7 Elements of Digital Storytelling

•  What is the point of view in each?

The point of view is told in first person and at times near the end, 3^rd person.

•  Whose voice do you hear?

            The actual voice of the author. The author of this story is also the narrator.

       

· Dramatic Question

“I am a footballer, which attracts the ladies.”

· Emotional paradigms

Personally, the emotional content which kept me intrigued is related to my background in Health education. As a health educator I know how important this subject is and yet, how difficult it can be and often is for educators and parents to provide the youth with sexual education/awareness.

· What impact did the voice of this story hold?

The voice in this story played a crucial role in the emotional appeal as well as, the “realness” of this story. By including the authors actual voice (speaking in his native language) in the narration it made the story extremely personable and that much more realistic; leaving a huge and somewhat shockingly scary impact on the viewer. 

· Soundtrack

The background music in this story is soft and faint. I feel that it adds to the personality of the video by allowing it to flow nicely through each image.

· Pacing

The narrator keeps you hanging on to each sentence by pausing briefly, but also just long enough to give you time to think about what he is going to say next. 

For example, when explaining his encounter with an older woman, the narrator says:

“"She prepared food and then asked for me to join her.” In between this sentence and the following sentence there is a distinct 7 second pause... the narrator then goes on to say “Then she started romancing me, touching me..”

Chp. 6: Reflection and Empowerment

Three things I learned about story telling are:

1. 1.     Tell exactly how/what happened.
2. 2.     Be your own critic, at times.
3. 3.     Do not have a single story.

“Media superpeers shape young teens perception of what’s normal and appropriate when it come to the growing up process.”

I strongly agree with this quote from the text; especially when referring the subjects of self-esteem, self-concept, and self-image. As a health educator, I know all too well about the superpeer powers that can “tranqualize” young adolescent girls. Therefore, every semester in middle school health we take three weeks and cover these topics. Teens, more often than not, teen girls to be exact struggle with an eating disorder during their adolescent years; many of these disorders being triggered by a magazine picture or celebrity photo that they have seen. This is a perfect example of one of the many negative effects media has on today’s society.

“They’re at an age where they’re dealing with these issues in their everyday lives..”

Referring to celebrity culture and the topic of decision making and risk taking.. I couldn’t agree more with this quote. Students are living in an age where the same decisions that they see in the tabloids could be effecting or making an appearance in their lives soon. By bringing these messages into the classroom for students to analyze and discuss as teachers we can have a huge impact. For example, if you bring in Taylor Swift’s risky decision for students to analyze and draw conclusions from it will for one, increase class participation, two, give students something to recall and pair with the subject, and three, they will be more apt to discuss and point out flaws in another’s life/decisions rather than their own.

“I know that I have been influenced by the TV shows, films, books, and films that I have experienced in both positive and negative ways.”

As I read this I found myself pondering over it a bit. Interested as to how true this actually is. If you think about it long enough, I’m sure that we all have been influenced by these things in life; some of which, have made and shaped us into who we are. My thoughts then lead to, if I was influenced by one of these things, such as a film, did that influence lead me to another influence of that kind? For example, if I watched a Disney movie and liked it, did that lead me into watching another Disney movie; or multiple Disney movies? How did they influence my life? Well, almost every Disney movie has a moral to the story. Beauty and the Beast, don’t judge based on appearance. When you start to think back and analyze there are numerous influences that make us who we are, even something as small as a movie you watched when you were eight.

The Power of Story Telling

The caption of this video captured my attention "takes us into a dream", as well as the surreal opening image of the piece.  

http://reelworks.org/videos/a-film-by-jasmin-ortiz/

This choice was definitely based on the caption.. i love poetry!! The emotional appeal of the title drew me in as well.

http://reelworks.org/videos/dancing-alone/

Once again, the caption drew me in. With all that is happening in the world today, I was intrigued to watch this video and experience another's viewpoint. 

http://reelworks.org/videos/double-standard/

This caption interested me due to the "realness" of the situation. Becoming an adult kind of hits you quickly.. I'm sure many can relate to this. 

http://reelworks.org/videos/forever-young/

This was obviously a "no brainer" for me, as it involved sports!

• I like this digital story because it involved sports, but also because it involved an athlete. A regular student athlete. Not a professional or college superstar, but your every day ordinary high school baseball player.

• This digital story taught me to not be restricted by constrictions. If you want something, go get it.

• It surprised me that after watching, this story was not intended or made just strictly for athletes. This story is for anyone who is wanting to chase a dream that seems out of reach.

• The social problem addressed in this story is a crucial one. In society today people try to put “restrictions on dreams”.  They try to form categories for what people can and cannot or should and should not try or strive to do and achieve. Forget that! If you want something in life, go after it!

• This story is an excellent example of how digital story telling can play a huge influence in lives and social problems. Seeing that it is not just “me” and that other people are experiencing the same problems can be a huge relief and motivator.

• The story provides evidence that the creator is involved involved in the analysis of his own culture because he points out and “calls out” society on its restrictions. On it’s stereotypes and labeling.

• These stories provide respect and healthy respect for healthy multiculturalism because they are not “targeting” anyone or anything, but they are expressing their own experiences and feelings in an appropriate manner. I myself think that these pieces are excellent and can be beneficial to many adolescents living and experiencing today’s society and culture.

Chapter 5: Composing Across Media

Three things I learned about storytelling:

1. 1 A good story emotionally hooks it’s audience
2. S Stories affirm who people are
3. 3 Everyone loves a good story

but, the most important thing I learned is to begin with the end in mind.

“Many students have never worked in collaborative learning groups and need to practice active and tolerant listening, helping one another, giving and receiving constructive criticism, and managing disagreements”.

I could not agree more with this statement. As a middle school physical education teacher I see far too many students come into the gymnasium at the beginning of the semester with little to no collaboration skills. Physical Education class requires students to work collaboratively to achieve goals 90% of the time. Therefore, my co-teacher and I take a great deal of responsibility in trying to help equip our students with this skill set prior to leaving our class.

We encounter students on a daily basis who cannot make decisions for themselves and cry when a classmate asks them if they could please “try to use your legs when hitting the ball next time”. That is followed by students who will choose not to take lead or speak their opinion because they are afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, or saying the wrong thing the wrong way. We finish up with the students who would rather take a grade cut and refuse to participate because they have to work cooperatively.

These students will not be able to function in society without a collaborative skill set. Each day my co-teacher and I try to go out of our way to demonstrate and put emphasis on collaboration in our day to day classroom routine. It’s a struggle at times, but eventually it starts to sink in; especially when students start to see successful results.

Remember, “Teamwork makes the dream work, people!”

Photo retrieved from:
http://173.237.185.173/~connecti/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/5.png

Media Literacy PSA

Reflection:

The purpose of my PSA is straight to the point. It hits you up front with three distinct and crucial facts about cyberbullying. Evidence of the growing cyber bullying problem is everywhere, especially in schools. I used my knowledge and personal classroom experiences with students, as well as researched based facts and evidence to compose this piece. I targeted mothers specifically with this PSA, but I also did not include the “mom” phrase until the final slide; therefore, allowing this PSA to also draw its own audience. Creative expression can be seen throughout each slide with silence to attract attention and create awareness; forcing viewers to read and process each statement. The red font added to highlight key words emphasizes importance to the specifics of the facts and the visual at the end, along with the slogan, hits the nail on the head with emotional appeal to convey the importance of the message. The “what don’t you know, mom” phrase is short, thought intriguing, and will hopefully be embedded into the memory of each mother who views; leaving cyber bullying in their thoughts long after this PSA is over.