Zoë Randall Teacher Leadership Digital Portfolio
Introduction
Digital storytelling can have a life changing impact on the people who share, produce, and view the stories. It was the end of my second year teaching multimedia at High Tech Middle Media Arts, and I was reading the reflections from my students about their digital storytelling project on the defining moments of veterans in San Diego. CA.
One reflection read,
“‘Nothing is impossible if you just believe,’” is a phrase that we often hear, but hardly ever take to heart. Your story gave me the chance to truly understand this phrase and have it remain in my mind during difficult times”- Mary Ann, 8th grader, HTMMA.
As people, we don’t always get the opportunity to make a difference, and in middle school, I was never given a chance. My students took the chance to tell the story of someone’s life and to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans in our community. Telling stories and building relationships changed me, my students, and the veterans.
“Thanks to you and the young ladies for providing me with such a wonderful experience. It's gestures like those that make everything I've endured worth every second”- Sherman, President of the Paralyzed Veterans Association, Marine Corps.
Together, we embarked on a journey we’d never forget. We built community, shared the voices of veterans, and learned from their experiences in war. Through the veteran’s digital storytelling project, students and veterans were given a chance to make a difference in each others lives, by learning to listen and share stories. It’s a project I will never forget, and the inspiration for the work you are about to read.
The power of digital storytelling is not an entirely new concept. It began in the early 1990’s and was immediately picked up at schools, libraries, and individual classrooms as the nouveau storytelling approach for the 21st century learner. Digital Storytelling blends personal narrative with images and music. By transforming personal narratives into movies, it’s a way of telling a story that we can experience with our minds, eyes, and ears.
I found out about this powerful storytelling approach in the Spring of 2009 when I contacted Warren Hegg, President and Founder of the Digital Clubhouse Network in San Jose, CA, and President of the Stories of Service organization. A colleague and friend suggested that I do a Stories of Service project. It seemed like an exciting way to engage students in media that mattered, so I inquired if the project was still active. I could never have predicted the enthusiastic and immediate call to action I received, nor the two months of digital storytelling which followed. My students and I launched full speed into the Stories of Service project and began chronicling the lives of local veterans through movies about their service to our country. Thirteen stories later, we found ourselves at the Veterans Museum in San Diego screening the movies the students had produced. One month later, eight students and I raised the funds to attend the National Stories of Service conference and Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.
It was a whirlwind journey, but since then I’ve been reflecting about the impact of such an experience, and the words and actions of my students. My students, who were in 8th grade when we embarked on this journey two years ago, still have a voice with Stories of Service. As high school students, they started their own student-led organization that seeks to continue the spirit of the stories. They joined the program’s other initiative, Spirit of ’45, to document the stories of the WWII generation, and interviewed local Pearl Harbor Survivors. Even two years after producing digital stories for their project, they recruited 80 Girls Scouts and other students at our school to walk in the 2010 San Diego Veteran’s Day Parade to honor veterans. They have impressed me beyond words. I wonder, how can I make the experience happen again for a new generation of students? How can I reach more students through sharing the power of digital storytelling?
My research seeks to continue the spirit of storytelling that brought me and my students closer to one another, as well to our community in a way we never imagined. We gained a better appreciation of the sacrifices of the men and women who fought to protect our freedoms. We learned about ourselves and our new roles as storytellers. Through digital storytelling, the veterans of San Diego brought a real perspective to war, suffering, triumph over odds, and sacrifice that awakened a sense of inquisitiveness, empathy, and a commitment to service in my students. Speaking to a veteran gave students an opportunity to hear about war through their eyes. So much of what students know about the war is sensationalized in the news or in the video games they play.
My experience led me to wonder, how can we bring the voices from our past and present together in the classroom and forge new relationships between the generations? How can we use digital storytelling to pass on the lessons of one generation to the next? Can these stories preserve the memories of our past, but also serve to heal wounds unresolved in the present? What other uses and impacts can digital storytelling have?
In conducting my research, my hope for my students is to explore the world of digital storytelling through telling the stories of themselves and others. I hope that the former will open up pathways for them to communicate their identity, while the latter will help build empathy between people. Throughout the Stories of Service project, I saw a reciprocal bond formed between storyteller and producer. Students felt a sense of pride by producing a story for someone else, and the storytellers felt honored. I hope that making digital stories will help students find stronger connections and empathic ties to others as they share their lives.
These goals lead me to a research question that I am excited to explore further: What happens when students use digital storytelling to tell the stories of themselves and others? As I explore my students’ stories, I am particularly interested in how the digital storytelling process impacts their sense of identity, empathy for others and feelings about classroom community. As I try to capture the essence of digital storytelling, I hope the stories allow students to share who they are, give them tools to share with each other, and create a culture of storytelling that enriches not only themselves but others as well. I plan to execute this research in a digital storytelling project in my 6th grade class. I am hoping to find that students will become more thoughtful about their own life choices and more sensitive to people in all walks of life through the project.
One reflection read,
“‘Nothing is impossible if you just believe,’” is a phrase that we often hear, but hardly ever take to heart. Your story gave me the chance to truly understand this phrase and have it remain in my mind during difficult times”- Mary Ann, 8th grader, HTMMA.
As people, we don’t always get the opportunity to make a difference, and in middle school, I was never given a chance. My students took the chance to tell the story of someone’s life and to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans in our community. Telling stories and building relationships changed me, my students, and the veterans.
“Thanks to you and the young ladies for providing me with such a wonderful experience. It's gestures like those that make everything I've endured worth every second”- Sherman, President of the Paralyzed Veterans Association, Marine Corps.
Together, we embarked on a journey we’d never forget. We built community, shared the voices of veterans, and learned from their experiences in war. Through the veteran’s digital storytelling project, students and veterans were given a chance to make a difference in each others lives, by learning to listen and share stories. It’s a project I will never forget, and the inspiration for the work you are about to read.
The power of digital storytelling is not an entirely new concept. It began in the early 1990’s and was immediately picked up at schools, libraries, and individual classrooms as the nouveau storytelling approach for the 21st century learner. Digital Storytelling blends personal narrative with images and music. By transforming personal narratives into movies, it’s a way of telling a story that we can experience with our minds, eyes, and ears.
I found out about this powerful storytelling approach in the Spring of 2009 when I contacted Warren Hegg, President and Founder of the Digital Clubhouse Network in San Jose, CA, and President of the Stories of Service organization. A colleague and friend suggested that I do a Stories of Service project. It seemed like an exciting way to engage students in media that mattered, so I inquired if the project was still active. I could never have predicted the enthusiastic and immediate call to action I received, nor the two months of digital storytelling which followed. My students and I launched full speed into the Stories of Service project and began chronicling the lives of local veterans through movies about their service to our country. Thirteen stories later, we found ourselves at the Veterans Museum in San Diego screening the movies the students had produced. One month later, eight students and I raised the funds to attend the National Stories of Service conference and Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.
It was a whirlwind journey, but since then I’ve been reflecting about the impact of such an experience, and the words and actions of my students. My students, who were in 8th grade when we embarked on this journey two years ago, still have a voice with Stories of Service. As high school students, they started their own student-led organization that seeks to continue the spirit of the stories. They joined the program’s other initiative, Spirit of ’45, to document the stories of the WWII generation, and interviewed local Pearl Harbor Survivors. Even two years after producing digital stories for their project, they recruited 80 Girls Scouts and other students at our school to walk in the 2010 San Diego Veteran’s Day Parade to honor veterans. They have impressed me beyond words. I wonder, how can I make the experience happen again for a new generation of students? How can I reach more students through sharing the power of digital storytelling?
My research seeks to continue the spirit of storytelling that brought me and my students closer to one another, as well to our community in a way we never imagined. We gained a better appreciation of the sacrifices of the men and women who fought to protect our freedoms. We learned about ourselves and our new roles as storytellers. Through digital storytelling, the veterans of San Diego brought a real perspective to war, suffering, triumph over odds, and sacrifice that awakened a sense of inquisitiveness, empathy, and a commitment to service in my students. Speaking to a veteran gave students an opportunity to hear about war through their eyes. So much of what students know about the war is sensationalized in the news or in the video games they play.
My experience led me to wonder, how can we bring the voices from our past and present together in the classroom and forge new relationships between the generations? How can we use digital storytelling to pass on the lessons of one generation to the next? Can these stories preserve the memories of our past, but also serve to heal wounds unresolved in the present? What other uses and impacts can digital storytelling have?
In conducting my research, my hope for my students is to explore the world of digital storytelling through telling the stories of themselves and others. I hope that the former will open up pathways for them to communicate their identity, while the latter will help build empathy between people. Throughout the Stories of Service project, I saw a reciprocal bond formed between storyteller and producer. Students felt a sense of pride by producing a story for someone else, and the storytellers felt honored. I hope that making digital stories will help students find stronger connections and empathic ties to others as they share their lives.
These goals lead me to a research question that I am excited to explore further: What happens when students use digital storytelling to tell the stories of themselves and others? As I explore my students’ stories, I am particularly interested in how the digital storytelling process impacts their sense of identity, empathy for others and feelings about classroom community. As I try to capture the essence of digital storytelling, I hope the stories allow students to share who they are, give them tools to share with each other, and create a culture of storytelling that enriches not only themselves but others as well. I plan to execute this research in a digital storytelling project in my 6th grade class. I am hoping to find that students will become more thoughtful about their own life choices and more sensitive to people in all walks of life through the project.
