Here is my video about one very exciting day!

  Chapter 13 The Digital Storytelling Toolbox

The interesting thing about having to create my own digital story’s for class is having to learn how to use the tools that I have available to me on my computer.  When having to use photos to create my digital story for the week it is nice to be able to just download my photos from my phone and use my computer.  Ohler states, “Classroom-iPods, cell phones, game players, and so on-will become the digital storytelling (DST) tools of tomorrow, so we should start thinking about their role in DST today,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 168). Kindle Edition.  Furthermore, when using the software on my computer to create my digital story I find that iMovie is very user friendly and fun to use in helping me develop my story.  "The premier piece of software for creating digital stories is iMovie. It's a jewel. It's free, easy to learn, and able to do just about everything you need it to do,” Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 168). Kindle Edition.  I can see using this software in my classroom in helping my students use this media in helping them create digital stories for various projects.  

Here is my video about me

The Media Production Process, Phases II-V 

As technology continues to evolve and become more and more available for use and consumption for students so does how they can use it in the classroom.  In my government class we do a “create a political party” project where the students are paired into random groups and they must come up with an acronym and ideology that represents the group then present it to class using CMAP tools and Prezi.  However, after reading this chapter in the book I am going to have them create a campaign ad using the guiding principles of digital story telling (DST). “Even though many software programs can be used to assemble a digital story, I recommend iMovie and Movie Maker because they are free, easy to learn and use, and generally are powerful enough to accommodate most classroom-based DST projects.”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 151). Kindle Edition. This quote out of the book made me think about all of the things that I could do with this free software to reach my students such as creating videos from lessons and putting them on YouTube, putting worksheets online, using this instead of PowerPoint to teach a lesson.    Furthermore, having my students and myself use these DST protocols when help them in other educational core areas such as writing.  

Chapter Eleven The Media, Production Process, Phase 1

One of the biggest hurdles for me as a teacher when learning about new teaching tools is figuring out how to incorporate them into the curriculum.  In order to get students interested in doing any project involving technology the teacher doesn’t need to be an expert just enthusiastic about the assignment.   "The teacher needs to have the interest and passion in the project, as well as the time in his or her curriculum to devote to it,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 137). Kindle Edition.  Furthermore, one of the most important jobs that educators have no matter the subject area is preparing our students to be successful in life by doing projects that require public speaking.  I agree with Ohler that having students do a DST assignment can benefit them in various educational areas such as writing, planning, digital (technology), oral and art.  "The bottom line is this: DST is a tremendously flexible and rich experience that can be used to support a number of educational goals,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 148). Kindle Edition. 

Chapter Ten Other Kinds of Stories 

"Because the media presents the composite view so consistently, we believe we are rediscovering the same truths about Native Americans when they are referenced in news, books, movies, and other media forms when, in fact, all we are really doing is finding consistency within a closed system that was built upon false assumptions and information to begin with,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 125). Kindle Edition. This quote summarizes how many in America feel about “our" culture, beliefs, religious practices and especially the interpretation (story) of history due to the over saturation of information through the blurring of media and news into one conglomeration.  

In my opinion, another powerful tool of digital storytelling is music videos and it’s a great way to get students interested in creating DST.  The students in today’s fast paced ever changing technological world don’t have much of an attention span so having them create a short music video is a great day to integrate DST into the classroom.  "Music video artists masterfully repackage songs that already make deep emotional connections with young people by adding powerful visual imagery that intensifies the connection. Coincidentally, these are the same young people who will be creating digital stories in your classroom of about the same length using tools similar to those used by music video artists,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 128). Kindle Edition. 

Chapter Nine More Story Maps

Examining all the various ways to create a story map in the process of telling a story was an interesting way to compare and contrast methods of telling a story. I agree that Aristotle’s story map is simple yet powerful when using it to explain to people how to construct a story in a way that would have audiences interested.  Furthermore, the idea of using story forms as a way to construct lesson plans to intrigue students in the learning process seems like a logical and practical idea.  However, I wonder how effective this is in all subject areas’s and with older students?  I know when I am teaching economics and graphing of supply, demand and the market that it would be rather difficult to incorporate Egan’s idea of applying story forms to the lesson. Furthermore, I agree with the assignment of having students view shows, commercials, and asking family members to recall stories as a way to start to reenforce the processes of storytelling.  I agree with this quote, "Story is like air. It's big, it's everywhere, and we need it to stay alive,”  Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 123). Kindle Edition.