The Help has been pulling big numbers at the box-office over the past few weeks. It has a compelling story--one originally told in a book. We see this every few months. Some book-to-movie transformation hits the theatre down the road and we line up to see it. Some of us may have read the book and are interested to see how closely the film follows the plot. Others may not know it ever was a book. But there is a reason they bring in so much $$$---
Watching. Listening. Reacting. It's more impressive to experience that way. (and I don't mean impressive in the "oh, that's impressive!" kind-of way.) Those images will remain with you for some time...
The World of Digital Storytelling
Jason Ohler
Educational Leadership
Vol. 63, Issue 4 (Dec 2005-Jan 2006), p. 44-47
Retrieved from EBSCOhost
http://ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=19270016&site=ehost-live
Jason Ohler
Educational Leadership
Vol. 63, Issue 4 (Dec 2005-Jan 2006), p. 44-47
Retrieved from EBSCOhost
http://ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=19270016&site=ehost-live
What I enjoyed most about this article is its focus on telling the story and allowing that to provide the foundation. Using digital storytelling in a classroom, the author points out the necessity to first have a good story that can support the digital resources. Photographs, video clips, and voice narration are not meant to tell the story. They are there to illustrate it--make it better. Ohler states, "Through creating narratives, students develop the power of their own voices." The author points out that this project allows students to hone vital skills they will need in the future--writing skills, critical thinking, media literacy.
Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for Struggling Writers
by Ruth Sylvester, Wendy-lou Greenidge
The Reading Teacher
Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec., 2009 - Jan., 2010), pp. 284-295
Retrieved from Jstor
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30249378
by Ruth Sylvester, Wendy-lou Greenidge
The Reading Teacher
Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec., 2009 - Jan., 2010), pp. 284-295
Retrieved from Jstor
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30249378
I found this article very interesting. Prior to beginning study at UH, I worked with second grade students falling below grade level in math and reading. Identifying children as "struggling writers" at such a young age is problematic, in my opinion. Writing is a challenge at every level. Listening to a child TELL you a story, you understand that they have the details. For most, the difficulty lies in translating the story to paper. But that is not what this article is about! These "digital natives" are engaged by technology. The author includes an example of a storyboard that could be used to create a digital story as well as identifies different types of students and how digital storytelling as opposed to traditional writing would be beneficial to them. While a project like this for a teacher with 25 students may be a frightful undertaking, with adequate preparation and assistance, this could really be an interesting and rewarding project for students in lower elementary classrooms.
Woohoo! I also posted your second article (Mai did too), and I think that one of the most useful things that almost all of us have drawn from researching digital storytelling is it's ability to help students elevate their reading and writing abilities. It will be interesting to see if/how/when schools start integrating technology more and more into the classroom. I know we had a stellar computer lab when I was in middle school (private school), so I wonder how much the schools have advanced since then.
ReplyDelete(I did the second article too... As apparently did a few lf us, so I won't mention that one) I completely concur with your first article's premise that digital storytelling mediums can augment teaching: that's what I love about Public History!
ReplyDeleteI also love that you mentioned "The Help." In my opinion, movies in particular can boost the emotional appeal of a story and reaches VERY wide audiences, in particular if historians can swallow some of their fierce pride and create "popular" history that appeals to non-historians
The one downside to the use of technology in the classroom is it's going to create an even greater divide between economic classes. Lori mentioned how her private middle school had a stellar computer lab. I would imagine most middle schools don't. The poorer the school district, the less funds for computers.
ReplyDeleteI think digital storytelling is an awesome approach to learning, because it engages so many different parts of the brain. After all, we each learn differently and adding a visual or aural component may be just what some people need. It's a shame that such a vital tool may not be available to every student because of economic disparities twixt school districts. And the seemingly unending focus of most states to teach their students how to pass a standardized test rather than to actually learn.
I don't mean for this to be a rant. It's just I agree that these articles clearly show the value of digital storytelling, and it makes me sad to know that too many students won't be exposed to it.