Is the story viewable either as an embedded file or a link?
My story (titled “Get Out & Feet Up!”) can be viewed from this link. My story is hosted within Flickr – one of the more popular social media websites to host pictures from photographers from around the world.
Why is “Flicktion” the right tool for me to use to tell my story? Explaining how I purposefully selected this tool.
Back in October 2008, I was asked to show my photography portfolio to a potential client that would like to hire me as their wedding photographer. I always meant to put something together to show my photographic work but never had the time – usually I invited potential clients over and/or met up with them face-to-face and showed them some of my previous photo events. This proved to be inconvenient and I needed a platform to host my photographs so that anyone (with internet capabilities) can view my work in a more convenient, effective, and efficient fashion.
Therefore, after hearing through the grapevine that Flickr is one of the more popular choices for my endeavour, I signed up for a professional account with them. I have no regrets in using Flickr but only compliments with what they have offered me – unlimited uploads at anytime and unlimited storage space for as many pictures I want. Flickr is easy to use, simple to navigate through, and they portray my pictures in their truest form – i.e. Flickr does not distort my pictures in anyway. I would recommend Flickr to anyone looking for a photography site to host their pictures.
After visiting the cogdogroo wiki site that Alan Levine has set up http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools and exploring the various tools that he has linked into the page, I realized that Levine has recommended several ways to tell a story with Flickr. Since I had a user account already created in Flickr and never used “Flicktion” (one of 50 ways to tell a story that Levine shares) before – it was an obvious choice for me to select this tool.
Among the four other ways (“Flickr Tell a Story in 5 Frames”; “Flickr Six Word Story”; “Linking Flickr Notes”; “Pictures with Stories Flickr Group”) that Levine (2007) suggests to use in Flickr, I opted for “Flicktion” because this tool has given a chance to share the background (i.e. the story behind the photo) of on one of my pictures – which I never get to do because of the demands of being full-time teacher. Also, when I look at any picture – I know there is there is a story behind it and the fantastic thing is that I can imagine what the story is or try to find out what is going on.
When I read the newspaper or a magazine – I always look at the pictures and then immediately look at the description or caption accompanying the article. In a sense, I have purposefully selected “Flicktion” in order for me to experience writing my own description or caption for a photo that I have created; and this social media tool helps me in accomplishing something that I want to develop more of – i.e. as Levine (2007) states, “Taking any single image and writing a short story built around that image.”
Describe how a story-telling approach would work within a course that I teach (or would like to teach) using sound pedagogical arguments.
Because I teach several courses in grade six, I can picture using a story-telling approach in a couple courses/subjects – reading and social studies.
I believe that the use of a story-telling approach can transcend to other school-related abilities such as reading. Kajder and Swenson (2004) discovered that good readers create “a mental movie of images evoked by the story.” They have found that activities similar to “Flicktion” can help make the reading process more visual to students; thus, easier to comprehend. A story-telling approach with the use of digital software (e.g. Powerpoint) can assist students in practicing oral presentations and may offer further practice for readers who struggle (Doering & Robyler, 2006).
The use of a story-telling approach with digital photographs (e.g. “Flicktion) in social studies can achieve several purposes (Doering & Robyler, 2006):
- Help students in differentiating and evaluating the past and the present
- Help students realize different points of view and perspectives
- Cultivate skills in critical thinking and investigation
- Present visual cues that strengthen geographic concepts
- Broaden their personal views when students study poverty, history, global citizenship, government, and other related disciplines.
- Smooth the progress of creating greater relationships with the community
- Helps envision concrete and abstract social studies concepts (e.g. needs vs. wants, democracy, freedom)
By inviting students into their world surroundings armed with a digital camera, educators develop opportunities for them to pass along their own personal lives into the classroom; therefore, creating a prosperous, real, authoring space (Doering & Roblyer, 2006). Writing text (e.g. within “Flicktion”) and arranging images as artifacts within a digital space assists students in understanding events from multiple standpoints (Doering & Roblyer, 2006).
Ultimately, the use of a story-telling can lead to students taking advantage of the chance to make their own lives a part of their academic research (Doering & Roblyer, 2006). Thus, a story-telling approach can assist students by improving learning in making the material more meaningful to him/her.
In being involved in teaching grade seven and six for the last eight years, I can see how a story-telling approach can work within a language arts (reading) course and social studies course. Currently, I teach both courses in grade six and within these courses I use various approaches to present course content (e.g. using BrainPop video clips). Also, I have students discover and learn the course material among themselves in a collaborative manner (e.g. group presentations using Powerpoint). Having used a story-telling tool for this digital story assignment, it has given me another way to use story-telling to help students learn. Throughout the school year as I teach grade six, I share many stories, which relate to the course content, with my students. From my own pedagoical experiences, when I tell a story, my students seem to remember the material/concept/content/idea more vividly – I know this because when I assess them, more often than not, my students will relate to the story I have told them. Therefore, in my pedagogical opinion, using social media (e.g. “Flicktion”) can lead students to view the course content in a more effective way by using their own personal experiences/stories to connect to what they are learning.
References
Doering, A., & Roblyer, M.D. (2006). Educational Technology into Teaching. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Kajder, S., & Swanson, J. (2004). Digital images in the language arts classroom. Learning and Leading with Technology, 31(8), 18-21, 46.
Levine, A. (2007). The Fifty Tools. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools