For my commentary this week I will use the “I like, I wonder” format which will allow me to express what I like while also questioning the author, an important common core skill. 

Chapter 4:

Points that I Like

• New media is equivalent to old media in that they both foster literacy
• Learning to read and write in the new media should be given equal attention because it is comparable to traditional reading and writing in the new tEcosystem. Interesting example of how  books were at one time “new media” and considered to be “heretical”.
• Students need to be “new media literate” but teachers do too. If we ignore this charge we are missing an opportunity because students are already immersed in this world. It is up to teachers to take initiative and guide them.
• Most helpful--The traits of assessment: These include focus on story; assess the artifacts of learning and the process. Are students creating active DSTs? Also look at teamwork and use of resources. Make the work public in some way because students produce better work when they know others are going to see their work. Finally, self-assessment

I wonder…

• The author claims that DST Is not embraced because teachers do not know how to asses it.  I wonder if this is really true or if teachers just have trouble seeing how story telling fits into their particular subject area?

Chapter 5

Points that I Like

• How to integrate the story core and story mapping. I appreciate the way this process develops an idea into a story. I even used it in my video this week. Couldn't help myself!
• Extra useful—the explanation of story mapping vs. story boarding. Story maps help focus the attention on the story not the technology whereas story boards are a technical aid. This is completely new to me—I had only heard of story boarding. I appreciated the complex possibilities of this simple tool.  
• Story maps as a communication tool for student and teacher. 

I wonder…

• Still puzzling over the comparison of DST to inquiry learning. I am a proponent of inquiry learning but it is hard to see how DST would apply to a history setting.  The idea of “story is something try to discourage—history is messy and does not usually fit into a nice story map. I worry that asking students to do this would promote misconceptions and result in historical inaccuracy. 

Chapter 6

Point that I Liked

•  His examples were concrete and helped illustrate what he means by story mapping

I wonder…

• How do you apply his concepts to disciplines like history or science that are by nature empirical?  He says we forget lecture but we remember stories. I really will remember his  William Tell story but probably not for the reasons he would want. 

Behold this week's "teach us something" video!

I became very confused though, because while putting this together I was also reading about how everything has to be a story. Consequently a story crept in to my video--along with carefully placed inaccuracies designed to beef up my story core. I also had technical difficulties  I can not seem to manage the sound--how to eliminate the sound that comes in with my video? How to layer sounds? Finally, I can not for the life of me figure out how to upload my video from youtube. This must be because I am 46.

My First Attempt at Digital Story Telling

clearly there is room for growth…

This video was made with Windows Live Movie Maker, a Nikon cool pix camera, and slides from PowerPoint.

A Running Commentary …

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways 

by Jason Ohler

In Chapter one Mr. Ohler spends a great deal of time “revealing things” about Digital Storytelling. I found this a bit tiresome and like he was trying to sell me a car or like I was watching a late night infomercial so I was very happy to progress to chapter two where I found some useful tidbits. First though I have to confess that I have always had a particular aversion to “stories” perhaps being subjected one time too many to a “storyteller” in costume visiting a history classroom. In fact, once at a national history education conference, right after sitting through a George Washington impersonator for an hour, a certain very famous author of popular history books whose name I won’t mention, came on stage right after this impersonator and in his prepared remarks he said “whatever you do, don’t dress up in costume and tell stories!”

But I digress…back to Chapter two. I found Ohler’s categories for discussion about digital story telling (DST) to be useful for my own thinking and for how I would ask others to think if I were to assign DST in a class. The continuum of essay vs. poem helps me appreciate “story” and separate it from the idea of a “clear essay”. This gives me permission to indulge in the story and know that a poem is considered challenging. This, combined with the idea of defining the parameter story vs. report, would be important to keep the DST project relevant in a history classroom and help keep an important balance of personal vs. academic.

 I also appreciated the point about choosing a metaphor or genre to help define the parameters of the task and align it with curricular goals.  I think matching the task with a genre or metaphor such as “it’s a love story” has potential to keep the DST project on track. I plan to think like this for my next project.

The key idea for me in chapter three was the point Ohler made that the best way for students to be literate in the new media is to have them create media. This transfers a concept that we use in history—students can only learn to write good arguments if they have access to and can read models of good arguments to why DST has a place in the classroom. And so with this point and despite Chapter 1, Ohler earns his spot on my digital professional library bookshelf.