About my Digital Story…
The reason I chose this as my story is because one of the assignments I have to give out to my Transition Planning 12 students is Travel Assignment.  The assignment is intended to get the students to think of a place that they would like to travel to and then go ahead and plan the trip out.  The plan would include the where, when, how much (cost), how long, and how would they keep family up-to-date on their travels.  I thought by creating a Digital Story of a past trip of mine it would get their “creative juices flowing” and show them a different and (hopefully) interesting way that they would be able to present their assignment.  I am confident that after I show my slide show, some of the more creative and hard-working students will attempt to present their project in a similar manner.

Why is this story worth telling: what does it contribute to student learning? What’s your pedagogical rationale for doing this?
I think this story is worth telling because it not only presents to the students a creative approach to solving their assignment but it allows the students to learn a little more about me.  I truly believe that it is important to make connections with my students.  If I can make those personal connections with them then they will be more inclined to do what is being asked of them.  Also, by creating my own slide show it shows them that I have taken the time to do the work myself rather then show them a sample of an assignment that someone else has created.  Finally, by doing the work myself I will be able to a true sense of what is involved in creating such a project and have empathy (or is it sympathy) for their efforts.

Why was this the right tool for you to use to tell your story? Explain how you purposefully selected your tool based on its functionality and your requirements.
To be honest I tried 5 or 6 different tools (I have the login info to prove it!)  The reason I settled on RockYou.com was I felt it offered me the tools the I required.  I originally thought I would stick with Joggle.com because I like the fact that I could narrate the story but either I didn’t have the software needed to make a voice audio track or I couldn’t figure out how to create one using their features.  It got to the point where I felt as though I was taking too much time to create my “Story” so I went with RockYou because it was easy to both upload my images from my computer and add captions to each slide.  That being said, I would prefer to use narration instead of captions so between now and the time I present this assignment to my grade 12 class I will look into add a voice clip.

What are the strengths of a storytelling approach? What are the limitations?
I think the strengths of this approach are you able to create a dynamic project (whether for school or personal use) that is both creative and appealing.  I actually enjoyed hand-picking the slides so that they would tell a story (at least the story I had in my head).   I passed over what I believed to be better pictures because they didn’t fit necessarily in with my vision.

The limitations of such an approach are many.  They include the software you choose, your ability to tell a story, and the time required to find the “right” images that will help you tell your story.  But I think most important is your ability to tell a story.  Some are great whereas others are weak.  It doesn’t mean that one persons story is better or more meaningful than anothers, it just means that someone may do a better job at being able to present it.

See my “Posts” section of this blog to read about my experience (click HERE to link to that page).