Chapter 11 Reflection

When students write, they think. When they think, they create better stories (Ohler, p. 144).  This is exactly the reason why I require my students to reflectively write about what they’ve learned in their  notebooks/journals. Writing makes them think. Students thinking about what they are learning are more likely to want to expand their knowledge and ask good questions. Writing is such a great tool across the curriculum.  But we need to get back to storytelling.

When I started reading this chapter, I immediately thought of a research paper steps. The steps can truly be applied to anything in life: first you plan, then gather information/materials/ingredients, then develop your project, then “beautify” it, then share with others. The cake idea was great but my favorite part was the author saying,

Translation is a great way to test for comprehension. Students can translate something only if they understand it.  

Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 135). Kindle Edition.

In my biology class many years ago, we were asked to find something that we saw was analogous to an animal cell. My group’s project was “A Cell Is Like a Supermarket.” Then we explained that the management was like the nucleus in the cell, the shopping carts were like ER, people who pack our purchases were like the Golgi apparatus, etc. There would have been no way for us to be able to do this assignment if we didn’t know how a cell worked. This was one of the assessments our teacher used to assess our understanding of how a cell works.

The next passage I would like to reflect upon is a humorous reality,

I called on a student who was eager to share his understanding of it, and he explained that Harry was in a green room and that everything else was added by computer later because the walls were green. All the kids agreed-one even said "Duh!" Every adult in the room asked me, "What's a green room?" This is the norm.  

Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 141). Kindle Edition.

Kids know about different technological possibilities out there. All we need to do is steer them in the right direction and they will produce wonderful results.

And to end it all with a “carrot”,

An important point for teachers to consider is that DST can be a carrot at the end of such a process for students who might be more enthusiastic about media production than report writing.  

Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (p. 148). Kindle Edition.

Use any tool you have to engage your students – that is what every day in teaching is about. Let’s do it well, let’s do it effectively, let’s play on students’ strengths and help them blossom!