Digital Storytelling planning guide

I just spent a while planning a digital story telling/immigration/critical thinking unit. I love to do this kind of stuff! My class has been producing digital products for a few years now. I have been trying to achieve the perfect, yet elusive critical thinking product/project for about the same time. I have put my planning template on a wiki for the world to see ( I like to share!). It is included below, check it out and see what you think. Comments are welcome.

It is important for you to know that our school board has been working with Bernajean Porter on higher order thinking (HEAT) and digital story telling. Many of the links are to her digitales page. She has been an inspiration for my work in or class.

TASK	STUDENT ACTIVITY	DATE COMPLETED	ASSESSMENT TOOL	dn
1. Introduce topic: “immigration”	Statistics Mosques in Alta. Pier 21 (Notes)		Generate 10 questions
2. Show example digital story telling	View examples
3. Brainstorm components of good digital story telling	Prioritized list (written list) Elements of a good digital story		10 components
4. Choose assessment rubric for final product, including written and digital	Cogenerate rubric
5. Brainstorm questions on topic	Web		20 questions minimum (written)
6. Narrow questions to critical question(s) “Who should we let immigrate to Canada?” (modern vs. historical)	List 3 critical questions		Critical questions (written) · Divergent · Authentic · Relevant · Higher order verbs link
7. Web of what we need to know	Web (written)		5 primary questions min.
8. Outline of written product · Introduction · Body · Answering critical question	Critical Question · Introd. · 5 paragr. · Answer CC		Minimum 7 paragraph outline
9. Jot notes, categorized	Research (written)		Jots, own words, categorized, 5-10 bits/category
10. References	List ref.		Five sources
11. First draft	Writing using outline		7 paragraphs, see writing rubric link
12. Editing	Edit 1st draft with classmate/teach.		Evidence of editing, significant improvement
13. Final draft	Time permitting
14. Story board	Storyboard		10 pages
15. Collect media · Video · Pictures · Music	See copyright friendly links · Images · Music
16. Digital product · Photostory · Onetruemedia · Other			See co-generated assessment rubric link

Uncomfortable

I was sitting in a PD session with Bernajean Porter on Fri. and was thinking about how fortunate I am to have been a part of this professional learning. She has taught us about essential questions (rigor, heat, authenticity, how to cultivate knowledge producers, essential questions, higher order thinking transformative use of technology and much more) and digital products/multi-media (brainstorming, storyboarding, voice-overs, the writing process, the seven steps for producing digital products and much more).

She has a blog which contains much of what one needs to know to produce great digital products. I am so happy to have a better framework for digital products in my room and can hardly wait to share it with my students and colleagues. I am so proud of our board, the Saskatoon Board of Education, for having spent the time and money on such a worthy project. It is an honor to be a pilot school with so many other skilled teachers from other schools. I am looking forward to the next step in the process.

It is an exciting time to be a teacher. There is so much to learn about new technology and the power it has to transform the classroom. If I may use Joe Bower's short hand, Bernajean is all about:

good pedagogy + effective technology = good teaching

There are definitely times when I feel uncomfortable with access to such great information, tools and resources. I remember when I started my journey to transform my classroom. I had read enough, taught enough, talked enough. I had come to a time in my career when I knew I couldn't teach the same way again. I had to transform my class into the 21st century. I am making great progress and proud of what I have accomplished. There are reasons for me to be uncomfortable. Substantive change is not always easy and not always smooth. I feel uncomfortable when:

1. My great ideas don't always result in great classroom practice.
2. Extensive reading and networking reveal to me that others seem to be farther long than me.
3. I write about change, I claim to know something about it, yet I am not there yet in my own classroom.
4. I feel like no matter how hard I work I am not keeping up rapid advances in technology. There are so many tools that I am unaware of or have never used.

Primarily, I am pumped about the possibilities for deep learning in all of our classrooms. Learning that is beyond what we ever imagined possible. Being uncomfortable is a small price to pay. I know too much to stay the same.

One Grade 7 Student's 21st Century, or is it?

I found this on the cpchat daily blog. I saved it immediately and showed it to my class the next day. I thought it was a great example of a 21st century kid in a 21st century classroom.

As I watched it again I began to see it differently. It didn't seem to me to include the kind of rigor and heat Bernajean Porter calls for when technology is used. Our goal in our classroom is using higher level thinking, hopefully using technology! Does this video show signs of transformative learning and being a knowledge producer or is it using technology to be a knowledge consumer?

Watch it and let me know what you think!