Brainstorming my Digital Story

I actually have a REALLY good idea how my story is going to play out and I'm excited to bring it to life.

1. Describe a positive scene from childhood in detail. What led up to this event? When and where did it happen? Who was involved? What were you thinking and feeling? Why is it an important event? What impact did it have on you?

A positive event from my childhood was when my family built our new house. What lead up to this event was that my father got a job transfer from Northern Virginia to Fairmont, West Virginia. This happened in October 1993. I was 5 years old, and had just started 1st grade. My sister was three months shy of 2 years old. We rented a house for some time, then they decided to build their own. So in the fall of 1998, the new house was stated. I was feeling over the moon! I was so happy to "help" and watch this house be build and I couldn't wait to have my own room! and just a BRAND. NEW. HOUSE. It's an important event because it ultimately shaped who I became as I grew up.

2. Describe a negative scene from childhood in detail. What led up to this event? When and where did it happen? Who was involved? What were you thinking and feeling? Why is it an important event? What impact did it have on you?

A negative scene from my childhood was Christmas Eve, 1996. I was in fourth grade and my dad and I were heading to the store to get some last minute items for a Christmas party. (Before I continue, a bit of a backstory... I am my dad's oldest kid, and since he didn't have a son, we did EVERYTHING together for a long time. I was definitely daddy's little girl. We lived out in the middle of nowhere and so while it seems extreme that a 9 year old was allowed and able to drive a 4 wheeler and lawnmower, that was the case for me. Remember, it was the 90s.) Anyway, as we were heading out, he tossed me the keys and told me to start the truck, something that I had done many times before. While I was doing that, he went into the garage to get the checkbook out of the parked car inside. So I start the truck, it was a standard and unfortunately when I started it up, it lurched forward, directly into the garage door, pushing the parked car forward, trapping him between the parked car and the workbench, breaking his leg. Now, was it stupid for a grown man to give a 9 year old car keys?? YES. But it is what it is and it was a freak accident. I had to call 911. The ambulance came, and he had to be life-lighted to Ruby Memorial. This is something that I will NEVER forget. It terrified me and for a long time after, I felt incredibly guilty. 

3. Describe a particular event from your teen-aged years that stands out in your memory today. This can be positive or negative. What led up to the event? What happened? Where and when? Who was involved? What were you thinking and feeling? Why is it an important event? What impact did the event have on you.

Honestly, I can't think of anything that really stands out from my teenage years. The only major event that happened was that I graduated high school, and so many other things have happened to me since then, that I don't even count that as anything. I mainly just went to school and did homework as a teenager. Since I already know that my video will not pull from my teenage years, I'm just going to leave it as this.




4. Describe a vivid or important memory from any time in your adult years. Again, this can be positive or negative. It can be about anything – family, work, whatever. The scene stands out in your mind today as being especially vivid or important. Please describe what led up to the event. Then describe the scene in detail. What happened? Where and when? Who was involved? What were you thinking and feeling? Why is it an important event? What impact has the event had on you?

So far in my adult like, the event that sticks out to me most was when my parents separated in the spring of 2010. To make a very long story short, my dad has a drinking problem and was guilty of an affair; my sister and I found out in a terrible way, in the middle of the night after another fight between mom and dad. He left that night, and was MIA for a few days, then came back to get some of his stuff. I was feeling that my family  was being torn apart. I was mad at him for tearing it apart. Then I didn't know the whole story, so I just couldn't understand WHY this was happening. Yes, I was an adult, and very mature for my age. But this single event threw me for a loop. It demanded that I grow up even more even faster. I was the oldest, it was my job to hold my mother and sister together. Honestly, I can't even begin to tell you all the ways this has impacted me. My parents were married for almost 25 years, I never thought this would happen. Even today, over 5 years later, my family still struggles to deal with this, and my dad scarcely makes an appearance in mine and my sister's lives. 

5. In looking back on your life, you may be able to identify particular “turning points” – episodes through which you experienced an important change in your life. Please choose one key turning point scene and describe it in detail. If you feel your life story contains no clear turning points, then describe a particular episode in your life that comes closer than any other to qualifying for a turning point – a scene where you changed in some way. Again, please describe what led up to the event, what happened in the event, where and when it happened, who was involved, what you were thinking and feeling, and so on. Also, please tell me how you think you changed as a result of this event and why you consider this event to be an important scene in your life story today.

Graduating college was a turning point for me. But the scenario that I described above has been the biggest turning point in my entire life. It threw my entire world off kilter. It has taught me patience, understanding beyond belief, and empathy. I'm slow to anger, and I never want to make anyone feel as small and helpless as I have felt numerous times in the past 5 years. I know now that I will never be in a relationship with someone who chooses money or alcohol over their family or me. It's not worth it, and in my opinion, it just asking for heartache. I went through it and I watched my mother go through it, and I refuse to let myself do that again or to put this in a child.

The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling

The 5 stories I watched from Story Center:
Preservation
1890 Stories
Lost and Found
Finding

Resaved --- my favorite




Element #1: Point of View

What is the point of view in each? The point of view is 1st person
Whose voice do you hear? The narrator Marie Lovejoy

Element #2: Dramatic Question

"Shortly after college, I drained my meager back account to purchase a 1974 three-quarter ton, long bed, chevy pickup."


Element #3: Emotional Content

This video is full of emotional content. It's about a young woman chasing her dreams, not necessarily in the favor of her parents. It is also about a father and daughter relationship, which is what spoke to me personally. It's about love and loss.


Element #4: Your Voice

I believe the narrator does a very nice job using  her voice. She speaks slowly and clearly, and it easy to understand. She adds exaggeration to her voice in places to make a point and to add emphasis to a particular word. She isn't monotone throughout and her voice pitch ranges, making her easy to listen to and be engaged in her story.


Element #5: Sound Track

Does your digital story have a sound track? How does it add depth to the visual images? Does it distract? 

This sound track for this story is "Take Our Time" by Abby Jo and Kristoffer. It starts out light and then suddenly has a louder harmonica solo that caught me off guard and kind of shocked me. After the initial intro, the music quietens so you can hear the voice. Overall, I don't feel like the music is at all a distraction.


Element #6: Economy

Look at the examples in this section and consider the decisions the authors made about length of clips, types of transitions and sequence of events. Are you able (as a viewer) to fill in the missing pieces? Give an example from your chosen digital story. 

Yes, I was able to fill in the missing pieces. I knew that her father had passed away from the transition of the picture of them in front of a lake to the picture of the tree. She focused on the lake picture for a little while, then slowly faded out; I feel that was major foreshadowing.


Element #7: Pacing

How does the narrator use their voice to pace the story? Give a specific example.

I think that she does a good job using her voice to pace the story. She doesn't speak too quickly, nor too slowly. She gives you time to view the images while talking, and she also pauses to allow for a more dramatic effect. A specific example is when transitions from the picture of them in the water to the picture of them in front of the lake. She pauses her voice for a moment, and that's when I knew something had happened to her father.

Chapter 6: Protection and Empowerment

After watching this video:

Three things I learned about storytelling are that we are impressionable and vulnerable in the face of a story, particularly as children,  storytelling can save us from having a single story of what books are, the consequence of the single story is that it robs people of dignity, but the most important thing I learned is that stories matter.

Chapter 6: Protection and Empowerment

But as the culture of sexuality keeps reaching down to younger and younger children, parents, teachers, and the general public wonder about media's influence on a young person's sense of personal and social identity. (p. 105)

I find this point very interesting. I do agree, but at the same time, this confuses me. I don't have children, I don't teach children, and there aren't any young children in my family that I see on a regular basis. I get my view and idea of "children" from when I am out in public and see them. It's difficult to me to explain exactly what I'm trying to say here, but because I don't actually interact with children, I don't see for myself how they use different types of media to shape who the are. 

This kind of heads-up on some of the disturbing aspects of contemporary culture is important because it helps adults understand what teens are seeing in the media that we're not. (p. 111)

This stuck out to me because I feel like it is so true. As an adult, if I see a Kmart commercial, I think "ohh back to school supplies...I can't wait!" I don't see a 'mean girl' stereotype, whereas a child might. And honestly, I don't remember what 7th grade me was thinking about when a certain commercial came on the TV.  But, again, with the lack of interaction with children, I am unable to get to see things from their point of view.

Some parents may choose not to limit their children's access to mass media, popular culture, and digital media. These parents hold a view of their children as capable and well able to manage the sometimes challenging, ugly, and difficult aspects of their environment. (p. 112)

This is a statement that I do disagree with. (Anyone with kids please don't take offence! I don't have kids so I just have to go on how I was raised and how I THINK I would raise a child!)

Children are children. They are too young to know what is best for them and I really don't think that they can make the best decisions for themselves. Even a mature child still needs parents who can help them to remain a child for as long as possible. It's all to easy to accidentally navigate to a dirty site, or watch a bad movie or cartoon because it's funny. I think children are too impressionable to be exposed to this type of vulgarity at a young age.

Something that comes to my mind is an experience that I had a very long time ago. The move The Ring Two was in theaters and I begged and begged my parents to let me and my best friend go see it. For some reason, they gave in and my dad took us to the theater. My younger sister, by 5 years, wasn't allowed to see it with us and she was very upset. The movie was very terrifying to me and I had bad dreams for a few nights after. Looking back, my I wish my parents would have stuck to their guns and NOT let me go see it. It was the last scary movie I have watched (and I'm still OK with that!)






Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

The Power of Storytelling

What I learned in retail
I chose this video solely on the name. I worked in retail for a few years when I was much younger, so  I thought it would be interesting to see what other young people feel compared to my feelings on the topic.

Tough guise
Honestly, again, I chose this based on the name. Tough guise is a good play on words that caught my attention. I wasn't sure what it would  be about, but I guessed it would be about him putting up some type of an appearance to spare himself misery.

To have lived
I figured out that if you hover a video, a small description pops up. I chose this video because the description pulled me in instantly. I'm interested to know who young people consider to be successful; is it just celebrities? or can it be normal people, like our friends and family?

The age of me
I chose this video because the description reminded me of myself. I have always been said to be mature for my age. And, like Faith, there are reasons for this. I agree with her when she said there is nothing to do but grow up, man up, and deal with it because life goes on.

Forever Young
I picked this video because I can relate. There are some days the memories of childhood, of my sister and best friend and family as a whole, sweep over me so strongly. There are other days when I want to go back in time and just be as carefree and happy as I was back when I was a child and every decision I made didn't directly impact my future.


Forever Young is my favorite video of the ones I watched.

1) What do you like about the digital story?

I like the fact that this can be relatable to everyone. Each person had a childhood, whether good or bad, and there is always something that one can look back on and long for again.

2) What did you learn from the digital story?

Something that I didn't really learn, but that was just confirmed, is that people are alike, no matter how different we are. We all come from somewhere and we all belong to and love someone. Our past experiences have made us who we are today, and that is something we can never truly escape.

3) What surprised you about the digital story?

Honestly, nothing really surprised me. As an adult, I sometimes long for the innocence and simplicity of childhood, so it's not a surprise that a teen who is exiting childhood and slowly becoming more responsible and independent would also long for these familiar feelings as well.

4) What social problem was the digital story addressing?

I think that it was addressing, and perhaps unbeknownst to the author, that fact that adulthood is stressful! Jobs, relationships, kids, mortgages, daycare, bills, housework, cooking, cleaning... the list goes on and one. There are times when we don't want to 'adult' anymore. I know that I feel like this and I guarantee that other people have felt like this too.

5) How did the digital story provide an example of how digital storytelling can build self esteem, help young people voice an opposition to social problems, or create an alternative to stereotypes of adolescents typically portrayed in mainstream media? 

I don't think my favorite video really shows this, so I will discuss Tough Guise. In this video, a young man feels that he needs to suppress his true identity to keep him safe. This is a MAJOR social problem. Regardless of a religious point of view, I believe that people should accept someone for who they are. I think this video helped this young man to tell his story, and let other people in his same situation know that things can be okay and get better. He mentioned that he quit theater because he didn't want to be associated with it due to it having a "gay" connotation. I think that is sad for him and that he should be able to freely enjoy his life and the people/experiences that will come with it.

6) Do (or how do) these digital stories provide evidence of that these young people are engaged in analysis of their own culture?

Yes, I think these videos very much provide evidence that young people are engage in the analysis of their culture. Hiding your true self to be accepted, growing up quickly because you are forced to deal with adult things... There are two great examples of kids being aware of what they need to do to survive.

7) Do (or how do) these digital stories support a healthy respect for multiculturalism and diversity?

I think these stories do show support and respect for multiculturalism and diversity. There are kids from, what appears to be, well off families; nice house, nice clothes, educated. And there are also kids from not so great off families; divorce, homelessness, uneducated parents, not having an income. These videos show a great range of people with an even greater range of messages that they are using to tell their stories.

Chapter 5: Composing With Media Across the Curriculum

After listening to this excerpt:

Three things I learned about storytelling are that storytelling is joke telling, stories affirm who we are, and storytelling can cross the barriers of time; but, the most important thing I learned, is that storytelling allow us to experience the similarities between ourselves and through others.

Chapter 5: Composing With Media Across the Curriculum

Whitehead warned educators about the danger of inert ideas, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations. (p. 89)

I could not agree more with this!! I teach math, so I see this happening A LOT. My students are students who haven't done well in math in the past, and so sometimes, unfortunately, they come into my class with negative preconceived notions. (This isn't always the case, but I do have a handful of students who actually do this)

I have found that students don't have a romance for math. The only emotional connection they have to it is negative; its hard for them or they find it useless and therefore boring. No matter what I do, some students just aren't engaged in my class. They do the minimal amount of work to pass and that is it. They just see it as a barrier between them and their diploma. They are here because they HAVE to be, not because they want to be. (One day, I would love to teach a math elective so the students actually want to be there)

A perfect example of this just happened to me today. We are studying personal finance, a topic that is extremely relevant in everyone's lives. I thought that because of this, I would get more participation and they would do better than other topics. Today in class, we had a pop quiz. It was one problem that we had done together in class Monday! I thought to myself "they will do really well on this. It's relevant and we have spent over a week doing this". I was wrong; only a few people got it correct. Unfortunately, several students turned in a blank paper! I'm very upset to say the least. I feel like I am doing a bad job because I can't seem to get through to them and help them to understand HOW important math is and will forever be in their lives.

I saw this video posted on Facebook last week it is worth the watch! I made me laugh out loud for real!

This is a great video, I think, to help illustrate in a humorous way what happens when students aren't mentally engaged. When they lack the want to learn a topic, it isn't hard to space out, fall asleep, or just in general not pay attention. And, again, with math, I feel like a lot of students just hear my voice as "blah, blah, blah, blah", like the teacher in Charlie Brown.

I am constantly looking for new ideas to get my students engaged during class and to help them see math is more than just memorizing a bunch of  'boring, old, useless in real life' formulas.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

Media Literacy PSA

PSA

I believe that my PSA has a clear theme: Be mindful of what you post on Facebook. It is easy for a post to get caught in a downward spiral and before you know it, someone is the victim of cyber-bullying. I believe that there exists enough evidence to make my point. Anyone can log onto Facebook, or any media site really, and see negative posts and images and people arguing their opinions. It wouldn't take long to find nasty comments being made and people expressing their hurt feelings. I use a lot of color, both in the backgrounds and the text. Even though this is supposed to be emotional appealing and somewhat dark, I still want to make a positive impression on the viewers. I believe that bright colors and nice pictures will help me do this. The dramatic low music adds a nice calming, although suspenseful, aspect to the video. The last scene sums up my PSA perfectly: Think Before You Post.

Chapter 4: The Power of Representation

Chapter 4: The Power of Representation

But just as my own direct, real-world experience of the world is selective and incomplete because of my perception and interpretation processes, media representations are also inevitably selective and incomplete. (p. 73)

I think that this line speaks volumes. It is absolutely correct; no one has seen everything or done everything. There is simply no way that each of us has our own direct, real-world experience with everything that we have knowledge about. An author will make a representation based on their own thoughts, ideas, and interpretations of a topic. They use their own experience, mixed with the ideas that they have picked up from other sources.

My favorite example of real world experience vs. mediated experience that the text mentions is the difference between just listening to music and actually making the music. When you listen, you can think up all different ideas that you think the musician is trying to convey. Maybe it's obvious and you guess correctly. But maybe you never actually get what is being said. On the other hand, if you make the music, then you and you alone know exactly what your piece is saying. And unless you tell, other's might never know.

This thought can also apply to students. They mainly learning second hand, meaning someone (teacher, parent) is there to expose them to new ideas and knowledge. In fact, most of what we know is secondhand. We base our own opinions on what we think certain experiences would be like.

I've never to New York City, but from all the different representations of it that I've seen/heard throughout my life, I can close my eyes and see Times Square, Central Park, and even Ground Zero. I have an idea of what they would be like in real life, and how I would feel if I were there.

The work 'thrift' itself has the connotation of something that perhaps we don't want anymore, or something that is cheap. I believe, however, that it can have a different meaning when it comes to learning and knowledge. Thrift is a good word to describe the process of how experiences and knowledge are shared. I picked this image of "thrift" because I feel that we all have a lot of secondhand knowledge. As mentioned above, all the things that we "know" don't come from our own experiences. Someone or something passes their knowledge on to us, and chances are, we will pass it on to someone else. We are constantly 'giving our experiences away' to other people, and we are also constantly being given someone else's. Learning is a never ending process, and without the sharing of our own real-world experience, ideas, thought, and interpretations, all we would ever know is what we have actually lived through.




Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.