After attending the English Teachers Conference in Adelaide in 2008 I discovered the wonderful concept of digital stories. Listening to people like Daniel Meadows was inspiring. As an English teacher I have always felt there was power in words, but I found that my students did not have this same power. I felt compelled to write a learning element and try it with my classes. Nearing the end of the year, I decided it would be the last unit I would do with the year tens. What I love about digital stories is that it makes you realise that you have a story worth listening to. That you have something to say. That you have the power to say it. And I think that is very important for our students to know. I don’t really feel confident that the learning element portrays that – so I hope you read this before hand to try and understand where I am coming from.
I unfortunately cannot embed the video however I would recommend watching Daniel Meadows ‘The Photobus’ http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.php?id=6&movie=the_bus.flv
Leading up to graduation and the end of high school asking the students to reminicise was easy. The majority of students were engaged, those that didn’t seem to engage were the students whose attendance was inconsistent, while they attempted the work, there is a real need to understand all the information.
And while the final product wasn’t necessarily the best. Some students just couldn’t get the right pictures or their audio was a bit funny. It was really the memory sharing, the story circles, talking about old friends and new friends that really made it worth it.
I really enjoyed working with this learning element, but i also really enjoyed working with all my students so I think that helped. I think (okay enjoying your students helps! BUT) really following the LbD structure is really important. After working with the learning by design format for 2 and a half years (I know no other way of curriculum design) I think I really understand the importance of following the learning element. Skipping parts, moving activities around seems silly to me. I’m not inflexible (is that a word?) but once you have worked with the learning by design structure you will understand that each step is important. Skipping, moving or leaving out, means that the student is not able to learn in the most effective manner.
2 responses so far ↓
Rachael // May 8, 2009 at 6:55 pm |
I am definitely going to fit this learning element in to my end of year program this time!
While the final products were not always spectacular, the process that the students went through when they wrote and constructed their digital stories certainly was. That is because of the way that you designed the unit, each part was purposeful, vital to building on the skills and knowledge that preceded it. Let’s face it, we have so little time to get through all the curriculum by the end of the -year, why would you design a unit that was padded out with non-essential fillers?
Rachael
p.s. animated pictures??? You are setting a new standard!
Final copy … « New Learning and New Literacies // May 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm |
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