RUNNING HEAD: Digital Storytelling Reflection

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Digital Storytelling: Reflection

As I reflect now on the digital storytelling process, some of Jason Ohlers words resonate

within me: [Stories] make order out of what would otherwise be the ongoing chaos of life and
help each of us create a sense of personal identity in relation to our communities and the world in
which we live (2013, p. 9). In my mind, the time that I spent in Germany displays itself as a
whirlwind of emotion, a nexus of experiences, and a chaotic amalgamation of memories; in
short: Its sometimes hard to make sense of what I experienced. However, Ive found, since
having undertaken this project, that making these memories, experiences, and emotions more
tangible, more defined can help one to make sense of it all. Now, as I sit and watch, and re-watch
my finished product, I think fondly on the times I had in Germany, and I also think ahead to how
my newfound understandings of digital storytelling will affect my life in the futureand the
lives of my students.
Every day I am faced with technological challenges in the classroom. Its not that I
myself am challenged directly by technology, e.g. unable to get the projector working or
incapable of logging on to my computer; rather, Im challenged indirectly by technology for
students attention. Technology has been slowly creeping into the crevasses of our lives for the
past several decades. Portable devices with Bluetooth, Wifi, and data capabilities have come to
pervade just about every waking minute of our livesespecially of the lives of todays youth.
This is especially noticeable in the classroom, where teachers often compete for students
attentionour main competitor being smartphones.
My host teacher tells me: Tom, you have to be an entertainer. You have to be more
interesting to them [the students] than their smartphones. Wow. Thats a tall order, I think to
myself. How and I supposed to entertain them or engage them more effectively than the palmsized contraption in their pockets that provides them with limitless information and
entertainment, as well as connects them instantaneously with their friends, family, and the world?
This has been one of my greatest struggles since having begun my internship and student
teaching this year. Sometimes I lose heart and think: Ill never beat those phonesAnd, in a
way, Im right: I wont. Furthermore, my goal should not be to beat them, but to embrace them. I
think again of something Jason Ohler wrote in his book Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Digital Storytelling Reflection

(2013): More than ever, students living in the overwhelming and often distracting world of
technical possibility need the clear voice of a teacher who can help guide them through the
learning process (p. 15). From this I derive the notion that, if I cannot beat them, well, Ill join
them. Why not embrace the technology that has become so much a part of the students daily
lives? Why not try to incorporate the seemingly limitless possibilities for creativity, ingenuity,
and expression into my curricula? Thus, thats what Im determined to do.
Tentatively, I believe that I will try to incorporate the digital storytelling concept/unit into
my World Literature class (for sophomores). So often its the case that students are disinterested
in literature because they dont see the point, think its boring, or struggle through it in some
other capacity. This is a real shame, since literature contains some of the most poignant and
moving vignettes of human life and experience that any media has in the entirety of human
history. However, I believe now that if I can engage them with media in which they are generally
interested and also present them with the freedom to express themselves in some way, they will
undertake a similar transformative process to the one I undertook. Although still tentative, I can
imagine a digital story project looking something like this:
We read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Then, students will consider the
statement (made by the author himself): There is a way to be good again, and we will consider it
as a question: Is there a way to be good again? These thinking/enduring questions lie at the heart
of a literature curriculum from which students learn about themselves and the complexities of the
human experience. Likely wrought with emotion, students will undertake a project wherewith
they demonstrate their own opinion about the enduring question. Students will relate the question
to their own experience(s) in life and they will also draw parallels between themselves and the
main character, Amir (who also seeks to answer the question: Is there a way to be good again?).
In this way, students will be challenged to: 1) express themselves using media in a way that is
likely unfamiliar to them; 2) learn new skills and techniques that are essential for the storytelling
process; and 3) come to have a greater understanding of the piece at hand and of literatures
connection with our lives.

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References

Hosseini, K. (2003). The kite runner. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Ohler, J. (2013). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning,
and creativity (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.