Hello Everyone,
Please follow this link to view my digital story. This is a personal story of my struggles with sexual identity from childhood to my current status as a happily married man. I have also embedded the story here, but the link might provide a better view.
http://misterhb.edu.glogster.com/comingout/
Stephen
I chose to tell my Coming Out story because I feel it is a valuable, authentic experience that could assist classroom conversations regarding sexuality, gender identity, and diversity. It is my belief that sexuality and gender identity issues pertain largely to a non-visible minority, and it is easy for these important conversations to be missed in the classroom. In BC we are to begin conversations regarding differences in families in kindergarten where it is important to discuss families with same sex parents (Ministry of Education, 2011). There are many places in our curriculum where an educator can justify their choice of having conversations regarding sexuality and gender identity issues, and I have copied links to some of the curriculum below.
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/social_studies/2006ssk7.pdf
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/health_career_education/2006hcek7.pdf
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/health_career_education/2005hce_89.pdf
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/social_studies/2008socialjustice12.pdf
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/diversity/diversity_framework.pdf
I chose to use a glog (digital poster) to tell my story because I believe it is a valuable multi-media tool that students can easily use to tell their own stories or demonstrate their knowledge of a concept. The SECTIONS framework provided by Bates and Poole (2003) provides logical criteria for selecting and using technologies. Largely, the technology should be cost effective, be easy to use, meet the needs of different learners, and be easily integrated with formative assessment. Glogster is free to use, and its easy integration of text, audio, video, and graphics suits different learning modalities and provides excellent options for creating learning artifacts. Teachers can set up classes with Glogster Edu so students can use the internal digital message system to provide each other with ongoing and descriptive feedback regarding their glog artifacts. Glogs add multi-media to posters and are a great starting point for using digital technologies with students.
Storytelling is an effective method to instruct and all members of a learning community can use it. Everyone has a story to tell. In many aboriginal nations, storytelling was (is) the dominant mode for passing on knowledge of ancestors and important information regarding ways of knowing and being. Stories allow the author to step away from the restrictions of objective scientific writing, and allows for creative expression that is appealing, subjective, and a starting point for interpretation and ongoing dialogue. The subjective nature of a story might not stand up to scientific rigor and demands of peer reviewed publishing, but this does not prevent it from being an important and culturally relevant learning tool.
References
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Ministry of Education, B.C. (2011). Curriculum. Victoria, BC: Retrieved from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/welcome.php