In my chapter 5 post I noted that Ohler’s mapping technique requires
students to have a solid grasp on what their “story core” is. In chapter 6, I could see how Ohler approaches
developing his students understanding of what a story core is and how they can develop
their own story cores through the use of mentor texts and group brain storming.
These approaches are exactly how I coach the young writers in my 8th grade English class through a process called writers workshop. We look at how other writers approach the craft of writing, and then we use their examples to develop our own written pieces. The trick to this approach is to assess what the needs of the writers are, or in Ohler’s case the needs of the digital story teller:
These approaches are exactly how I coach the young writers in my 8th grade English class through a process called writers workshop. We look at how other writers approach the craft of writing, and then we use their examples to develop our own written pieces. The trick to this approach is to assess what the needs of the writers are, or in Ohler’s case the needs of the digital story teller:
"When I'm conducting a workshop, the nature and goals of the group, as well as the time and resources that are available, always determine some aspects of my approach. That's why I like to talk to organizers prior to a storytelling event to determine how to best meet the unique needs of the participants, regardless of whether I'm in a classroom, a workshop, or at a conference." (location 1358)
I have found that with my students, they struggle with the academic language of storytelling. They are not likely to answer a question like, “what was the resolution of this story.” They are however capable of explaining how a problem was solved by the end of a story. Ohler recognizes these challenges in own digital story tellers and recommends using student friendly language when talking about stories. He suggests asking "How did the character change?” versus asking what transformation did the character take in a story. (location 1411)
Based on my own experiences in the classroom and Ohler’s recommendations, I feel that all story telling (including digital story telling) is accessible to a variety of learners, given that the objectives are tailored to student need and supported with strong examples to help define the story teller’s target.
Ohler, J. (2008). Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy,
Learning, and Creativity [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
