Blog 3 (Unit 6)

Digital Storytelling: Not Just Found in the Classroom

I received several Google alerts this week on the topic of digital storytelling being used not only in the field of education, but also in the community to unite people and celebrate people’s diverse stories and experiences. One of the articles was called “Using Storytelling to Reduce Ageism in the Community”, which explains a project run by Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. Students at the university collaborated with community groups to interview older people about their life stories and how they keep active, healthy, and social in their older age. The goal of this project is to educate others on the value of older people to prevent ageism and reduce the chances of elder abuse. Learning happened on both sides of this project as it was made to teach younger people, but the older participants acknowledged they learned about themselves through the project as well. The participants realized even they had their own negative beliefs on aging which had “a significant impact on their confidence, abilities, and the extent to which they engage with their community” (“Using Storytelling”, 2020). The completed video stories were presented to the community as part of the OPERA Project (Older People, Equity Respect and Ageing) to challenge the negative assumptions about getting older and can be seen here at this website: https://opera.eclc.org.au/stories.  

A second Google alert I found is a newspaper article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announcing an event which was held on Monday, February 24^th by the Whitehall Public Library. It was a potluck dinner to welcome community members, specifically refugees and immigrants who have resettled in the area. While this article did not provide many specific details, one part of the event was the sharing of a digital storytelling project, which the library created about immigration journeys to represent the different cultures the attendees came from. Another nice part to this event is that they had local ELL high school students stand in the buffet line to engage people of diverse language backgrounds in conversation and escort them to their seats. This helped integrate the different language groups together, instead of having them sit only with people they might know or share a language with. This made me think of an event I attended three years ago at Moravian College with the same goal of welcoming immigrants and refugees to the Lehigh Valley. It was a meaningful event where we shared a common meal, listened to representatives from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities in our area, and engaged in meaningful dialogues around the table about what home means to us and how we can show hospitality to others. This quote from John Amos Comenius, known as the Father of Modern Education, in 1649 summarizes the goals of these events and, in my opinion, what we needs to be a global focus in 2020.  

“We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one blood. To hate a man because he was born in another country, because he speaks a different language, or because he takes a different view on this subject or that, is a great folly. Desist, I implore you, for we are all equally human…. Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity.” (John Amos Comenius, 1649)

            While our course readings in this unit focused on using digital storytelling in the second language classroom, these two articles show that it can also be used to unite people of different ages, races, and backgrounds for community outreach and events. I enjoyed seeing these examples of how digital stories can help celebrate the diversity and lead to the acceptance of others.    

References:

Sodergren, R. (2020, February 19). Potluck dinner offers a neighborly welcome to longtime and new residents. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved from https://www.post-gazette.com/life/food/2020/02/19/Whitehall-Public-Library-Baldwin-school-district-potluck-dinner/stories/202002190004

Using storytelling to reduce ageism in the community. (2020, February 24). Retrieved from http://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/latest-news/2020/02/using-storytelling-to-reduce-ageism-in-the-community.php

Blog 2 (Unit 5)

It is perfect timing that the content of next week’s unit is Digital Storytelling, and my Google alert came up with an informative article from Education Technology called “Boosting Literacy Through Edtech Storytelling”. The author, Charlotte Krzanicki, is a senior education advisor at Greenwood Academies Trust (GAT), a not for profit organization consisting of 35 academies in England. In an effort to boost creativity and encourage students to “fall in love with reading and writing”, the team of educators at GAT came up with an idea for a storytelling competition across all the schools (academies) in their organization which incorporated technology with literacy skills. The motivation for students to do their best was that it was presented as a competition. This activity was accomplished using Flipgrid as the digital storytelling tool, which I have used on numerous occasions in my German classroom. Flipgrid is a video-sharing platform which allows students to not only practice their writing skills, but also share knowledge and use communication skills. According to Krzanicki (2020), one of the greatest impacts of this competition was being able to engage primary age boys in particular, since this activity allowed them to share ideas, talk, and be physically active using educational technology. Krzanicki adds that the competition has been an outstanding success for the organization, reminding them that students will become active participants in their learning if it is presented in a fun manner. They are eager to use more digital storytelling approaches in the future to keep students engaged in innovative ways.
I have used several digital storytelling platforms already in my classroom. Flipgrid is one of the easiest video tools to use with students. I have used Flipgrid for presentational speaking and interpersonal speaking assessments. I can share the Flipgrid link to our LMS of Schoology, and students go directly to our class account to record their videos and record responses to each other. The pause button is especially comforting to students who may need a couple seconds to gather their thoughts before they move on and record more. This is one reason why I like using Flipgrid over the recording function in Schoology. The pause button helps to lower the affective filter for second language learners who feel stressed and anxious over speaking assessments. After all, as Krzanicki summarized, students will feel engaged in the assignment if it is entertaining and they can take control of their learning experiences.

Krzanicki, C. (2020, February 14). Retrieved from https://edtechnology.co.uk/Blog/boosting-literacy-rates-schools-digital-storytelling/

Blog 1 (Unit 4)

     The alerts I set on Google have given me a fair amount of interesting articles on second language acquisition and digital storytelling. One article caught my attention rather quickly by the title “Death to the Language Textbook!”. As a German language teacher, this made me laugh and think back to an awful textbook we had several years ago. I’m pretty sure my colleagues and I have wished death to that textbook before! Thankfully, we now have an excellent textbook which was designed to only be used as a supplemental resource. One of the more interesting points is that this article is an op-ed from the student newspaper of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. It seems to be criticism aimed at the language professors of the university who are textbook-driven with grammar drills and vocabulary lists. The author, student Nero Grok-Gallagher, notes 3 important ways to reinforce language learning, none of which are to keep your nose buried in a textbook.

     First, the teacher needs to instill the initiative in students to actively study and supplement their learning outside of the classroom. Once the class has ended, students need to be interested enough in the language to further their own learning. I have said this to my students on numerous occasions. My classroom is just the beginning in their language learning experience. Only seeing students for 43 minutes a day, 180 days of the year is not going to be enough to teach them a language. They have to take the initiative and search out ways to learn and improve their language skills. 

     This can be accomplished through Grok-Gallagher’s second piece of advice: utilize technology whenever necessary. The author references Duolingo, Netflix, YouTube, and Quizlet as valuable tech tools for students to practice their language skills. Since my school is 1:1 with student Chromebooks, I utilize technology constantly and also show my students how to use these resources and find additional ones. The gamification format of Duolingo is especially engaging to my students and I can tell which students have studied with it on their own due to their advanced knowledge of vocabulary words and phrases.

     Last, Grok-Gallagher states the best way to reinforce language learning is by communicating with others in the target language. This is accomplished by seeking out ways to practice the language, for example join a language-learning community, find opportunities in social media, or travel abroad. As a high school teacher, I encourage my students to communicate with each other in the language outside of my classroom, though due to their age, I do not encourage them to find their own outlets via social media. My school is fortunate enough to have a German American Partnership Program through the Goethe Institut with a school in Gladenbach, Germany. Many of our students do become friends with the students at our partner school and continue communicating long after the official program has ended. Every two years we travel to Germany to give our students that global perspective and immersion in practicing their language skills. This exchange program is in its 24^th year at my high school and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the German teachers and students to Pennsylvania next month, which follows with our students visiting Germany in June.

     I think if the author of this op-ed came into my classroom, he would be pleasantly surprised that not all language teachers instruct via grammar drills and vocabulary lists straight out of a textbook. Like all good teachers, you have to be creative in your instruction using multiple resources and view your teaching as a stepping stone in a student’s life which will provide them with the life-long skills of how to approach learning a language or any subject for that matter.