Post #4 - Reading Reflection #1 - Digital Storytelling

 DIGITAL STORYTELLING - Blog Post #4

The Art of Storytelling:  A Student Librarian's Journey

This week, I sat down to view examples of digital storytelling provided by my professor and classmates.  I was unprepared for the flow of emotions that these storytelling experiences caused.  I was brought to tears with the beauty of a father's love and a family's struggle with illness through the amazing digital experience of HAIR LOVE by Matthew Cherry. Even though I have never experienced these events, I was able to make a connection with the author/ digital storyteller.  Once I was able to compose myself, I was then impacted so deeply by the father/daughter experiences shared through RESAVED by Marie Lovejoy and DADDY'S GIRL by Deidra Johnson, which can also be accessed, along with many other narratives through the Center for Digital Storytelling website.  Once again, I found a connection to people I've never met, who are from different parts of the country, and from different backgrounds, but their stories rang true to my experiences.  These connections would never have been made without Digital Storytelling.  

The basic definition provided in the article "What is Digital Storytelling" (n.d) provides a cold and unfeeling explanation of "the practice of using computer- based tools to tell stories...[by] combining the art of telling stories with a variety of multimedia, including graphics, audio, video, and Web publishing".   Chuang et.al adds the important terms of "meaningful" and "authentic" to the definition, which is how this experience is meant to be for the creator/student and the audience (Chuang, et al., 2019). This media-storytelling platform has opened a whole new world to our global community.  It allows me, the audience, to access other people, other cultures, and other experiences, as well as to be able to see the world through their eyes.  Audiences are able to make connections to the world around us through a very personal and insightful manner.  Being able to share your story and experiences allows students and users to see themselves in other people's lives.  We aren't that different, but we all have different experiences that you might never understand or be exposed to without this tool.  One hub of examples of these experiences can be viewed on STORYTELLER.  

  

Digital Storytelling is not a new concept, but with the rise in virtual learning, digital storytelling is getting a reboot of sorts.  What was once more of a "learning project" is now becoming a necessary "teaching tool" and "interactive digital experience" in our virtual classrooms and library activities, projects, and story times.  As so many students are relying heavily on digital learning for instruction, digital storytelling is meant to enhance storytelling and not to replace it.  Librarians and teachers alike have been thrown into accessing and providing "digital storytelling activities as programming that takes advantage of social and technological structures while also responding to goals for 21st century learning" (Rebmann, 2012).  No one could have ever imaged the the critical need in this point in our history.  

With digital storytelling, this brings the concern of whether or not digital storytelling is interactive and whether or not we are loosing the personal connection of face-to-face storytelling.  This seems to be further from the truth in classrooms, as "there are many dialogs happening in digital storytelling between student and teacher, between student and self (as "audience" or viewer of the story), and between student and audience-at-large" (Morris, 2013).  The challenge is for educators to be able to devise "a way to plan and implement activities that are intellectually enriching and engaging to youth" (Rebmann, 2012).  Through research this week, I was able to locate an excellent source of different ways to implement digital storytelling, along with rubrics, graphic organizers, and images. SIX WAYS TO IMPLEMETING DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Another challenge that may need to be addressed is the question of whether or not students may loose the art of writing, but with the examples and articles located, this doesn't seem to be the case.  With digital storytelling, students and users need to have a written narrative before they begin their digital process.  This allows students the opportunity for self reflection and self editing, unlike any other assessment of knowledge.  Digital storytelling allows the students to "learn to stand back and evaluate themselves as writers and their writing as someone else might" (Tompkins, 1992,  as cited by Morris, 2013).  Being able to edit your own written work while connecting images, music, sounds, etc. to your narrative truly makes this storytelling vehicle more meaningful to 21st century students/users.  What a great tool for connecting our global community.

Other Examples/Sources I'd Like to Share:

Through this week's digital storytelling experience, I also thought about how to combine poetry into this genre.  Of course, there are plenty of student Digital Poetry Storytelling examples to share.  Here are three examples from a high school creative writing class:

Booze Between Bookends

Dear Fall, 

Imprinting the Seasons

Through continued searches, I located the Children's Literacy Assembly blog with so many sources and suggestions, as well as Michael Rosen's channel of his poetry and stories.  

As I read through a variety of poetry, these are a few that jumped out at me as examples that might be just right to be used for Digital Poetry projects/assignments.  These poems can also be found on the Poetry Foundation website and Poets.org.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost  

A Wing and a Prayer by Beth Ann Fennelly  

Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman by Sonia Sanchez

Harlem Hopscotch by Maya Angelou        (Official Music Video - Oprah Winfrey Network)

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman        (Lesson & Materials - Poetry in America)

References

Chuang, H., Hsieh, M., Cheng, Y., & Wang, C. (2019). An Instrument for assessing the development of scientific imagination via digital storytelling for elementary school students.  Creativity Research Journal. 31(4), 408-418.  Retrieved from https://doi-org.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/10.1080/10400419.2019.1670025. 

Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. (n.d.). What is digital storytelling? Retrieved from http://digitalstroytelling.coe.uh.edu/page/cfm?id-27&cid=27.

Morris, R. (2013, July). Creating, viewing, and assessing: Fluid roles of the student self in digital storytelling. School Libraries Worldwide. 19(2), 54-68. gale.com/apps/doc/A352753384/LitRC?u=colu68650&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=50a267d0. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

Rebmann, K. (2012). Theory, practice, tools. Teacher Librarian, 39(3), 30 – 34. Retrieved from https://openurl-ebsco-com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/linksvc/linking.aspx?sid=tfh&date=20120201&issn=14811782&stitle=&issue=3&volume=39&spage=30&genre=article&title=Teacher+librarian.