EDT530: Digital Story Telling

DST Meta-Reflection

Digital storytelling to me is a mix of the best of the old and the potential of the present/future. As I mentioned in my revised unit plan, I am a big fan of storytelling. I think one of the innate qualities of a good instructor is the ability to spin a tale. As the readings said, when we talk with our friends, families, and even strangers, we make connections by telling stories about experiences we’ve had in the past. These stories provide context to situations and give the listener a view into who we are. The more teachers are able to provide context through stories, the better our students will understand. Adding technology to the equation give us the ability to streamline more meaningful stories to our students and gives our students more genuine ways to tell us their stories.

Along those lines, there is a reason that I was always drawn to Social Studies. Obviously my dad exposed me to it, but the stories of the past, which were jam packed with monumental events, heroic actions by individuals, shared values, and and much more. To me, history allowed my imagination to run wild about living in the times when so and so lived. So I felt slightly vindicated when I found out that Egan agreed with me in chapter 4. He also felt that social studies naturally lent itself to storytelling. The issue I had was emphasizing the story aspect in a content (government) that doesn’t do so as naturally as other social studies courses. That is why in this unit, my students are living their own story while documenting it through their artifacts. The unit and its artifacts requires my students to at the events, intentions, values, and beliefs to continue the story.

The podcast artifact requires my students to use Anchor to create the characters of their story. Who will be the president and vice president? What qualities do they have that will appeal to their listeners/readers/voters? What events have they gone through that show their character?

The video advertisement artifact requires my students to make a video (potentially using Moovly) to explain/persuade other of their shared intentions, values, and beliefs. What do they believe in? Why do they believe these things? Who do they want as a part of their group?

The website (through GoogleSites) creates a sharing space for everyone who shares the values from the video advertisement to gather and read the story all at once. Was there journey through school politics successful? What do they believe in?

Ohler says it is vital to assess every artifact in the digital story, but to emphasize the written work. With that in mind, I will also require all scripts and reflections to be turned in. They will also be easier to grade than some of the creative aspects. The most important part of the this story/unit is probably the final reflection that asks the students to expand upon the journey they just finished with their group/political party.

While not a traditional story told to captivate and provide context. I am asking my students to live their story and reflection on it as they do it. Not sure it is what you are looking for, but I thought it was pretty cool!

Chas

Revised Unit Plan: Revised Unit Plan