Donna+Surrett

My name is Donna Surrett. I was born 56 years ago in Wilmington,NC. I lived all over eastern North Carolina during my childhood, attending 4 different schools for my first four years of school. My family finally settled down when I was in 4th grade in a small town, Creedmoor, NC. I attended college in Fayetteville, NC and graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education from what is now Methodist University. I taught in my hometown for my first five years after I graduated teaching 5th, 4th and 2nd grades over those years. I married in 1983 and moved to South Carolina. My new husband, David is a United Methodist minister so with my marriage I began another lifetime of moves; from McClellanville, to Pawleys Island, to Norway (Orangeburg county), to Greenwood, to Greenville, to Hartsville, and finally back to Charleston county to the Isle of Palms. In the mist of all of these moves we raised three wonderful children, Myles (26), Lydia (21) and Alec (19) and I have continued to teach. I have taught everything from pre K to 12th grade throughout the state. For the past 6 1/2 years I have been teaching special ed at Cario Middle school.

=**Classroom Reflection:**=

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Through the digital storytelling class, I have learned the importance of the use of moviemaker and other multimedia in the classroom setting. I have used powerpoint and smartboard activities for several years, but now I have discovered how to use the moviemaker to present to my students and how to teach my students to use it to create their own movies.=====

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Every year in my 6th grade co-taught ELA inculsion classes we have a difficult time finding materials to present propaganda in advertising I have created Smartboard lessons but each time I did when I presented it to my classes I had difficulty with some of the video examples that I had chosen. Now with movie maker I have developed a movie with many examples of the 8 propaganda techniques. I was able to narrate some parts and add music, stills and videos to teach and keep the students interests at the same time. When the students get a chance to develop their own projects using moviemaker they will get first hand experience in creating movies.=====

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As a teacher I feel that it is critical to embrace all levels of technology that we have available to enhance the learning of all of our students. This digital storytelling class will help me reach my students in new and hopefully creative ways.=====