Drowning not surfing

For our immersion task Jess and i looked at digital storytelling, and decided to make our own.

We discussed several stories, narratives and themes that we could use and settled on doind a little story about the last year of studying to become a teacher.

We found it necessary to storyboard the shots we were after. This sped up the process, allowed us to think of what was needed and keep tabs on what we had done and still needed to do. 

Once the photos were done we wrote the narrative. It quickly developed into a poetic rythm, which suited the peice and gave it a tempo upon

YEAR 9 EXAMPLE :

My year 9 class made short documentaries using camcorders and digital cameras. The groups loaded their tapes onto computers in the DDR room in the schools library. This fits into the cross-curriculum content area of using ICT in that the students learn to create, import and manipulate graphics.

 This project addresses the outcomes on stage 5 of outcome 2; A student uses and critically assesses a range of processes for responding and composing. Specifically in that students learn to (2.3) vary their use of the process of planning and editing in a variety of media, and that students learn about (2.9) processes of representation in visual and aural techniques. These outcomes are developed in the production stage of the project whilst outcome 3, A student selects, uses, describes and explains how different technologies affect and shape meaning. This outcome is dealt with in the editing and developing of students work as they learn how to manipulate the technology.

Within a unit on issues of adolescence students were divided into groups. As a team of documentary film makers – writer, producer, director, cameraperson and sound editor, the team decided on a type of documentary – fully narrated, observational, interactive, docudrama, etc. as well as the issue they were going to address.

The groups were given a lesson in the library to plan, in which most groups used the computers to research their issue and make up an action plan for research, scripting, interviewing, filming and editing. By utilising the computers the students were able to send copies to each group member on the school intranet.

Students had only three lessons to film what they needed to make their documentaries. It was important for the students to be familiar with the camcorders they were working with and a preliminary lesson was given, although some groups hit certain problems with the technology and needed assistance in using the cameras to achieve what they wanted. Planning at this point was imperative for the students to best make use of the equipment.

Once the filming was done the students were given several lessons using the moviemaker program to upload and edit their documentary. Students were then given the opportunity to watch all of the completed short documentaries in the schools theatre on the projection screen. They peer assessed their work being given the responsibility of being a film critic; this gave the assessment a real life feel.

One observation of using the cameras was that it became a very time intensive process and several lunch hours were taken up helping the students keep up to speed on what they needed to achieve in order to complete their documentaries. During the filming process several groups used their lunch times to get shots that they needed and during the editing process most of the groups found that in order to meet the deadline they needed to put in extra time. These sorts of issues mean that the unit has to be well planned and liaising with the AV department was often necessary in order to book the required facilities and equipment.

The students did a review of the project, which asked them to reflect on their learning and the process of making a documentary. All the students pointed out that they needed to plan their time more effectively and they needed clear objectives. Although several groups had encountered difficulties during the editing process, with loading their tapes onto the computer program, saving their projects, and the computers coping with material they wanted to import, the majority of the students felt comfortable with the computers and picked up the skills required extremely quickly. They did find some of the technical hitches extremely frustrating at the time but were able to think of solutions and were prepared to spend the time on their work. Some students had the advantage of being familiar with the program and were able to incorporate graphics, transitions and effects to a greater degree.

This is the kind of ICT project i enjoy and find easy to accomplish as well as enjoyable for the students.

I made a podcast discussing the merits and applications of podcasting in the English classroom

male-voice01

In looking at ideas and inspiration for our assignment i came across this site about digital storytelling using the poetry of Thomas Hardy. I found this site and the project they devised really inspirational. The way that this school in England used the technology was the result of an excursion to Wessex, the area of the UK where Hardy was writing. I can see a way of incorporating this poets such as Bruce Dawe or good old ‘Banjo’, or an Aboriginal poet, adding images of Australia to the words.

Another way to incorporate digital storytelling into poetry is in the students creation of their own work. Connecting images of the symbolism and poetic device that they use. Also we often ask students to draw the imagery of poetry and with digital storytelling the students can create this using ICT.

In researching our discussion paper on digital storytelling, i came across the book Digital storytelling in the classroom: New Media pathways to literacy learning and creativity, by Jason Ohler. I found this book really helpful, easy to read and informative on the topic and new n media in general. He lays it out in language an ‘immigrant’  such as myself can grasp, he gets into why digital storytelling works and supports the teaching of literacy in the classroom, which i think is the really important aspect of it, that it is not a replacement to conventional teaching methods but another tool at hand.

I also probably like it because its a book, and I’m still a sucker for the printed page!

One of the things that has struck me as i trawl through the research for Jess’s and my immersion task and discussion paper is that digital storytelling has been around in various forms for quiet a while now. Sites such as ‘telling their stories’ remind me of when i visited Yod Vashim, the Holocaust museum outside Jerusalem. There was one exhibit in-particular that struck me and i have never forgotten in the nine years since i have seen it. In a quiet room their was a screen, and projected on it was people telling their stories, Jews from the camps, American liberators, old women who had their childhood destroyed. The simple images and powerful words brought me to tears. 

Connecting this site and that exhibit, it  shows how the internet has broadened the scope for such a powerful tool such as digital storytelling. It also reminds me that storytelling is not new, but we find new ways to reach an audience. A new way to share information and teach the youth about our collective past.

The possibilities of this sort of tool in the history and english classroom is immense and exciting. 

I LOVE this pencil story!!!

This story using pencils as an analogy for Computers and ICT in schools cleverly articulates my sentiment on the subject.

As i have discussed earlier one of my issues with ICT in the English classroom is accessibility and education of the educators. We as teachers need access, interaction and education for ICT to be used effectively .

I think it is true that ICT is seen as the domain of a few, and the way to tackle that is access for the many. That education comes from familiarity, an opportunity to interact and education in the form of scaffolding and modeling. I’m talking about the teachers hear, not just the students.

To use Smartboards as an example; at my first prac we had one in the English faculty yet only one teacher had the knowledge to use it. I attended a seminar about them, but the only way to really get my head around it would have been to have a go.

So the balance is education and exposure, something that i think is still a theory rather than practice for many struggling with ‘pencils’.

Shane makes the observation in his blog, Growing up digital, that classes should be multi-modal where possible, fast paced and inclusive of diversified practices to engage the digital generation in the classroom. 

I can agree with this sentiment to an extent, It would be remiss of us as educators not to acknowledge and incorporate the fact that students are part of a generation that is engaged with different medium simultaneously. 

I can’t help feeling that we should be wary of this approach as a blanket teaching pedagogy. Engaging with a text, (a novel, a poem, a film) by itself, is important in that i believe part of our job as English teachers is to expose students to literacy in ALL its forms and outcomes.

Like all things i think e-learning should be in moderation.

This is a great article, by Dr Reville, that discusses the fear of technology and puts forward the idea that to fear technology is irrational because it is of our creation.

I have always said of computers that the problem is they do what i tell them to do not what i want them to do.I have always got incredably impatiant with technology, and that has come from my not understanding.  There is a great line in the piece “Human psychology tends to fear that which it does not control”. I get that. What Reville is saying is that like anything, a car, a TV, an Ipod, understanding of any technology can lead to embracing it. 

What people of my ilk need to come to grips with is that we are i the middle of an information revolution, led by the internet and the technological tools that have developed in its wake. We need to embrace it, understand it nd move with it or it is us who will be left behind.

Fear of technology, of computers needs to be tackled with education, much like all fears, lack of understanding is the danger.

Technology needs to inform and support students learning, using technology for it’s own sake or as a sort of ‘big brother’ approach to teaching is just as problematic as any instructionist approach.
The constructionist model of Plainview High, whilst idealistic displays a school environment that most would be aiming for. An environment where technology is used to support and further educational opportunities rather than the Highville approach of using technology as a tool of school bureaucracy.
Like any tool of learning in the classroom technology should be used to benifit the learning, to allow greater understanding and interaction of the students in the activities planned for them.
Allowing students access to technology such as the internet and digital material means that students can use the technology to expand on their understanding of texts, for example if an english class is doing a unit on adolescants, they can use the internet to research the issues and concepts raised in the novel they are studying. The students can then apply their learning in a digital project. 
Romeo’s article pushs the Constructionism Vs Instructionism concepts to extremes however i do not think he has gone byond the realm of what is possible, if technology is viewed as a kind of cure all, then it has the possibility of being mis-utalised and be as unappealing to students as any educational form. If students are able to use technology that is part of their cultural understanding to inform and propell their learning then we as educators have used it well.