Monday, October 26, 2015

Digital Storytelling Part 3


        In designing my digital story I tried to keep my essential question at the forefront of my mind, "How can I use digital tools to provide parents with resources they need to help their child with reading skills at home?"  When I first started the process I had planned to maybe share a screen shot of the tools, however I realized that wouldn't be something that would draw parents in.  As a teacher I use to tell my students that as a writer you have to hook your reader. I realized the same is true for digital storytelling. You need to provide an image that will grab your "readers/listeners" attention. If I am trying to reach parents then a quote about the influence of parents and reading would be the perfect hook. 
        Creating the story for the image proved to be the challenging part. I wanted to introduce the new program in the media center in a way that would make the parents want to attend. I used the digital storyboard planning tools to plan out what I was going to say. When I recorded my script I was okay with it but felt like something was missing. I couldn't wait for class that week to get feedback from my peers. 
           During the class discussion I began to realize what was missing, heart. I was just inviting parents but not really trying to entice them to come. Then in small group discussions one of my peers suggested adding more details about what type of activities that they would be doing if they attended. I also wanted them to understand that the reason we were doing this was to help students to develop a passion for reading. It was important for them to see this as a worthwhile event to attend.  
          My pacing on the first draft was way to fast. I have a tendency to talk fast and not be as clear as I need to. I made myself slow down during the final recording. VoiceThread is a perfect tool for me because I could continue to do it over until I was satisfied with it.  The simplicity of VoiceThread also makes this an easy digital storytelling tool. It is simple to upload a picture and then post a comment to go along with the picture. 
         After re-visiting my first attempt I have to admit I am pleased with the flow of the final story.  The first one sounded forced and like I wasn't sure of myself. The second one sounded more like I was having a conversation with my audience. One of the areas that I need to grow in is becoming more comfortable with recording my voice while I tell a story. With students or in front of a group of people my voice has the natural inflections that help make the presentation or story more exciting. Recording into a computer isn't as natural for me. This will be one of the main areas that I will work on as I continue in the journey of digital storytelling. Another area that I plan to focus on is learning how to add music to the story to help set the tone of the piece. The more engaging the format the more likely that the audience will listen to the entire story.

       Here is my final copy of my digital story.

            

2 comments:

  1. Great job, Angie! I enjoyed reading your journey from the very beginning, and seeing your thought process as you made changes. I can definitely see your EQ in your video!

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    1. Thank you Whitley. I enjoyed doing this. I am going to ask my principal if I can put it on our webpage as a way of advertising our event.

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