Digital Stories 1: Let’s Get Started!

Digital Stories!
In class we talked about the way that digital stories can make someone feel. It brings about emotions and gives you an appreciation of the topic. For example, with the digital story on the holocaust, the video turns the tragedy into something real rather than just a past tragedy. Digital stories helps students and people in general remember ideas and gain a respect for many diverse topics. The images in digital stories stay a lot longer in someone’s mind than if they were seeing pictures in a text book. The music is part of the process and brings the pictures alive along with the narration. My group is working on a digital story about the poet Robert Frost. Our goal is to bring this man back to life in our story. We want our future students to remember Frost and our story will help them to personally know the author. Frost’s life tells the story of a struggling poet where fame or recognition did not come over night. This is one idea that we want our students to understand about our digital story. (Life was not always good for Robert Frost it was hard)

In class, we talked about how to begin a digital story. In beginning, you need to write a narration then find the pictures, music, and have an idea about transitions. After completing these steps you have to go back and edit the narration because it will change based on the pictures.(Etc) It’s important to follow these steps in writing a digital story because it will guide you to success. I’m going to be an English teacher and this reminds me of the writing process. You shouldn’t just try to write without brainstorming.(Etc) Our group is preparing to take these steps in writing and creating our digital story. One of us is writing the narration and then when that is finished we will collaborate and find pictures.Continuing the digital story process until we are finished)

As are group worked together in class, I thought about the importance of group work. I have always been scared of collaborating with others. In the past I have found that many people are unreliable and I’m a perfectionist. My attitude has changed and I have been able to trust others to get the job done. In dealing with others it’s important to have patience. (I have learned this as I have gotten older in relationships. My friends are never on time and it’s annoying but I have patience because it’s worth dealing with it to be their friend.) Basically, it’s worth having patience with other people to collaborate a million good ideas as a group. After loving group work this semester I hope that next semester I can have as great of success with such collaborators.

Video: NASA Digital Story
The first thing that I noticed about the video is that it has a purpose. First, to inform students about NASA and then to show the significant contributions space exploration brings to the world. It is important because students are able to learn visually about NASA and have a deeper appreciation for the program. For example, in the video it shows faces with names of those that have lost their lives in space or attempting to go to space. Students will now feel a connection to NASA and have a respect for their accomplishments in space. They will be able to see a bigger picture of the goals of NASA and have a better understanding of the subject. A digital story is able to capture moments and feeling greater than any textbook. After watching this digital story my hope is to create something similar in my field of English. As this video makes a connection with readers I also would like to do the same in creating my digital story on Robert Frost. My purpose is for my students to personally understand the author and feel a connection to his poetry. I know that music, pictures and stories will help me in accomplishing my goal.