I have learned mostly that it is okay to include myself in my writing rather than keeping my distance by using third person or a passive voice. I think I have always been "in my writing," but more in an "undercover" way. I was always taught to follow strict writing guidelines, but now I am trying to break free from these chains and simply write from my heart. I find it is easier to write when I am passionate about a particular subject.
Now let me clarify "easier." If I have passion for what I am writing, it is "easier" not to procrastinate. I want to write. It seems the words want to be released onto paper. However, it is not "easy" when it comes to revision and reducing the "lard factor." I have learned that a paper is never perfect and revisions are numerous. I guess the most serious revelation that I have had is that it is "okay" to walk away from a paper and return to it days, weeks, or months later.
This class has involved a lot of peer editing/reading. I have always let someone read my papers before submitting them. Most of the time my father reads them. He makes comments and corrects mechanical errors for me. This has proven to be most helpful. In addition to this, I read my papers outloud to my husband. Boy, he enjoys this! Of course, it probably helps him fall asleep, but it helps me to find errors in my paper. I will continue this practice. My family will probably be most grateful when I graduate from this program.
I have also learned that writing is a process and that every individual has his/her own process. I have somewhat identified mine as being a planner. I have spoken about my process in class. It seems outdated with pen/paper, but it works for me. This class has brought my attention to how and why I write. I appreciate that .
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
How I discovered the Power of Digital Storytelling
Donna Boston Ross
Writing Draft
September 27, 2008
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
-Plutarch
How I Discovered the Power of Digital Storytelling
I think it is rather strange that I cannot remember the day or even the year that I was first introduced to the concept of digital storytelling. However, I still, can to this day, recall the sights and sounds that were contained in the first digital story I ever watched. My ears still hear the crickets in the background and my mind recalls vivid pictures of rural Catawba County as a gentle, soothing voice narrates personal experiences and life lessons learned being a child of a fisherman. The story was entitled “A Fisherman’s Child” and it was written and co-produced by two English instructors at Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC), Ms. Kay Gregory and Ms. Joyce Steelman. Little did I know, this brief three and one half minute video production involving images, sound, and narrative would be the spark that would ignite a passion which would become the focus of my doctoral dissertation.
The viewing itself was an emotional experience that required deep introspective and reflective practices from myself as the listener. However, at the time, I must admit I did not see the profound implication it had for adult learners. Like most of my colleagues, I saw this as a passing technology fad and simply thought that lack of funds to purchase necessary software and computers would extinguish any hopes of implementing digital storytelling at CVCC. Historically, in the state of North Carolina, funding at the community college level has always been an issue in the implementation of innovative ideas.
Then, as Ms. Gregory and Ms. Steelman, concluded their presentation, they enthusiastically announced that they had applied for a grant; and, as a result, had received full funding to equip one classroom as a digital storytelling laboratory. Thanks to their persistence and their strong belief in the power of story these two became CVCC’s first digital storytelling pioneers. They willingly shared with other colleagues in the institution with the hopes of fanning the flame across the campus and across disciplines.
The year 2003 was the infamous year of preparation for the institution’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation. I am able to recollect this year because it was the beginning of more than seventy-eight meetings that I would attend as the recording secretary of the CVCC Leadership Team. Together the Leadership Team carefully documented the 2004-2005 compliance certification while attempting to interpret vague, ambiguous SACS guidelines. As fate would have it, CVCC’s reaffirmation was occurring at a time SACS was initiating new procedures for the reaffirmation process. As part of the new procedure, SACS required the institution to develop and implement a Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) that focused on enhancing student learning. The three QEP interventions chosen at CVCC were Digital Storytelling, Team Teaching and the development of a Writing Center. Each intervention was implemented in a staggered pattern from 2005-2006 and was continued in successive semesters. Now, the administration was formally introduced to digital storytelling and the word started to spread across the campus.
However, in my opinion, by involving digital storytelling as a QEP focus the flames were not fanned, but rather it was though digital storytelling was put in an airtight container. As education has moved towards “data driven decision-making,” educational practices, which typically do not fit in the empirical arena of measurement, are thought of as having no educational value. It is true that my institution gathered valuable comparative data on student success rates of English students involved in digital storytelling in contrast to those students who were not. This satisfied the SACS requirement of measurable outcomes, but totally ignored student growth in the affective domain. Dr. Parker Palmer, in his book entitled The Courage to Teach, writes, “The intuitive is derided as irrational, true feeling is dismissed as sentimental, the imagination is seen as chaotic and unruly, and storytelling is labeled as personal and pointless” (p. 52). To limit the measurement of academic growth only to a set of numbers detracts from the power of digital storytelling as related to individual and collective constructed meaning.
I have essentially felt negatively towards the method numerical measurement as the only means of assessing student academic growth throughout my educational experiences as a student, teacher, and administrator. I have managed to hide the beast of resistance and have reluctantly conformed to the system of measurement and objectivism. It was not until I became a student in the doctoral program that the beast began to rear its ugly head. It was through the readings that I did in Dr. Dale’s class that resurrected the intense emotion of being the true teacher and the notion of interconnectedness. This is the reason I became a teacher. I wanted to cultivate relationships and unite in the learning experience with my students. The experience of being a student in his class brought me back to life. Life in education can be emotionally draining which ultimately forces one into a day-to-day survival mode. Dr. Dale’s class breathed new life into the lifeless veins of my educator self. Now, I can share my story and value the stories of others. Stories are the threads that keep humanity connected in this tapestry of life. Each thread is a vibrant addition and equally important in creating a beautiful piece of artwork. What better way to weave a tapestry than with a loom called digital storytelling? Technology used in this manner awakens the soul with images, sounds, and narrative to unite and strengthen by transforming and empowering both the student and teacher spirit.
For me, my story of how I became aware of digital storytelling began as a glowing ember. It was a fiery, red ember that needed to be kindled. Both professional and educational opportunities provided the breath that was needed to awaken this ember, spark a flame, and ignite a fire. What started out as a simple sharing session among colleagues has become much more. I will continue to spin my stories around an intense, internal fire keeping myself warm in the belief that digital storytelling fosters self-consciousness, exposes the individual as part of a larger whole, promotes a collective search for understanding, and ultimately seeks to improve the human condition.
Writing Draft
September 27, 2008
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
-Plutarch
How I Discovered the Power of Digital Storytelling
I think it is rather strange that I cannot remember the day or even the year that I was first introduced to the concept of digital storytelling. However, I still, can to this day, recall the sights and sounds that were contained in the first digital story I ever watched. My ears still hear the crickets in the background and my mind recalls vivid pictures of rural Catawba County as a gentle, soothing voice narrates personal experiences and life lessons learned being a child of a fisherman. The story was entitled “A Fisherman’s Child” and it was written and co-produced by two English instructors at Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC), Ms. Kay Gregory and Ms. Joyce Steelman. Little did I know, this brief three and one half minute video production involving images, sound, and narrative would be the spark that would ignite a passion which would become the focus of my doctoral dissertation.
The viewing itself was an emotional experience that required deep introspective and reflective practices from myself as the listener. However, at the time, I must admit I did not see the profound implication it had for adult learners. Like most of my colleagues, I saw this as a passing technology fad and simply thought that lack of funds to purchase necessary software and computers would extinguish any hopes of implementing digital storytelling at CVCC. Historically, in the state of North Carolina, funding at the community college level has always been an issue in the implementation of innovative ideas.
Then, as Ms. Gregory and Ms. Steelman, concluded their presentation, they enthusiastically announced that they had applied for a grant; and, as a result, had received full funding to equip one classroom as a digital storytelling laboratory. Thanks to their persistence and their strong belief in the power of story these two became CVCC’s first digital storytelling pioneers. They willingly shared with other colleagues in the institution with the hopes of fanning the flame across the campus and across disciplines.
The year 2003 was the infamous year of preparation for the institution’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation. I am able to recollect this year because it was the beginning of more than seventy-eight meetings that I would attend as the recording secretary of the CVCC Leadership Team. Together the Leadership Team carefully documented the 2004-2005 compliance certification while attempting to interpret vague, ambiguous SACS guidelines. As fate would have it, CVCC’s reaffirmation was occurring at a time SACS was initiating new procedures for the reaffirmation process. As part of the new procedure, SACS required the institution to develop and implement a Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) that focused on enhancing student learning. The three QEP interventions chosen at CVCC were Digital Storytelling, Team Teaching and the development of a Writing Center. Each intervention was implemented in a staggered pattern from 2005-2006 and was continued in successive semesters. Now, the administration was formally introduced to digital storytelling and the word started to spread across the campus.
However, in my opinion, by involving digital storytelling as a QEP focus the flames were not fanned, but rather it was though digital storytelling was put in an airtight container. As education has moved towards “data driven decision-making,” educational practices, which typically do not fit in the empirical arena of measurement, are thought of as having no educational value. It is true that my institution gathered valuable comparative data on student success rates of English students involved in digital storytelling in contrast to those students who were not. This satisfied the SACS requirement of measurable outcomes, but totally ignored student growth in the affective domain. Dr. Parker Palmer, in his book entitled The Courage to Teach, writes, “The intuitive is derided as irrational, true feeling is dismissed as sentimental, the imagination is seen as chaotic and unruly, and storytelling is labeled as personal and pointless” (p. 52). To limit the measurement of academic growth only to a set of numbers detracts from the power of digital storytelling as related to individual and collective constructed meaning.
I have essentially felt negatively towards the method numerical measurement as the only means of assessing student academic growth throughout my educational experiences as a student, teacher, and administrator. I have managed to hide the beast of resistance and have reluctantly conformed to the system of measurement and objectivism. It was not until I became a student in the doctoral program that the beast began to rear its ugly head. It was through the readings that I did in Dr. Dale’s class that resurrected the intense emotion of being the true teacher and the notion of interconnectedness. This is the reason I became a teacher. I wanted to cultivate relationships and unite in the learning experience with my students. The experience of being a student in his class brought me back to life. Life in education can be emotionally draining which ultimately forces one into a day-to-day survival mode. Dr. Dale’s class breathed new life into the lifeless veins of my educator self. Now, I can share my story and value the stories of others. Stories are the threads that keep humanity connected in this tapestry of life. Each thread is a vibrant addition and equally important in creating a beautiful piece of artwork. What better way to weave a tapestry than with a loom called digital storytelling? Technology used in this manner awakens the soul with images, sounds, and narrative to unite and strengthen by transforming and empowering both the student and teacher spirit.
For me, my story of how I became aware of digital storytelling began as a glowing ember. It was a fiery, red ember that needed to be kindled. Both professional and educational opportunities provided the breath that was needed to awaken this ember, spark a flame, and ignite a fire. What started out as a simple sharing session among colleagues has become much more. I will continue to spin my stories around an intense, internal fire keeping myself warm in the belief that digital storytelling fosters self-consciousness, exposes the individual as part of a larger whole, promotes a collective search for understanding, and ultimately seeks to improve the human condition.
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