"Digital Storytelling in the Classroom"

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Article review: Chapters 5 and 6

What makes a good story? Dr. Jason Ohler addresses this question in the terms of the new digital age we find ourselves in the midst of. This era of kids spending their every waking minute up to their ears in a digital society. We as educators have a grand tool before us. We just have to keep the student/viewer engaged. In his book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom he maps this out for us.

Some key elements of digital storytelling:

• Make a map - where is the story going?
• Is there a conflict – what is learned?
• We will forget a lecture but will most often remember a story.
• Stories can be amusing – often keeps the viewer hooked.
• Digital stories shift the focus from technology to what the technology is presenting.
• Students will often know more than we do. Capitalize on this. Use their knowledge of technology to teach others, including yourself.

What I found to be one of the most insightful aspects of these two chapters was the statement that students will often know more than me. Especially when it comes down to technology. I wholeheartedly agree. More often than not this can form a measure of contention in the classroom as it is usually based around some usage of cell phones. Kids can even text with the phone in their pocket. Amazing. But in Digital storytelling and other uses we should capitalize on this and use their expertise to guide our own. Students can be great tools, helping to get rid of the “I cant get this to work right, it wont do anything I want it to” mentality. They are a wealth of information when it comes to shortcuts and putting it all together. Use them.

Techno-Teens. A review of: Teens and Technology - A Good Match?

Teens and Technology – A Good Match. This article reviews the benefits and drawbacks to the connection of today’s teenagers to the technological world unfolding around them. This analysis of the time spent by the new generation of hooked of kids is an invaluable tool into what makes them tick and how they view and interact in their home and social settings as access to new electronic tools becomes increasingly more and more available. Some of the highlights to this article are:

• According to the Kaiser report, “about half of heavy media users (more than 16 hours a day) get fair to poor grades in school, compared with the 23 percent of light users (less than three hours) who earn similar grades.”
• “But the report reveals that when parents do set limits, their teens spend nearly three hours less per day using electronic media than those without restrictions.”
• “The emerging technology has forced the school to address these new challenges.”
• “The study found that 8- to 18-year-olds devote an average of about seven and a half hours a day (around 53 hours a week) to using entertainment media, including television, MP3 players, online time and video games. That's an increase of more than an hour per day from five years ago.”
• “In comparison, teens spend about 25 minutes a day reading books and three minutes reading newspapers.”
• “Use of mobile media may become addictive and as a result become hard to control in a disciplined way,"

I really appreciated this article as it looks at the amount of time today’s teens devote to technology. In some cases as was discussed in the article technology can be used to the benefit of these techno-kids but in too many of the cases it is just used as entertainment that will not further their ability to be citizens of our society with long-term benefits. I think that to exclude technology from today’s education would be a huge mistake and I try to use technology to promote education in the classroom as often as I can. It is hard to find that line where it is educational and not just for entertainment purposes however and I believe that parents must take an active role in educating kids as to what is an appropriate amount of time and what are appropriate technology outlets. Socializing is an important part of our culture and I think that the actual physical contact of socializing is extremely important and is lacking in many of our youths and we should make an effort to limit techno-socializing and promote healthy activities that get kids into the community and into activities in our communities. Promote technology but not at the cost of being a contributor to society.

Matt's IEP

My personalized IEP. My original thoughts for this plan centered on a program called StrataLogica. My intent was to learn how to use this mapping resource and to implement it in the social studies classes I was teaching this past school year. Key to my learning about and learning how to use StrataLogica was a seminar for teachers in the Mat-Su school district. Unfortunately the seminar did not end up happening and I was not able to familiarize myself with StrataLogica.

My subsequent IEP came about almost accidentally. We (my MAT cohort) have been tasked with keeping our own blog and if you are reading this you are reading mine. I am a far cry from what has been termed a “blogger”. Regardless I can see it awesome potential as a teaching tool and I created another blog specifically to use for an Audio conference presentation I did. The Presentation was on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. After presenting over the phone and having those who had Internet follow along on the blog I realized that I could with some tweaking use it to present the information as well as lessons and activities for the unit on ANCSA to my Alaskan Studies students.

I did not have the opportunity to use it this last semester as I had already covered that material but I plan to use it extensively in the years to come. Use this link to view the blog that has become my ANCSA Unit.

White Zombie

Reduce your carbon tire tracks

This is an impressive use of the transition to electric cars although maybe not a very applicable one for the average person.

During the '09-'10 school year i proposed the idea of reducing one's carbon footprint. Most of the kids jumped right in but there were some serious big truck, lots of fuel, and black smoke motorheads who had some serious doubts on the coolness of reducing the carbon footprint. "What is cool about that?" . . . . . . . . . .

Here is the hook that brought them in - VIDEO.

Between a Rock and a Riverbank - View

Between a Rock and a Riverbank is a digital story chronicling the adventure that ensues when the freedom of summertime weekends, long Alaskan evening sunshine, the trusty beat up riverboat, and youthful adventure all collide. Finding the right story has been a task in itself. I wanted one that was entertaining but both in an educational and amusing way. Something that would appeal to those of all ages and yet have a level of significance.

The hardest part of finding a story was that I was trying to think of something that was educational. Most of my stories have some sort of amusing catastrophe tied into them and all seem to take place outside and involve some sort of gross miscalculation, whether it be not enough fuel to reach the destination or even worse, to not get back, natural events beyond the control of man, or just not fully thinking through what could possibly and probably would occur. Coming to the conclusion that all had some sort of learning curve was a big help in narrow down the search so I settled on a story of epic proportions, at least in the eyes of a couple of teenagers. This story has been told around many riverside campfires and equally as many family and friend dinners at my home.

I found that my story fit the mapping sequence well and used this story map to provide the framework for its telling and ultimately to bring it all together.

Nature seems to have a way of taking the well prepared and somewhat well planned out adventure and turning into an even greater adventure. No matter what we do there are always unforeseen event that can and will take place so it really pay to be well equipped and ready for anything. Never leave home without the essentials: T.P., knife, bailing wire, super glue, and Duct Tape.

Rubric for assessing a Digital Story.

My Philosophy of Education

A Socially Webbed Spider

As the semester has progressed I have been tasked with finding a professional community related to the field of social studies. This being a rather large field, it gives me a lot of leeway. The goal of which is to network; gaining in my knowledge of the subject and providing an outlet where I can contribute what I have learned and am experiencing.

I have become a spider so to speak. Stalking the depths and corners of different websites, hesitating to join until I found something that really stuck out, something I really might use. Window-shopping, that anonymous user viewing one forum or another. As I searched I joined a few; National Geographic’s online community, TeacherTube, BrightHub, Cabelas(very educational), YouTube, and a few others among the dozen or more sites I visited.

The one that kept and keeps drawing me back is Brighthub.com. It is a fantastic site that has information of value and insight for just about anyone willing to take a little time to look for it. So, I joined. There are limitations. As a member of this community I was still limited to commenting on already posted item by “writers”, the members who also have accounts, pages, and blogs through Brighthub. While this doesn’t really detract form the site as a whole it was not really what I was looking for. So in doing some more research I decided that I would like to be a “writer”. Yeah, I know…. So I decided that having my own blog page through brighthub would best suite my needs; share experiences, photos, lessons, and the day-to-day goings-on of life in the village when I move to St. Mary’s, Alaska in the fall.

Ok, so I now knew what I wanted. The application process for this page is a little more in depth than blogspot. Fill out the application, info about myself, why I wanted to be a “writer”, sample work, examples of things I might contribute, and then wait…. And wait a little more. It is similar to waiting for an acceptance letter for a university. I was accepted and now just have to begin to create my own blog to contribute through.

On a side note, this site has been a fantastic resource for lesson plans and ideas. A number of times this year I was required to teach English II. On one occasion we (students and myself) were covering Old Man and the Sea and the lesson and ideas provided from Trent Lorcher on BrightHub were invaluable to me as a social studies teacher teaching English. His thoughts and ideas for the Pit and the Pendulum likewise were a huge help. And I am happy to say that Mr. Lorcher was the first “connection” that I made after joining the fantastic BrightHub website.

Check it out: http://www.brighthub.com/

pic: http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/58500/Old-man-and-the-sea-58631.jpg

Alaska HIstory Course: A Review

Alaska History Course. A great website focused entirely on the Alaska Studies curriculum. One of the things I appreciate most abut this site is the timeline of history in Alaska and the comparison of those important dates with the major events in our nation’s history as well as a full world comparison. Within this site there is a great abudance of fantastic links to many more resources concerning the goings on of the past and present in AK. One of the things I really like is the ease of use and navigation throughout the many pages and links making searching for information seamless and smooth.

PBS Teachers!: A Review

PBS Teachers. A fantastic site that is full of great ideas for lesson plans as well as being a wealth of information concerning continuing professional development, discussion groups, and news that concerns anyone who is a teacher or deals with kids in the school systems. Within each grade category the different disciplines are divided into: The Arts, Heath and Fitness, Math, Reading and Language Arts, Science and Technology, and Social Studies making this a very easy site to navigate and find information.

Bright Hub!: A Review

A site devoted to the simplistic but oh so important goal of sharing knowledge. While the main focus of Bright Hub shines its light on technology and how a simple idea transforms itself into something that can be used by multitudes and the questions that inevitably follow, it also lends itself well to the educator looking to expand ones own resource base. Within the “hub” there are what I will call “mini hubs” that cover many other disciplines; Arts, EDUCATION, Engineering, Environment, Mobile, Parenting, and Society to name a few. This website is a great tool and I definitely recommend taking a look.

Becoming a Technological Anthropologist

Wasilla High School is not a technologically advanced place of brilliant learning. What it is however is a school that sees the importance of using the technology that it does have to the best of its abilities. WHS is a school that is more than 30 years old and it shows, there are stains on the carpet, too many kids for too few classrooms, and not enough computers to be considered a leader in technology in the education system. Although there are many drawbacks the administration highly encourages educators to make the best use of technology in the classrooms and makes a great effort to accommodate teachers and student with what is required. WHS has a rather large selection of classes available that make use of technology such as drafting, interior design, computer programming, desktop publishing and more.

One of the biggest drawbacks for students and teachers alike is the availability of computers to non-computer based classes. There are four labs with computers only one of which is available for constant check out by teachers and students. This can pose scheduling issues and issues for individual students who wish to get on a computer during their free time if a class happens to be using the "lab"/library.

One of the great things about WHS, as I mentioned before is the support and encouragement from the administration. The majority of the classrooms at WHS have had Promethean Boards installed and they see a tremendous amount of use. Personally, I don't think i ever go a class period without turning it on for some reason or another. The teacher computers in the classrooms all are running the Microsoft Office Suite and carry either one of two types of Promethean software. We have a great support staff to take care of any problems both hardware and software that are permanent at the school, either as educators or ed tech.

WHS might not be a leader in technology, but it definitely makes a great effort at using what is available on a school level. Staff and administration at WHS both use and promote technology and use it on a daily basis. Students who attend Wasilla High will at the very least have a decent exposure to technology and should have a basic if not intermediate knowledge of how to use the main programs available in todays tech age. Overall I believe WHS to do a good job in the technology department.

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Futuring

Fox Becomes a Better Person is an outstanding example of storytelling using technology to the fullest. That is my first impression. Second, I think most of my highschoolers would struggle to do the same thing, partly because the availability of access to good technology is not readily had, or at least unseen by me. I think Hannah does an excellent job narrating the story and is animated throughout the whole performance putting on a show that is worth the time and I think that the presentation of a story using digital narration and traditional storytelling is a definite success.

School Train is an amazing piece of work by a class of young students. the special effects are fantastic but sometimes visually epileptic. The connection to trains was very cool and it was great how the students made connections between that and there class work, homework and books. I understood what was going on after I thought about it for a little while and maybe they were trying to be subtle with an overall deeper meaning. On the other hand there was a lot of special effects that had absolutely nothing to do with the material they were trying to relay.

But is this an easy to come by use of technology for most students? as far as grading goes I am not sure how I would assess these two entirely different uses of technology. I know that I’m avoiding the question. Ha. I think that to fairly assess these, they must be rated on a system that takes into account the technology available, the time invested, the quality of other projects of peers (if any), presentation, and the content knowledge. With the most important being the presentation of the content in an orderly and understandable manner. Crap, lets just give em A's, they both looked pretty good to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQDBhg60UNI

Epic2015 portrays the end of news as we know it. A shift to sources that have less to do with the world and more to do with personal opinion and the ability of computers to make choices as to what is newsworthy for the minions who lack the foresight to question the data that streams into our homes and lives via 21^st century technology. If we look at Wikipedia we can see this shift beginning to happen. The definition by any and all as to what is truth. Students need to be concerned as to what they ingest when surfing and taught to question any and all sources. What is mostly honest, reliable, and trustworthy and what is junk? But how does this apply to the classroom? If things continue on and progress they way that Epic2015 suggests it will be my students creating the news. I believe technology is becoming more and more relied upon by the younger generation and that the students who have it at their fingertips will be better equipped to take over and write the future.

I really enjoyed the SabrinaJourney and while it seems rather basic I think that it is extremely effective and could very easily be applied to any number of assignments or projects in my classroom. I have been having students do power point presentations for a few of my classes and I think that these projects could be converted to Pod cast format. Two concerns would be the amount of time invested in creating these as I try to limit the amount of time that is needed outside the classroom for homework and the other being the horrible access to any type of useful technology in the school. A little explanation: Wasilla High – old school, on average two computers per classroom, very restricted access to the internet (most anything useful is blocked by the district), promethean boards in most classrooms (this is great but one can still barely scratch the surface because of censorship). Maybe I just need to re-learn how to use a card catalog in the library to find pictures that I can then trace onto a blackboard using an overhead projector. Volumed encyclopedias are good too. Other than that I love the pod cast and think it can be a great tool. I will find a way, just maybe not the one I originally had in mind.

Fuel The Burn - My Carbon Footprint

I love to ride bikes and cannot remember a time in my life that I have been without one. As important of a role as the bicycle has played in my life it has fallen by the wayside in my hometown. Living 6 miles out of town makes driving that much more convenient and my bicycles have become more of garage coat racks and shiny ornaments that lean against the shed.

For my energy conservation project I plan to rescue my bicycles from a life of neglect and see what kind of fuel savings I will have in commuting to school on two wheels instead of four. I anticipate saving money and creating less carbon emissions. Come rain, snow, or sun I plan to compare driving and fuel consumption to a life at the cranks of spoked wheels and a greasy chain. The big question and challenge: can I ride to work as many or more days as I drive. I think its gonna be a long winter.......

The data for milage will be recorded for commuting to school and back as well as errands around town. Like many Alaskans I own a big truck, a 2000 Dodge 2500 (3/4ton) diesel which actually does well on highway mpg (19-20). At the time of purchase a truck sounded like a good idea, looking back I probably should have gone with the subaru. Recently, some unforseen mechanical gremlins, of the large sort, have kept it parked in the driveway with parts and pieces filling the bed. So my nice big truck has been relegated to being a shiny flower pot. Perfect. To begin my study I am driving an '89 Nissan pathfinder which in its current state maybe, and I stress maybe gets 11 mpg. Both vehicles are high mileage, 167,000 on the truck and 196,000 on the pathfinder. As I will continue to explore the cost and emission savings associated with the manpower vs. fuel power I will watch to see what kind of differences the cold makes and record warm up times.

So.... can I get to work using nothing but self propelled power as often as I burn fossil fuel or will I give in to the comfort of a heated cab, good tunes and leather seats and console my attempt with "it sounded like a good idea at the time"?....