Digital Stories and Making the Languages Heard

This module’s blog posts are mainly what I have found in support of my final Web site project, where I will focus on digital storytelling and how it can be used in the classroom. It’s an exploration of stories told both through print and through digital media. The following links provide an opportunity for learners to explore story and to hear languages spoken.

 

  1. Indigenous Screen Cultures in Canada explores the roles of First Nations peoples in telling their own stories through film and television. I intend to highlight some of the science stories from APTN’s Coyote Science for students in an attempt to make classroom practice more culturally responsive, so I think exploring some background information for teachers is important.
  2. Culturally responsive teaching means including stories. Many of the print books I have found so far include text written in a language other than English (Cree, Blackfoot, Michif) but without a pronunciation guide, reading them aloud feels more harmful than good. For that reason, I think it is essential to include examples of spoken language such as David A. Robertson’s When We Were Alone pronunciation guide and Blackfoot app. I am still looking for other examples of multi-lingual digital stories.
  3. Regina teacher Aaron Warner and the @Treaty4project are working to use 100 days of Cree in the classroom and I think this is a good example of how a language comes off the page and a pronunciation guide is available online. It is essential for students to hear the words being spoken, especially for cultures that primarily teach through an oral tradition.
  4. Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork explores the importance of story in making classrooms more culturally responsive. I look forward to exploring this resource further after Week 9’s reading and exploration of culturally responsive classrooms. I think the role of making space for stories in our classrooms is highlighting the role of perspective.
  5. Wapikoni offers multilingual examples of First Nations stories told by First Nations peoples. Some stories are traditional stories while others are simply “a day in the life” slices of regular life. The production bus offers the opportunity for remote communities to participate in digital storytelling.

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