EDUC 5333: Blog Week #1 (Digital Storytelling)

Part 1: 

Hello!

My name is Jerry and I was born and raised in Chicago. I have my undergrad Bachelors of Arts in Communication Arts: Media Studies from a small liberal arts school in Illinois. I moved to the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas in 2017 and have since been with a charter school as a CTE teacher. I have taught everything from theatre, digital communications, graphic design, video production, and computer science. I very recently moved to the south Austin area and am now teaching CTE Commercial Photography to 11th and 12th graders as well as the CTE liaison and Content leader on my campus. I also work as a freelance photographer and videographer since we all know, teaching in its own is not enough to make a livable wage. I am a big foodie and enjoy going to new restaurants and traveling to new spaces and parts of the world. I am a big live music fan and spend most of my PTO traveling to different shows of my favorite artists near and far. I have a large vinyl record collection (500+ last time I counted) and collect old and new cameras that I restore, display, and use from to time. This is my second half of the first fall semester and although the first half was challenging, I survived it and with a solid 4.0. Hoping for another successful half of a semester! 

*An interesting fact I have yet to share on this introduction assignment is I have that smell-receptor gene cluster OR6A2 that makes cilantro tastes like soap. 

My current professional goals are to get fully certified as a Texas state teacher and to get a 4.0 for all my graduate school classes I'll be taking until July 2024 (I'm on my way!). My future professional goals is to be debt free in 5 years and to retire in 10. I would most likely continue to work, but I would do it for the love of the profession rather than the necessity to simply exist and sustain myself in this country. Once I have my masters, I think I would enjoy possibly teaching a few collegiate courses in my content as I think it would be a nice change of pace from all of my secondary educational experiences; but we shall see.

Part 2: 

Seeing as how my content is rooted in photography this year, I believe I have a bit of an easier time deciding on digital storytelling as photographs are just that in themselves. While going through the class readings this week and doing my own research online and via youtube, I was able to come up with a project or story that I believe I would like to pose and eventually develop over this course; and of course, integrate into my own classes with my students. This idea of shooting digital images to tell a digital story of glimpses and moments throughout my life that are significant. I view this project as either myself, my colleagues, friends, family members, etc, taking on roles and playing those parts for a moment in the camera for me to shoot. There are prominent, vivid, and traumatic instances in my life that I have grown and healed from and with caution, I believe as I visualize it now, those images could be quite powerful. A few exemplary moments in my life that I think I would like to direct and organize under this category are:

• Being forced to stay at the dinner table for rejecting to eat what my mom made for dinner (I would like to use my nephew who is three to play this role and try my best to direct him to get a serious reaction from him as I was so angry and stubborn at this moment)
• The stress of being a high school educator in a post peak covid world has been exhausting. Showing that in the face of my model and the environment around them (stacks of papers, white illuminating computer science, bags under eyes, coffee to the brim, post it notes with typical student excuses) to convey the struggles teaching. (I picture using my brother as we look similar, and I believe he could convey this aesthetic.
• I’ve struggled most of my life with mental health so I believe taking a self-portrait of what I believe is a manifestation or personification or my mental health issues would be an interesting concept. I’m thinking a bit on the grungier side, isolation, maybe make it black and white. Lots of options to pick from here but having that vulnerability and transparency may resonate with a lot of others who may feel or have gone through something similar.

I would clearly have certain parameters when it comes to this objective as topics may get dicey so I would be sure to clear all topics prior to green lighting students to begin shooting their idea. I feel it would be important that if I am asking students to participate in this, then I need to be willing to do so as well. Prior to opening this up as a new project, I would be sure to finalize my own photoshoot (edits and all), then show them to my students as a teacher exemplar. This can open the floor to what we have already discussed on classroom critiques:

1. Initial Reaction
2. Take it In
3. Consider the Composition
4. Communicate with the Artist

I believe this may be a good start in the right direction, but I am open for any and every feedback you may have in the comments on how this may or may not fully align with any digital storytelling standards. 

Part 3: 

Based on the readings this week, I think it is important for students to know that not only will they need their images to speak for themselves, but they must also prepare a sort of excerpt that provides context to the images as well. Articulating orally and presenting the images digitally will marry the two ideas and we will have proper digital storytelling coming to life. Based on my idea of this project, the central theme would be titled “personal lived in experiences” where each of us will share a part of ourselves from any moment in our lives and try to recreate that to take our image for presentation and critiquing. The seven elements of digital storytelling (Point of View, A Dramatic Question, Emotional Content, The Gift of Your Voice, The Power of Soundtrack, Economy, Pacing) could quite simple be aligned to this project’s objective from the actual photography itself to the excerpt given whilst presenting it (Kubravi, S. U., Shah, S. O., & Jan, K. 2018) Merging these two concepts can drastically increase the academic achievement students have and a surplus of other areas:

"Digital storytelling encourages students to improvise learning skills (e.g. critical thinking, learning motivation, retention), literacies (e.g. technology, visual, digital, global, and informational) and academic abilities (comprehension, reflection, etc.). These skills leads to the development of various types of competencies including research-based competence; presentation, writing, technology, interview, assessment, and interpersonal skills; and organisation and problem solving ability. It enhances student academic achievement, critical thinking and learning motivation" (Kubravi, S. U., Shah, S. O., & Jan, K. 2018)