Chapter Five  Thinking About Story


In this chapter the very idea of how to tell a story and the components of how to tell a proper and compelling story are discussed.  When discussing the story’s core components Ohler discusses how a a hero’s journey can be related to life and how people’s struggle and overcome life’s obstacles.  Furthermore, I agree with Ohler’s assessment of the story’s core (hero’s journey) in relation to the world of education, "I like to think of it as Campbell's quest in concentrated form that focuses on primarily one thing: how people change, learn, and grow because of the challenges and opportunities in their lives. In the world of education, this translates very directly into how students are transformed by their learning,” Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 72). Kindle Edition.  In education the ability to tell a story when presenting information to students is just as important as the learning objective of the lesson.  I also like the description of s student’s learning through the use of the components associated to the story core’s in education, “The emergent self is one who pushes back against his or her lack of knowledge or understanding and in the end comes to understand new things about himself or herself and the world,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 75). Kindle Edition.  I agree with the description of a learner as someone as an emergent self who pushes against their lack of knowledge and through that push back a person can truly learn.  Ohler continues to describe throughout the chapter the elements of how to tell a story and how to successfully map out a story using storyboard or VSP and the impact that this has on DST.  In my opinion, when discussing how to use story maps (VSP) in DST Ohler describes many of the techniques that successful teachers use in the classroom.