Final Digital Story and Blog #8

Creating my final digital story project has been a lot of work! Making the storyboard and all of the other related parts last week took me forever, but I thought that making the final video would be a little bit easier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. A few people had already posted their final videos and watching them just ended up confusing me even more about what was expected and what we were supposed to be making. Although many of us have corresponded quite a bit through facebook trying to make sure we were clear on the expectations, watching the posted videos just made me question if I was even doing the right thing. Because it was really too late to check with others, I decided to just do what I thought was right, and hope for the best. But really, it reinforced the fact that explaining the directions and expectations beforehand was so important. When I do end up using DST with my own students, I know that I will have to be explicitly clear with that fact.

Regarding the actual putting together piece of my video, I found that trying to make a story out of my culminating experience proposal was not easy at all. I think I mentioned this last week, but it seems like the proposal would work for an informational kind of video, but not necessarily one where we are trying to utilize digital storytelling strategies from Ohler’s book. Trying to make my proposal into a story took a lot of effort and rethinking. Although my final story makes sense to me, I’m not entirely sure if it will make sense to others. But I do know that I did my best, and that’s really all we can ask of ourselves at this point.

As for the actual pieces of the video, getting the video clips to work with the still images, music files, and narration pieces took a lot of work. I wasn’t really sure how to add music and keep the audio levels constant. I’m not sure if it is possible with windows live movie maker, but I wanted to be able to increase the sound at certain points, and then decrease it at others. But I couldn’t find a way to make that work, so I had to just make do with keeping the music quiet. I did get a lot better with my transitions and effects, and felt they were easier to get right, now that I have used this version of movie maker for awhile now.

If I had had more time, I think I would have really double and triple checked the requirements and expectations for this video. With the examples provided and the change of instructions from one week to the next, I never really felt like I understood what was needed. Because of that, my video ideas were really wishy-washy. I would have liked to get some more and better clips of students in my class, but at this time of the school year, that is really difficult...so I just had to make do with what I could get. Also, the music was really difficult for me to figure out. I am not good at just finding the right song, and I spent way too long just coming up with something to even use in my video. Then...I forgot to add the songs to my final credits, and actually had to go back and re-save it with the songs added. 


Other than that though, I feel like this was a great learning process, and that I really did learn a lot throughout the course of this class. I wish that I could start working with some of my students on some DST projects right away, but will probably have to wait until next school year. After all the work I’ve done this semester, I am very excited to see what my students will be able to do! 

Video #4, Rough Draft of Final Digital Story

My culminating experience proposal is about the effect that using iPods in the classroom can have on overall math achievement and motivation in children. When defining my story core, I would have to focus on where education is today and what is expected of students in current classrooms. With the expectations of NCLB, all of our emphasis has gone to testing and what can be shown on a test. Students are focusing on learning basic skills that are not necessarily developmentally appropriate and are doing so in a very drill and kill manner. In the past, these methods might have worked with the way education used to be, with the way the world used to be. But the world has changed. We are in the 21^st century and need to be preparing our students to succeed in the world of today, and even more importantly, the world of tomorrow. Using the old methods of teaching just are not effective anymore, and as educators, we need to adapt.

The use of iPods in the classroom has been shown to be very effective in creating enthusiasm for learning and interest in the subjects being taught. Because kids are using these kinds of technologies in their everyday lives, what might be difficult for adults who are not from their generation, is just second nature to today’s children. If we can use the materials that speak to kids in the way they learn best, we most likely have a better chance of helping them actually learn. This challenge between the ways of the past and the ways of the future is the essence of my story.

I hope to focus on the evolution of children who have the opportunity to use the iPods in their classrooms, how they not only show increased learning, but also increased motivation for learning in general. Children want to use these kinds of technologies, and even though they are doing work that is educational, they feel that it is fun, so they are more inclined to actually participate and learn from what they are doing. As teachers accept the challenges of working with new kinds of technologies, they themselves will reap the rewards from their students’ scores, their students will benefit by increased learning and fun in the classroom, and society will benefit by gaining people who are prepared to work and live in the 21^st century.

For my story map, I chose to use Campbell’s Adventure Diagram again as it worked for me the last time. I had a tough time trying to think of the parts of a story in relation to my CE proposal, as that just didn’t seem like any kind of “story” to me. But, for the purpose of the assignment, I tried to fit the ideas from my proposal into the parts of the story map. The Call to Adventure was basically the fact that current educational methods are not working for today’s students. Moving into the problems and challenges section, I talked about how teachers need to teach in ways that work for current students, and how multiplication is such an essential skill in mathematics, which is the focus of my proposal concept. I mentioned some of the barriers that we face including money for the technology, lack of technology skills for teachers, not enough actual evidence/research, wariness from administration, and the fact that using iPods would not be using the core curriculum.

Going into the resolution part of my plan, I talked about how the iPods just need to be given a chance, the teachers can gain new skills levels utilizing technology, which will result in students learning in more exciting ways. Finally, for the closure section, I mentioned the hopeful evidence that iPods can actually increase learning and motivation for children, that teachers truly could learn the new skills, and how children really would enjoy learning more. Honestly, it was a stretch for me to pull a “story” from my proposal, but this was my best effort!

Video #3

Wow, this was a week filled with learning for me! While I have made videos before using music and pictures, I have never before made any using actual video clips, and I learned this week why. It was a huge struggle! My first issue was coming up with a topic, and I honestly had NO clue what to do. I was searching online looking for ideas trying to figure out what I could teach. Every time I thought I had something that would work, I realized that it would work much better with still photos, and wouldn’t look so great using actual video. So, I kept thinking, asking my friends and family, and turning to colleagues for their ideas as well. In the end, time just got the best of me, and I had to resort to making a video on something that wasn’t very exciting at all, and actually seemed totally boring. But it was something I could do, as I had my niece and nephew willing to be videotaped for the project. So I just decided that for this week, I would have to stick with teaching about how to do the laundry.

The actual taping process was tricky as I had no idea what I would need, want to use, or end up using in the final product. I tried to come up with a basic script before hand, with the concepts I wanted to include in the text overlays, sort of like my own storyboard. Although it didn’t help my confusion during the video-taping part, I do think it gave me ideas of what I needed, so I would definitely do that again for any videos I’m making.

Update…I had this all ready to post, but then ended up running into even more issues just trying to get my video to upload! Although the last two videos I posted were uploaded with no problems at all, when I tried to do the same thing with this video, I kept getting an error message saying there was a problem uploading my video. It wouldn’t work! I went back and re-saved my movie, thinking maybe I had done something wrong and saved it as a wrong file type or something. Nope, that didn’t work either. So I tried using a different browser, as I know I’ve had to switch back and forth amongst three different browsers all semester long. But nope, that wasn’t working either. Finally, I just did the same thing, trying to add the video, using Firefox, and it seemed to be working. At least it didn’t give me the error message right away. So…I waited…and waited…just hoping that it would actually upload and I could post this video already! After ten minutes, I got the same error message.

Sooo…I was back to square one. I see now why some people shy away from technology. It’s usually in those last couple steps that things seem to fall apart, and you can’t finalize the project. So, I went back to my movie maker file, and decided to try saving it under a different choice. I tried using the Windows Phone, Small choice, hoping that my video would just upload to my blog!!! After ten more minutes of waiting while trying to post…I finally got the message saying that the video was processing! Yes, the video might be tiny, and very hard to see, but if it will show up on my blog, then at this point, I am just going to accept it and be happy!!! And success…finally! I will add this reflection to the video post, and hope that it will post correctly. Wow, this really was a LONG week!!!

The Power of Pink, Video #2

This is the story of what I went through the year I got my pink slip. While that seems like such a normal thing nowadays, for me, it was a year that I will never forget.

Chapter 13 Reflection, The Digital Storytelling Toolbox: The Tools Teachers and Students Need to Tell Digital Stories

After going through the actual video production process this past week, I was reminded about how much actually goes into the making of a video. Then after reading chapter 13, I was reminded about why I often stress about this whole process. Ohler talks about how there are always new and updated products coming out related to software, etc., and how it’s basically impossible to stay up-to-date with all of that ever-changing information. He also mentions how so much is available if you spend a little time searching for it online...and that right there is my main problem. I always want to find the best possible program or product for whatever it is I’m doing, and spend WAY too much time online during these searches of mine. Looking for programs, reading specifications, going through the reviews, debating on price...that time adds up so fast! I appreciated Ohler’s suggestion to make a deal with yourself that, “you will spend no more than X amount of time looking for something,” (Ohler, 2008, p.167), but wonder if I would actually be able to follow that piece of advice. For the sake of this class, I am actually going to try that though, and when working on our videos, I am going to try to specify a short amount of time that I can spend doing my searches, after which I need to decide on something and just go with it. In a few weeks, we shall see whether I can actually succeed with that goal!

The other thoughts I had while reading this chapter involved all of the different suggestions Ohler had on specific materials. I feel like I have a lot of the basic technology needs for my classroom, but definitely am guilty of wanting more even though it really isn’t necessary. I feel a little silly admitting it, but all of Ohler’s explanations and talk about the wireless microphones is really making me want to invest in one...like now! I’m not even entirely sure what a wireless mic is (obviously I have an idea, but I’m having trouble picturing using one with students, and just am not sure about the look, ease of use, etc.), but now I really want to get one to use in my classroom as I attempt to start some DST in the near future. Luckily Ohler also has his list of resources in the back of the book, so I will give that a look before I decide on anything. It just seems like having one of these could really help make the DST process easier, and with younger kids, I am all for anything like that! So overall, I definitely fell into the category Ohler talked about of people who want the new gadgets, but because of his other good suggestions, I think I will be able to make some good decisions about what I need or just want, and then go from there. 

Chapter 12 Reflection, The Media Production Process, Phases II-V: From Preproduction to Performance

After reading through chapters 11 and 12, I feel that I have a pretty good basic understanding of Ohler’s five phases in the media production process. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, and I wasn’t left with too many questions just reading about the different steps. However, even while reading the explanations, I found that I was making internal comments to myself that certain bullet points seemed a little unnecessary, or not entirely essential for all projects. One example would be the first bullet in phase II, developing a media list. While I do feel that this is important, actually writing all of those things down just seems counterproductive to getting the project done. Yes I could take time to write it all out, but when time is limited, as it always is in a classroom, I’m not sure I (or my students either) would need to take the time to carry out this entire step. Ohler mentions, “Don’t be surprised when students don’t want to spend a lot of time with this step,” (Ohler, 2008, p. 150). It’s hard for me to want to persuade my students to do that though, when I’m not entirely convinced of the process either.

Then, after going through the media process myself today, I found even more areas that just did not work for me personally. Going back to phase I, I understand the story planning phase is necessary as far as generating ideas and solidifying the story core, story map, and storyboard. However, it seems a bit backwards to me trying to write out the whole storyboard if you are using media (pictures or videos) that is already available.  I fully support the story core and story map process, and felt that it definitely helped me narrow down my focus, and give me a more clear idea of what I was doing for my video. But I didn’t agree with the story board process being done at that point, as I already had the pictures that I was going to use. My story was clear, and I knew generally what images I wanted. But to write it out on paper would have meant changing things, drawing arrows, spending a TON of extra time that I didn’t have trying to get my thoughts in order. Instead, I deviated from the rules a bit, went through my pictures, created a folder for images that I knew I definitely wanted to use, and then put them in order directly on the computer. I felt that was a form of storyboarding that worked for me, although it was going against what Ohler mentions, as I was using technology before I was supposed to. It worked though...as I then was able to go to the written story board and just begin coming up with my narration that would go along with my images. I didn’t draw the pictures because I had them right there on my screen. But I used the written story board to help with that part, which seemed to work for me.

As far as phase III goes, I found that this part was almost done for my simple story, since I had already gone through the process when I found and ordered all of my pictures. I just had to simply add them into the movie maker, and I was good to go. For more complex videos, I would take more time with this step adding music or recorded narration. But my thinking is that if we kind of merge phases II and III using technology, we can save time, and streamline the whole process. That’s how I felt it worked for me as I would have wasted SO much more time if I hadn’t been able to get the pictures together right on my computer.

Finally, phases IV and V weren’t too tricky either since I already had the information ready to go. I found that for Windows Live Movie Maker, adding the transitions and effects that I wanted FIRST was the way to go. When I added my captions in and then changed the slide duration or transition time, it messed around with all of my captions. When I redid it and saved the captions for the end, I didn’t have that problem at all. Lesson learned! As far as the performance phase, I was able to upload my project onto my blog fairly easily, and all in all, I found that going through this process was helpful for me to see what worked for me and what didn’t. I know every project will be different and when working with students, this is always true anyways. But I do feel that I learned a lot and have much more respect for the storytelling process as a whole now!

All About Me, Video #1

This is my first attempt at making a video using Windows Live Movie Maker. Although it doesn't tell an entire story, it does give everyone a brief glimpse into my life, and what is most important to me. My family, my dance background, and my life as a teacher all helped mold me into the person I am today.