Digital Storytelling Video

Another one of the projects that we created that I enjoyed making was our digital storytelling project. What I liked about this project is that we were able to display any topic in the video that we found could be of educational value to the students or one that could be applicable in the classroom. And I thought this was one of the best ideas for teaching curriculum just because almost every child I know would rather watch a video or television program as a source for learning than the traditional lecture formatting the classroom provides. In this way the students are learning without knowing they're learning, because they're being entertained while also being fed viable information.
  I decided to do my project on the peoples and culture of the Dominican Republic to expose students to what daily life is like for people in a third world country. I think as young students, it's hard for elementary school students to understand what life is like outside their own personal "bubble" of experience. I also think that it is key for all students to learn about ways of life different from their own, as classrooms are becoming more and more culturally diverse as time progresses. Therefore, students need to be continually aware and accepting of those who have different practices, beliefs, and customs as they do.
   Also, too often in the U.S., I find that students don't realize how fortunate they are to live the way that they do and have an education readily available to them to give them more opportunities in the future. By seeing my video, my students would understand that an education is not something to take for granted, because in impoverished countries like the D.R., education at any level is a privilege and many students take great enthusiasm in going to school everyday.
  Overall, however I wanted the premise of the video to be that, although I have shown many cultural, geographic, and economic differences, many of the people there are not unlike us. This is to encourage them to embrace all types of people, instead of bullying those they don't understand or don't get along with. Bullying and disrespect I think is something much too prevalent in today's school system, and the more we teach our students tolerance and the ability to harness and be confident in their individuality, the better the learning experience will be for all students.
  When creating my video, I found the slideshow portion very easy to make...I simply put the photos in the order I wanted them to appear with the appropriate caption. However, I accidently deleted the photo album from Picasa somehow because I transferred my pictures to my documents, and I had to upload the photos a second time. Then when the time came for me to add the music file, I did so with little effort, but i was unable to figure out how to loop the music or make the timing sync with the photos, which I found frustrating, because the song ends and the rest of the video continues playing for a little less than half the viewing time.
  Although it had its pitfalls, I liked making this project because I turned a collection of photos from a mission trip into something I could legitimately use in the classroom that touches on many different subject areas (however brief) like geology, history, and language. It's also something that I can predict many culturally diverse, ELL, and ESL students would appreciate because it's purpose is to help students embrace and respect those of other cultures.