Chapter 10 Reflection

A quite thought-provocative quote at the beginning of the chapter “We don't know what we don't know, a fact that ensures we all have a lot to learn” (Ohler, p. 125) will most probably go on my syllabus next school year. It is deep and it makes me (and will hopefully make my students) a lot more willing to learn new things and new approaches to things.

However, to get back to the storytelling topic, it is true that we know little about authenticity of Native American stories when they finally make their way and are available for us to read or listen to. Ohler provides a few tips on how to learn more on this issue and reminds us that we need to be respectful and caring when we touch this subject.

I like the tips that are given to people who want to explore this area further. My favorite one is “it's a good idea to officially recognize the differences in storytelling approaches when involving Native themes or community members in a storytelling project (Ohler, p. 126). So, in other words, it is essential that we recognize other approaches to storytelling, not just the western “hero’s journey” approach. We need to teach our kids that there are people who think differently and who tell their stories differently, and it’s not “wrong”.

The notion that it’s not wrong is well addressed in the next part of the chapter when author gives examples of nontraditional western authors. “Antiheroes, antiplots, stream of consciousness, telling with texture, and other forms of narrative all stretch our concept of story in interesting and useful ways” (Ohler, p. 127), he says.

Also, the idea of drawing ideas from music videos is great. This approach would make digital storytelling so much more meaningful and familiar for our students.

Music video artists masterfully repackage songs that already make deep emotional connections with young people by adding powerful visual imagery that intensifies the connection. Coincidentally, these are the same young people who will be creating digital stories in your classroom of about the same length using tools similar to those used by music video artists.  

Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 128). Kindle Edition.

I personally believe that young people would greatly benefit from evaluating nontraditional digital stories that are already out there and gathering ideas while watching. It could be a start of something beautiful :)

And I would like to end with Ohler’s finishing section “Bottom line: Story structure is culturally dependent, not universal” (p. 129).