough to go to a Big6 workshop and learn the tools and techniques.  What I learned from the training was that at any given time in the process you are able and encouraged to go backwards and reevaluate.  It is not meant to follow like a set of rules.  What you hope is that your students can learn the process to help create better and well reflected writing.  I used it with for a couple of years with my eighth graders and what tended to happen was that as the students began to feel comfortable with the process, much of it became inherent and not noticeable.  What it did do though, was bring about more well organized and well presented work.  For those of you in elementary, there is also the Super3.  Plan, Do, Review