Multi-Modal Project: Digital Scrapbook
Original Daybook Piece:
My multi-modal project developed from a combination of two of my entries, the first being the list of 100 things that I love and the second being my response to chapter 15 from Teaching the Neglected ‘R.’ This chapter entitled “Space to Imagine,” focused on the concept of telling stories. I really loved one quote in particular from the chapter which, “telling stories is how we live…we reveal ourselves to others, making friends and creating communities” (Miller 172). I took this idea about story telling and I reflected on my own life and my own story. I really wanted the idea of my story to be the focus of my multi-modal project, but a 22 year long story was quite an undertaking, so I decided to focus on one thing from my list to inspire my project, and that is when I saw the name of my fiancé on my list. The next step was to decide how to tell my or actually our story, and then I looked over at my bookshelf and saw a stack of thin colored books. That is when I realized that I have been in the process of telling our story since the first year that we were dating through digital scrapbooks or picture books. I have given David, my fiancé a photo book for every year that we have dated and now after 6 years we have a collection.
Genre: Digital Scrapbook
I have always really been into scrapbooking, framing: basically anything to do with pictures. Digital scrapbooks have really taken over the scrapbooking world. A lot of people are creating these books on the computer from their digital pictures instead of the classic paper and glue scrapbook. The genre has really become an art form, with many websites providing exciting tools and effects to really personalize your book. I have seen photo books depicting one event such as a family trip to the beach all the way to present showing someone’s three-year stint with a campus program. It really takes the phrase “a picture can say a thousand words” to a whole new level. With the increasing use of this genre the picture literacy is being developed. It could be argued that this is a new literacy, but when babies “read” books they are not reading the words because they do not yet know how to read, but they are “reading” the pictures on the page. I have even seen a book published with pictures of each family member, so that a toddler could learn who they are. With the increase in technology, reading images is becoming an increasingly popular means of expression. With the digital scrapbook, you can tell your story through actual pictures of your life. But, there are still words involved. The digital scrapbooks allows you to write as little or as much as you want, it is really up to you creative style. The books are made up of, backgrounds, pictures, words, and extras like borders or embellishments. Each of these details that are included are important to creating the mood and theme of your story, just as if you were writing the story with pen and paper. This genre can open up a lot of possibilities for story telling and personal creativity.
Theme: For my multi-modal project I have chosen to tell my own personal love story through 6 different photo books, representing each year that I have been with my Fiancé David. These books really capture our true story, all of the little and big moments in our lives together.
My Project:
For my project, I have told my love story through a collection of 6 photo books. My photo books contain words, pictures and creative embellishments to tell my story. Each book is divided by year from 2007 to 2013. They work in chronological order from January to December, showing our fun, happy and sometimes sad moments of that year. I always have my camera and I do not leave anything out, no matter how small. Each book depicts our year neatly and accurately. Some page will have special notes or comments, while others just let the pictures do all of the talking. Overall this collection is a treasure to us because it tells our story truthfully. I feel that words are very powerful, but pictures have a way of capturing a moment in a way that words just can’t, which is why I love to tell our story that way. It is so much more than just what they picture is of, or where we are at. Pictures provide the little details, like the funny story that goes a long with the mustard stain on David’s shirt in one of the pictures or the name of great restaurant we ate at. It is the little details that might not seem significant enough to remember to write down, but they are what make up the story.
My books follow the same order and format. They all have the same cover except for the outside color. Inside the front cover will be a single picture of the two of us and the year the book is for. From then on in chronological order from month to month or really more accurately season to season I will tell our story for that year. Then I will end with a few last pages of random pictures. These pictures are usually very silly and they are under the heading “us just being us.” These last pages are where I fill in with some of my favorite pictures that didn’t make it into the earlier pages of the book. I really like the chaotic college at the end because it adds a little reminder of how the year really is all jumbled and messy, but those were usually the best moments for us.
Within our story, I also include some pages of other peoples stories who have influenced our live such as my dad. My dad passed away unexpectantly a year and half ago. He was very special to me and he was my best friend. Lucky for me, my Dad loved David as a son and so we all had a very special relationship. I loved having this small tribute to that relationship in our story. With this book we can preserve the memories of all the good times and the loving impact that my dad had on our story on paper so that we may never forget, which I am really grateful for. I actually created an entire photo book of my dad’s life to give out to my family as great way to hold on the life of my dad, which really exemplifies the idea of “though our stories we live.”
My multi-modal project encompasses all the things that I love, while also telling my story. This is just one example of the power of the photo books. This growing style of literacy has really enhanced the way we can tell stories. Stories are so important to preserving human nature. We learn and let others live through their stories and with the help of pictures, these people will not just live through words but through their images as well. Photo books are a great way to tell a story and they have really been a great way to tell mine.
Application to the Classroom:
The more that I have thought about the use of photo books in the classroom the more excited I get to use them. Digital scrapbooking is a great way to get students writing, reflecting and creating. Digital storybooks open the door to a whole new outlook on the personal narrative and I have come up with a few ways in which they could be applied to the classroom.
When I am a teacher I really plan to try and create a sense of community in the classroom. This community would be a safe place for students to share and create with other peers. With the photo books I would create a book for every class. This could be modified to fit any class and lesson. For example, students can each write a poem about themselves and include pictures. Each student will get one page in the book. They will revise and edit the book until they think it represents the message that they are trying to get across. Then we will have the book published and then we will share the book entries with the class. I think that students will really feel a sense of pride in having their work published into a nice hardcover book. There are lots of ways to modify this project; it can be all pictures or different forms of narrative expression. Whichever the teacher chooses, allow the students the freedom to really create the product from start to finish.
Another project that the books can be used for is a character study. Students can create a page for characters in the book or text that they are studying. This is a great way to identify characteristics within the text and a reader response based project. Students can include picture, and some sort information about the character, while also including decorations and backgrounds that will help to build the personality of the character. The teacher can keep these books to use for future classes when studying the same text to help the students with characters developments and understanding the text.
A third project for photo books in the classroom is a multi-modal project just like this one. Photo books or digital story telling is a great mode of expression for multi-modal projects. Students can either be asked to all create a narrative story either fiction, non-fictional or autobiographical through a digital scrapbook. Or, they can choose to complete a book as their product for the multi-modal project, where they can choose their own mode. Either way, this project involves students telling a story from start to finish using words, pictures and embellishments. This project would involve writing, creative decision-making, and an understanding of story elements. In the end students have created their own hardback, tangible storybook that they can be proud of and feel like real published writers.
The one challenge that may arise for the use of photo books in the classroom is the fact that they cost money and they can get pricey depending on the style and number of pages. But, a few solutions to that problem is to wait for a great sale (which photo project sites will have often), fundraise, write grants for money to fund the book projects, and / or keep the books digital. These books are created on the Internet and they have the capability to be shown on the computer, so that they never have to be bought. This does not give students the opportunity to hold the actual product they created in their hands, but it does allow them to show off their work to the rest of the class.
I really think that photo books and digital story telling can be a great way to get students writing in the classroom.There is a lot of choice and flexibility with this mode and the teachers can really modify it to fit the needs of their classroom. It is also a great way for students to practice and expand their 21st century literacy skills of technology and visuals. Students can have a lot of freedom to write and collaborate with the class about their work to help improve their writing skills. Above all it is a great tool for students to be able to express themselves and tell their own story.
Digital Photo books Websites:
· www.snapfish.com (my website of choice)
· www.shutterfly.com
· www.mypublisher.com
· www.picaboo.com
These are just a few options; there are many more available. My personal favorite and the one that I create all of my books through is Snapfish. I found their website to very user friendly, they have a lot to offer by way of photo products (especially books), they are always having a good sale and they produce quality photo books. I have played around with the other sites and they all offer similar tools and options, so any of these would be useful when making your photo book, my personal preference just happens to be Snapfish.
My Photo books: Below are some images and examples of the books that I have created for my multi-modal project.
My multi-modal project developed from a combination of two of my entries, the first being the list of 100 things that I love and the second being my response to chapter 15 from Teaching the Neglected ‘R.’ This chapter entitled “Space to Imagine,” focused on the concept of telling stories. I really loved one quote in particular from the chapter which, “telling stories is how we live…we reveal ourselves to others, making friends and creating communities” (Miller 172). I took this idea about story telling and I reflected on my own life and my own story. I really wanted the idea of my story to be the focus of my multi-modal project, but a 22 year long story was quite an undertaking, so I decided to focus on one thing from my list to inspire my project, and that is when I saw the name of my fiancé on my list. The next step was to decide how to tell my or actually our story, and then I looked over at my bookshelf and saw a stack of thin colored books. That is when I realized that I have been in the process of telling our story since the first year that we were dating through digital scrapbooks or picture books. I have given David, my fiancé a photo book for every year that we have dated and now after 6 years we have a collection.
Genre: Digital Scrapbook
I have always really been into scrapbooking, framing: basically anything to do with pictures. Digital scrapbooks have really taken over the scrapbooking world. A lot of people are creating these books on the computer from their digital pictures instead of the classic paper and glue scrapbook. The genre has really become an art form, with many websites providing exciting tools and effects to really personalize your book. I have seen photo books depicting one event such as a family trip to the beach all the way to present showing someone’s three-year stint with a campus program. It really takes the phrase “a picture can say a thousand words” to a whole new level. With the increasing use of this genre the picture literacy is being developed. It could be argued that this is a new literacy, but when babies “read” books they are not reading the words because they do not yet know how to read, but they are “reading” the pictures on the page. I have even seen a book published with pictures of each family member, so that a toddler could learn who they are. With the increase in technology, reading images is becoming an increasingly popular means of expression. With the digital scrapbook, you can tell your story through actual pictures of your life. But, there are still words involved. The digital scrapbooks allows you to write as little or as much as you want, it is really up to you creative style. The books are made up of, backgrounds, pictures, words, and extras like borders or embellishments. Each of these details that are included are important to creating the mood and theme of your story, just as if you were writing the story with pen and paper. This genre can open up a lot of possibilities for story telling and personal creativity.
Theme: For my multi-modal project I have chosen to tell my own personal love story through 6 different photo books, representing each year that I have been with my Fiancé David. These books really capture our true story, all of the little and big moments in our lives together.
My Project:
For my project, I have told my love story through a collection of 6 photo books. My photo books contain words, pictures and creative embellishments to tell my story. Each book is divided by year from 2007 to 2013. They work in chronological order from January to December, showing our fun, happy and sometimes sad moments of that year. I always have my camera and I do not leave anything out, no matter how small. Each book depicts our year neatly and accurately. Some page will have special notes or comments, while others just let the pictures do all of the talking. Overall this collection is a treasure to us because it tells our story truthfully. I feel that words are very powerful, but pictures have a way of capturing a moment in a way that words just can’t, which is why I love to tell our story that way. It is so much more than just what they picture is of, or where we are at. Pictures provide the little details, like the funny story that goes a long with the mustard stain on David’s shirt in one of the pictures or the name of great restaurant we ate at. It is the little details that might not seem significant enough to remember to write down, but they are what make up the story.
My books follow the same order and format. They all have the same cover except for the outside color. Inside the front cover will be a single picture of the two of us and the year the book is for. From then on in chronological order from month to month or really more accurately season to season I will tell our story for that year. Then I will end with a few last pages of random pictures. These pictures are usually very silly and they are under the heading “us just being us.” These last pages are where I fill in with some of my favorite pictures that didn’t make it into the earlier pages of the book. I really like the chaotic college at the end because it adds a little reminder of how the year really is all jumbled and messy, but those were usually the best moments for us.
Within our story, I also include some pages of other peoples stories who have influenced our live such as my dad. My dad passed away unexpectantly a year and half ago. He was very special to me and he was my best friend. Lucky for me, my Dad loved David as a son and so we all had a very special relationship. I loved having this small tribute to that relationship in our story. With this book we can preserve the memories of all the good times and the loving impact that my dad had on our story on paper so that we may never forget, which I am really grateful for. I actually created an entire photo book of my dad’s life to give out to my family as great way to hold on the life of my dad, which really exemplifies the idea of “though our stories we live.”
My multi-modal project encompasses all the things that I love, while also telling my story. This is just one example of the power of the photo books. This growing style of literacy has really enhanced the way we can tell stories. Stories are so important to preserving human nature. We learn and let others live through their stories and with the help of pictures, these people will not just live through words but through their images as well. Photo books are a great way to tell a story and they have really been a great way to tell mine.
Application to the Classroom:
The more that I have thought about the use of photo books in the classroom the more excited I get to use them. Digital scrapbooking is a great way to get students writing, reflecting and creating. Digital storybooks open the door to a whole new outlook on the personal narrative and I have come up with a few ways in which they could be applied to the classroom.
When I am a teacher I really plan to try and create a sense of community in the classroom. This community would be a safe place for students to share and create with other peers. With the photo books I would create a book for every class. This could be modified to fit any class and lesson. For example, students can each write a poem about themselves and include pictures. Each student will get one page in the book. They will revise and edit the book until they think it represents the message that they are trying to get across. Then we will have the book published and then we will share the book entries with the class. I think that students will really feel a sense of pride in having their work published into a nice hardcover book. There are lots of ways to modify this project; it can be all pictures or different forms of narrative expression. Whichever the teacher chooses, allow the students the freedom to really create the product from start to finish.
Another project that the books can be used for is a character study. Students can create a page for characters in the book or text that they are studying. This is a great way to identify characteristics within the text and a reader response based project. Students can include picture, and some sort information about the character, while also including decorations and backgrounds that will help to build the personality of the character. The teacher can keep these books to use for future classes when studying the same text to help the students with characters developments and understanding the text.
A third project for photo books in the classroom is a multi-modal project just like this one. Photo books or digital story telling is a great mode of expression for multi-modal projects. Students can either be asked to all create a narrative story either fiction, non-fictional or autobiographical through a digital scrapbook. Or, they can choose to complete a book as their product for the multi-modal project, where they can choose their own mode. Either way, this project involves students telling a story from start to finish using words, pictures and embellishments. This project would involve writing, creative decision-making, and an understanding of story elements. In the end students have created their own hardback, tangible storybook that they can be proud of and feel like real published writers.
The one challenge that may arise for the use of photo books in the classroom is the fact that they cost money and they can get pricey depending on the style and number of pages. But, a few solutions to that problem is to wait for a great sale (which photo project sites will have often), fundraise, write grants for money to fund the book projects, and / or keep the books digital. These books are created on the Internet and they have the capability to be shown on the computer, so that they never have to be bought. This does not give students the opportunity to hold the actual product they created in their hands, but it does allow them to show off their work to the rest of the class.
I really think that photo books and digital story telling can be a great way to get students writing in the classroom.There is a lot of choice and flexibility with this mode and the teachers can really modify it to fit the needs of their classroom. It is also a great way for students to practice and expand their 21st century literacy skills of technology and visuals. Students can have a lot of freedom to write and collaborate with the class about their work to help improve their writing skills. Above all it is a great tool for students to be able to express themselves and tell their own story.
Digital Photo books Websites:
· www.snapfish.com (my website of choice)
· www.shutterfly.com
· www.mypublisher.com
· www.picaboo.com
These are just a few options; there are many more available. My personal favorite and the one that I create all of my books through is Snapfish. I found their website to very user friendly, they have a lot to offer by way of photo products (especially books), they are always having a good sale and they produce quality photo books. I have played around with the other sites and they all offer similar tools and options, so any of these would be useful when making your photo book, my personal preference just happens to be Snapfish.
My Photo books: Below are some images and examples of the books that I have created for my multi-modal project.