Remember way back to when we were children, and teachers had to break their necks to read upside down, over the top of a big bulky book while making sure all students could see the images? Or when rewinding a cassette took just as long as playing the song or story the teacher wanted to present? Yah, me either really. But that’s because we weren’t the teacher way back then, we were the student. For us, the most important aspect of those lessons weren’t the lengths the teacher had to go to get that message or story to us, but rather the joy and entertainment we got from story time or a simple cassette. How about movie periods… who could forget those? No one played hooky on movie day. Technology, in whatever age, stage or form has always had the ability to capture young minds, and entice them to participate or pay attention in ways they otherwise may not.
Walt Disney is a wonderful example of just how captivating Digital Storytelling is. I challenge you to go out on the street and find one child in Western Civilization who cannot name Disney characters. It’s everywhere we look: fast-food restaurants, clothing companies, movies, books, arts and crafts, snack packaging, dinnerware, diapers, bedding… the list goes on and on. Disney brought to life the characters we read about as children in books. These characters were given voices and actions and have captivated children’s attention from day one. Children love animation, children love music, and children love to experiment with new technologies.
When teachers assign poster projects or book reports, there is a very high chance that most (if not all) of those assignments will be coming back to you containing digital images and digital print. Whether or not it is a good thing, children spend a vast amount of time on technological devices. A study published in the New York Times talks about how children spend 7-8 hours a day connected to devices. To me as a future teacher, this screams “use technology!”. If it is devices that these kids are choosing to use in their spare time, then why not incorporate that into the classroom in positive ways? Not only can we teach our students how to use different modes of technology within the classroom, but we can teach them how to approach the media critically and safely. In a world being slowly taken over by technology it is so important that our students learn how to use these resources, in order to keep them prepared for the ever competitive job-market that they will be thrown into 10-15 years down the road. I know, don’t wish their lives away… but we all know that it was basically yesterday when we watched that teacher break her neck over The Hungry Caterpillar.
Digital Storytelling is just one media resource that I definitely will be incorporating into my classroom… five years down the road when I find a job opening in Ontario. Students are captivated by digital stories, not just Disney, not even just television, but all around them in the forms of YouTube videos, PowerPoints, comic strips, etc. Children are exposed to these forms of media from a very young age, so I think the obvious next step is to integrate it into their education and teach students how to become storytellers of their own. Children are gifted with this uncorrupted sense of imagination that makes them natural storytellers, and as the proud Aunt of five nieces and nephews I can vouch for children (and so can this video) when saying that they want to learn how to tell digital stories of their own.
Language arts, social studies, science, and friend are all strands of the curriculum where we as teachers will encourage storytelling, but also where we can incorporate multiple other media resources. Web 2.0 is this incredibly large, diverse and somewhat complicated sphere of techy resources available to students, teachers, and everybody else as well. Whether you recognized them as Web 2.0 or not (I did not) we have known these resources in our daily lives for some time: Prezi, YouTube, BitStrips, Vimeo, Animator, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…. And again the list goes on and on. All these resources make our jobs as teachers so much more fun, not only in the instructional sense – just think how much more fun it will be to watch a student’s video project versus reading some really long and wordy essay? Basically technology is just a win-win-win; and by that I mean the teacher wins, the student wins, and then the bigger adult version of that student wins when they step out into the big scary world 15 years later fighting for a job.
Walt Disney saw what happened in children’s imaginations and brought it to life for them. He captivated their attention decades ago and has yet to lose it. Teachers fight every day to keep the attention and focus of their students. So I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure I’d rather follow Mr. Disney than my teacher rewinding the cassette tape 8 times because she missed just the right spot. And on that note, Hakuna Matata, Let it Go, and Never Grow Up.
Walt Disney is a wonderful example of just how captivating Digital Storytelling is. I challenge you to go out on the street and find one child in Western Civilization who cannot name Disney characters. It’s everywhere we look: fast-food restaurants, clothing companies, movies, books, arts and crafts, snack packaging, dinnerware, diapers, bedding… the list goes on and on. Disney brought to life the characters we read about as children in books. These characters were given voices and actions and have captivated children’s attention from day one. Children love animation, children love music, and children love to experiment with new technologies.
When teachers assign poster projects or book reports, there is a very high chance that most (if not all) of those assignments will be coming back to you containing digital images and digital print. Whether or not it is a good thing, children spend a vast amount of time on technological devices. A study published in the New York Times talks about how children spend 7-8 hours a day connected to devices. To me as a future teacher, this screams “use technology!”. If it is devices that these kids are choosing to use in their spare time, then why not incorporate that into the classroom in positive ways? Not only can we teach our students how to use different modes of technology within the classroom, but we can teach them how to approach the media critically and safely. In a world being slowly taken over by technology it is so important that our students learn how to use these resources, in order to keep them prepared for the ever competitive job-market that they will be thrown into 10-15 years down the road. I know, don’t wish their lives away… but we all know that it was basically yesterday when we watched that teacher break her neck over The Hungry Caterpillar.
Digital Storytelling is just one media resource that I definitely will be incorporating into my classroom… five years down the road when I find a job opening in Ontario. Students are captivated by digital stories, not just Disney, not even just television, but all around them in the forms of YouTube videos, PowerPoints, comic strips, etc. Children are exposed to these forms of media from a very young age, so I think the obvious next step is to integrate it into their education and teach students how to become storytellers of their own. Children are gifted with this uncorrupted sense of imagination that makes them natural storytellers, and as the proud Aunt of five nieces and nephews I can vouch for children (and so can this video) when saying that they want to learn how to tell digital stories of their own.
Language arts, social studies, science, and friend are all strands of the curriculum where we as teachers will encourage storytelling, but also where we can incorporate multiple other media resources. Web 2.0 is this incredibly large, diverse and somewhat complicated sphere of techy resources available to students, teachers, and everybody else as well. Whether you recognized them as Web 2.0 or not (I did not) we have known these resources in our daily lives for some time: Prezi, YouTube, BitStrips, Vimeo, Animator, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…. And again the list goes on and on. All these resources make our jobs as teachers so much more fun, not only in the instructional sense – just think how much more fun it will be to watch a student’s video project versus reading some really long and wordy essay? Basically technology is just a win-win-win; and by that I mean the teacher wins, the student wins, and then the bigger adult version of that student wins when they step out into the big scary world 15 years later fighting for a job.
Walt Disney saw what happened in children’s imaginations and brought it to life for them. He captivated their attention decades ago and has yet to lose it. Teachers fight every day to keep the attention and focus of their students. So I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure I’d rather follow Mr. Disney than my teacher rewinding the cassette tape 8 times because she missed just the right spot. And on that note, Hakuna Matata, Let it Go, and Never Grow Up.