Why Digital Storytelling?

Engaging students in the process of digital storytelling is a wonderful way to provide the students with the opportunity to create something that is authentically a demonstration of their own learning as well as a great way to thoughtfully integrate technology within the classroom. Stories in and of themselves are a great learning tool that has been used for millennia by all cultures leading back to the eve of civilization and prehistory. Current non-literate hunter-gatherer populations that are still present in some parts of our world still have vibrant oral storytelling traditions. Today we can harness easy to use technological tools that are internet-based such as voicethread.com, storybird.com, and many other that are based on programs like Windows MovieMaker for PC and IMovie for Mac that are usually present in basic Office Suite applications. Regardless of the tools that keep changing that are becoming simpler and easier to use, students can definitely be engaged by creating stories. According to Bernajean Porter, a respected consultant on digital stories and other technologies,

"Digital Storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice. Digital storytelling is an emerging art form of personal, heartful expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity." (Click here for her website)

 

The power of stories and Digital storytelling is a compelling way that engages the students in various skills. This includes:

• having the students learn about the different elements of a story,
  
• practicing communication through crafting stories,
  
• grasping content that is relevant to whatever is being taught by understanding and creating a story, and also
  
• providing the students with an avenue to integrate technology in an authentic learning task.
  

The benefits to digital storytelling are explained by this wiki and are as follows:

• using digital storytelling will assist both the visual as well as auditory learners
  
• allowing students to practice and engage in active learning
  
• developing a sense of ownership, or pride in work
  
• increasing fluency
  
• learning to think critically about what might be the most effective combinations to create audio and visual elements
  
• increasing technology and media literacy
  
• teaching primary resources and other content-specific skills
  

There are multiple websites that can assist us with examples and approaches to utilizing digital stories. Here are some of them that I suggest and the reasons for their inclusion on this list. The University of Houston's website titled the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling is an excellent and trustworthy resource. It has great pages on the website that explore important aspects of digital storytelling and is definitely important to refer to when understanding the overall uses and resources for digital storytelling. Another great resource for Digital Storytelling is called the Center for Digital Storytelling, accessed here. It is a great resource that includes examples of digital stories in different contexts for different uses. Both of these sites are reputable and are a great place to start understanding digital storytelling.

The following resources are wikis that provide further details about digital storytelling and their application within the classroom. Some sites include rubric examples, lessons, and other items that are useful to the classroom teacher. The first wiki is by Dr. Couros,, and serves as a simple resource on the subject with helpful links. The next wiki that can provide some useful information is from ISTE (International Society for Technology Educators), the pages about links, definitions, and examples are the most useful. A practical wiki that has lesson ideas, rubrics, and other essential information is here. A great stop for teachers who are expecting to use digital storytelling in their classrooms soon. The final recommended wiki is here, and it has a presentation that further explores digital storytelling and its uses in the classroom.

Now it is time for the conversation to begin. What do you think about digital storytelling? What uses do you think it has educationally? How should it be used in the classroom? What age group is appropriate for creating digital storytelling and why (elementary education majors, refer to storybird.com before you answer this question)? What content areas do you see digital storytelling used the most? How can you apply it in your own content area? Please post your responses below.

Why Teach Social Studies to Middle and Secondary Students?

"Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results." Machiavelli

 

Teaching history and social science effectively is one of the most important functions that the educational system does for its citizens and future voters. Involving students in the social sciences through creating and implementing authentic learning experiences is essential to assisting students to become 21st century global citizens. In our global, digital world full of technologies and diversions we must be able to empower students to become critically engaged in the study of history and current events. It is also essential to provide them with the information literacy skills so that students can navigate and sift through the overwhelming waves of information so that they can become productive U.S. citizens. Another fundamental component that social science instruction should involve is to provide students with inter-cultural skills to interact and collaborate with others throughout the world. All of these parts work together to create the conditions for successful social science instruction.

As a social studies teacher you are making the decisions about what learning goals are involved, what instructional strategies are the best way for the students to meet these learning goals, what is the best form of assessment for demonstrating what students learned, and how does it connect to state and national standards for social studies. In addition you also have to create relevance for the students with regard to why the information being learned is important as well as how it relates to their present and future success in the 21^st century. Scaffolding instruction to meet the levels of the students is an essential component to any good teaching. Good planning provides ways for students to learn information and be exposed to it in different ways such as visual, text, oral, etc…When this is done through good unit planning it assists with scaffolding. Supplementary resources for units that are from a broad range of text levels and provide students with choices for demonstration of knowledge also assist in scaffolding and differentiating the content within the unit.

 

Your personality, character, and experiences strongly influence what content you teach, what lessons you design, and the learning community that is established in your classes. Finding ways to reach out to other teachers is a particular need that you must fill if you are going to be able to remain effective and reduce your burnout. Many schools may provide common planning time with your departments and/or interdisciplinary teams. This is your avenue to share your frustrations, troubleshoot, and help you to not get burnt out during the academic year; however these relationships with other teachers may also be a part of the frustration if you do not find other support outside of your colleagues. Also your interactions with parents and other family members of your students can provide challenges. Communicating with parents as often as possible is important, particularly for your most challenging students. Notes, emails, and phone calls home can help build these relationships, but make sure you are sharing both the positives and negatives of the students so that the parents understand that you truly want that student to succeed.

 

Teaching social studies to students is both a rewarding and challenging experience. As you reflect on your role as a social studies teacher in middle or high school what are you looking forward to the most? What are you looking forward to the least? Why did you choose social studies as the subject you wanted to teach? Use the ideas above about the role of social studies in education, effective practices in instructional design, your background and experiences, as well as your communication with parents of students as you articulate your answer. Please post your response to this and other thoughts on social studies education and your role as a teacher in the discussion section below.

 

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." Alexis de Tocqueville