Digital Storytelling Week 1

My name is Emma VanBuskirk, and I am a 4th-grade teacher at a small rural elementary school in Illinois. I teach all subject areas, but I enjoy teaching math the most. This August, I began my second year, and it has been going fantastically! I graduated from McKendree University with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education in 2024. I come from a family full of teachers, so choosing teaching as my career path felt like it was meant to be. I am very passionate about building strong relationships with my students to help build a sense of community within the classroom. I believe that students should have ownership of their education to help them grow and become responsible individuals. My teaching philosophy reflects this by running a student-centered learning classroom. I am currently working on my Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. 

After taking some time to think about possible ideas for my story, I am thinking about writing about my late grandfather. He was one of the many educators in my family who helped me decide that teaching was what I wanted to do and taught me many other life lessons that helped me learn and grow into the person I am today. In my school’s writing curriculum, students are asked to write a personal narrative with the following focus statement: “All of our experiences help us grow and learn.” Students are then asked to write a personal narrative about a time they have learned a lesson from something that has happened to them. This writing piece is assigned during the first month of school, and I have found it difficult to get students excited about this particular prompt at that point in the year. I have been brainstorming about what I can do next year to get students more engaged, and I think this DST (Digital Storytelling) project will be perfect. Instead of having students write a personal narrative, I will have students create their own digital story for the same prompt. I will use my project as an example to introduce the project and something students can refer back to during the unit. 

After spending some time reading Digital Storytelling Revisited: An Educator’s Use of an Innovative Literacy Practice, written by Shelby-Caffey, Ubeda, and Jenkins (2014), several thoughts resonated with me about DST. Bethany Jenkins was a 5th-grade teacher who was very hesitant to incorporate technology within her classroom after so many years going without it. As a newer teacher who has learned nothing but how to incorporate technology, I can understand how it may be intimidating or feel overwhelming to start trying to do so after teaching for such a long time without it. There are so many tools out there to use, and narrowing down one tool to use for the correct assignment can be an overwhelming task itself. However, when Jenkins decided to have her students make a DTS project, she found that it highly engaged students and boosted creativity. When students are given clear expectations and structure, they can thrive with the use of technology. As the teacher, you will see students shine creatively and produce pieces of work that amaze you. I have hopes that when my students create their DST project about someone who has helped them learn and grow, they will discover creativity that they didn’t even know existed in themselves!

References:

Shelby-Caffey, C., Ubeda, E., and Jenkins, B. (2018). Digital storytelling revisited: An educator's use of an innovative literacy practice. The Reading Teacher, 68(3), 191-199.  (9 pages)