Chapters 2-3 - Response

As I think about the concept of digital storytelling, I'm both excited and terrified. I love the production aspect of creating videos, and I had a great time this week creating mine and learning how to use the program; however, I am terrified of myself having to be on screen or listen to a recording of my voice! As I read the chapters, I was bursting with ideas for my classroom, but with my own anxieties, I would feel terrible forcing a child to be on camera or record their own voice. But - I need to get over it because I love the idea of using DST in the classroom!

The first thing that caught my eye in the reading was Glen Bledsoe's fourth graders that created a media project to show their understanding of metaphor. Students use music and graphics to compare school to a train (19). I love the idea of asking students to create an extended metaphor and show that metaphor through graphics and music. When I read this, my initial thought was "oh my god these are fourth graders!" I feel so nervous about doing projects like this with my high schoolers, but if fourth graders can handle it, so can my 9th graders!!

I also like the idea of combining story telling with "report" or "essay" style writing. In the text, Ohler said, "When planning student  media projects, it can be helpful to iddentify a point on the continuum that they want students to aim for: half report/half story? All story? Mostly story but with academic information embedded in the plot?" (24).  I love thinking of it this way. I could assign students to create a story, but ask them to include information they are learning in history or science into their story (and have that teacher fact check the videos!). Also, when students are writing persuasive essay, for example, I could ask them to find graphics or photos to go with each part of their essay. This would help them to solidify their arguments and ideas, and use more precise language because they will have something concrete to base it on. I like that DSTs go beyond narration and cross genres.

The idea of using digital storytelling to teach tone is exciting. My students really struggle to create tone in their own writing and to identify consistent tone in other writing. I think using DST assignments to focus on tone and demonstrating how students can "write within tone boundaries, aiming for consistency rather than diversity in tone" (28). When students hear their own writing out loud and are choose images to help show their story, they will be able to see the purpose and necessity of consistent tone more clearly.

I also really liked "The DAOW of Literacy.

 

I think that it's important to see literacy beyond reading and writing. In my own classroom, I think I try to focus on written literacy and artistic literacy, in that I want my students to appreciate the literature we read beyond simply mastering standards. However, I don't do a good job of incorporating digital literacy -- a need for many jobs our students will seek, or oral literacy -- a skill they need for life in general. It's so hard to schedule time for digital learning and for them to present their writing or record their writing. I feel so overwhelmed by the number of skills I am supposed to teach in one year that digital and spoken literacy are generally the things that take the back burner. I think that a DST assignment addresses all four of these literacy in a way that still meets ELA standards.

 

I am using a PC, and I ran into two problems. First, my computer wouldn't launch Movie Maker after I downloaded it, and I couldn't figure out the problem. The tech guy at my school gave me Roxio Video Wave that the school has a license for, so that's what I used.  Then, I had a hard time figuring out how to rotate videos. I had family members email me videos, and most of them were taken with a phone. It seemed like something so simple that should be done through the video editting program, but it wasn't! I finally found a program that was specifically designed to rotate videos from iphones. Other than those little hiccups, I had fun playing with the program and making the video!