1. Process of creating a digital story.
2. Use of digital storytelling.
I have always believed that incomplete or inaccurate solutions can serve as entry points for learning (such as in mathematical problem solving and scientific investigative inquiries). However, sometimes, those mistakes don't easily fit into time frames of our reality.
Sitting next to two outstanding Middle School language teachers, Gaby Jimenez and Carole Henriot, when we were given a chunk of time to work on creating a digital story, we came up with the idea of creating an audio book. Finding ways to get students to have "comprehensible input" in the second language is a constant need for educators as it is the highest priority for second language learning. This is true for all languages so finding a way that we could create web based read-alouds with engaging visuals for students that could be easily adapted from one language to the next would not only give kids opportunity for maximum comprehensible input but would also be a way that our collaborative efforts would be multiplying the loaves and fishes as it were.
So we gave it a shot. Here was our process:
1. From a Spanish book in the ES library we selected a colorful story about a young boy eating . We selected it for the outstanding visuals, the fact that it would be applicable to topics all languages dealt with.
2. After discussing with each other and a few others in the vicinity, we decided to use iMovie (for those using a MAC) and Movie Maker (for those using a PC).
3. We then scanned pictures on a color scanner that can transfer the scans via email.
4. We retyped and recorded the story.
5. We then started attempting to import the visuals into our respective moving making program. We quickly discovered that we needed to do some converting of the scans in order to import.
We quickly ran out of time and never continued this project (thus nothing embedded in this blog) as we found out the following:
• This was turning out to be much more complex than if we had simply used powerpoint or key note, typed in the text and then recorded a voice.
• I Movie and Movie Maker can’t talk to each other (so the wonderful collaboration we originally envisioned wasn't possible). This was too time consuming without the added benefit of being able to cross languages so we abandoned.
So was this a waste of time? Surely not, as I definitely learned several things that day (perhaps not my colleagues who are already much more savvy in the area of movie making!!). I still developed some of the following knowledge and skills that will help me in future digital storytelling.
1. I fine-tuned my scanning abilities, learning some of the subtle differences in the settings.
2. I developed some rudimentary understanding of the new iMovie.
3. I learned some new quick keys for inserting accents used with certain languages for certain programs (these are unfortunately not universal, varying by platform and by program.)
4. I learned how to use the new snowflake microphone (and have since used it for a couple other projects.)
5. I learned some new tricks in manipulating jpegs and pdfs.
When listing these, it makes me wonder if that is why geeks are so proficient. Is it simply that they spend a lot more time than the rest of us mere mortals just mucking around? And through that immersion, into various tools and projects, develop the transferable skills that make them so digitally proficient? Malcolm Gladwell proves in his great read, Outliers, that high performing people in any give area (i.e. sports, music, etc.) have all spent at least 10,000 hours developing the related skills. So, is that the key to becoming a geek and why our kids these days are leaving educators in the dust?
Given my age and my other areas of passion, I don't risk geekhood anytime soon, but I do plan on continuing to pursue digital storytelling as I believe it has two powerful components that can help communicate a message: story framework and engaging imagery. So, the ways that I hope to tap into digital storytelling in the future will be more in creating messages of how learning best happens. I will begin, perhaps, by using a format similar to the video, "Pay Attention," below:
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