Chapter 1 Reflection, "Confessions of a Digital Storytelling Teacher: Twenty Revelations About Digital Storytelling in Education"

Before starting to read Jason Ohler’s “Digital Storytelling in the Classroom,” I honestly wasn’t sure what the book was truly going to be about. While I knew it would cover digital storytelling in some way, I figured the technical aspect of it all would play the biggest role. However, after reading chapter one in Ohler’s book, I have a renewed sense of anticipation of all the skills that I might learn and be able to use in my own classroom. The fact that Ohler places such a huge importance on students understanding how to create a story, and to help them use technology to enhance the story instead of the other way around, is a refreshing change from what is typically taught in a technology classroom. His explanation of his seventh revelation helped clarify this fact, and I can totally see how those storytelling skills could be useful in all classrooms. Even in classes that don’t have access to digital storytelling technologies, if teachers are making sure students learn the basics of how to create a good story, those skills will serve them well when they finally do have access to appropriate technology pieces.

The other revelation that stood out to me was his eighth revolution about how learning communities are actually storytelling communities as well. It really is true that in all aspects of our lives, we use storytelling to interact with those around us. Whether the stories are short ones about our morning adventures, or longer ones about a summer vacation, stories truly encapsulate our daily lives. Relating this back to the education world, I can remember being a kid wanting to try to get my teachers to go off on tangents in class, telling stories that didn’t really have anything to do with what we were doing. It was almost a goal of the class to try to keep the teacher off track, and to get them to tell us some good story. Yes, part of that reason might have been to delay some academic work, but another part was to try to get to hear a story! Hearing others tell their own stories helps take us out of our own minds for just a little bit, and is usually a refreshing break from the daily grind. And I’ll admit that I have been guilty of telling stories that are not necessarily related to the topic at hand in my own classroom. So much learning can take place during a simple story, whether it is directly related to the standard at hand or not.  I absolutely agree with this concept and am excited to see how the rest of the book will play out now.