1. My Digital Story:
I decided to create a personal story about why I run. At the core of my digital story is the idea of intrinsic motivation which is directly related to music education. I hope to use this digital story to promote a JAMM fundraiser/running event: Jogging for JAMM. The goal is to use this digital story to get kids and their families engaged – in physical activity and music through community involvement.
To me running comes down to the feeling in my legs, my lungs and heart. Sometimes it’s my out of necessity (like when I am running to catch the last bus bus!) but mostly, running is something I can hold onto when times are tough. It is something I can grasp, and something that nobody can ever take away from me. To the children in JAMM classrooms, music is that special something. Whether it be physical activity or musical activity, it’s about when the voice inside your head that keeps yelling, "I can't" stops, is replaced by a stronger voice, that whispers, "I can."
This is my story map:
I decided to create a personal story about why I run. At the core of my digital story is the idea of intrinsic motivation which is directly related to music education. I hope to use this digital story to promote a JAMM fundraiser/running event: Jogging for JAMM. The goal is to use this digital story to get kids and their families engaged – in physical activity and music through community involvement.
To me running comes down to the feeling in my legs, my lungs and heart. Sometimes it’s my out of necessity (like when I am running to catch the last bus bus!) but mostly, running is something I can hold onto when times are tough. It is something I can grasp, and something that nobody can ever take away from me. To the children in JAMM classrooms, music is that special something. Whether it be physical activity or musical activity, it’s about when the voice inside your head that keeps yelling, "I can't" stops, is replaced by a stronger voice, that whispers, "I can."
This is my story map:
2. My Story Script
It starts one step at a time; an old pair of shoes and my feet on the sidewalk, the gravel, the beach or a trail. Running is a part of me. You see, I’ve been running since I was a little girl.
I run to get home before dark, to catch the bus, or to see that other side of the mountain ridge line.
I run because it shows me who I am at my core. Step after step, that is where my truth is kept. A mile in a car doesn't seem that far. But when it comes down to my own feet on the sidewalk it is a humbling, grounding experience.
In the times when I want to give up, I always find the strength to dig a little deeper because that is what running has taught me. It taught me not about races and competition, not about seconds and splits. It taught to get through tough times, to overcome obstacles, and to redefine my boundaries.
I don’t know where my feet will take me, but for now I am free. Thin rays of sun cut through the fog and In front of me, the glacier rises slowly, and it is so grand that I am reminded that things are much greater than myself. There is more than the eye could ever see. I want to live for that something…. that is higher, bigger and better.
That is the idea behind Jogging for JAMM. It is an event that combines my love for young people, music and running to help fund a local music education program, Juneau Alaska Music Matters.
Otherwise known as JAMM, Juneau Alaska Music Matters provides free music education to children across Juneau as a means of empowerment and social change. It is something I hold really close to my heart. I work with children in JAMM classrooms everyday. What do I see in the eyes of these students? I see delight, but also determination. I see motivation and inspiration.
I see children as young as five years old, looking like they are ready to take on the word after learning a bow hand or a how to take a bow. At the same time, I see older JAMM students playing important leadership roles
in and out of the classroom.
Music brings people together. Music brings people to places they never dreamed they would reach. So does running. The goal of the 1st annual Jogging for JAMM event is to bring together the community of Juneau for the love running, for the love of music, and most importantly for the sake of our children……because it really does take a community to raise a child.
To the children in JAMM classrooms, music is something they can hold onto for the rest of their lives.
To them, music becomes something that turns “I can’t” into “I can,” not just in terms of musical skills and abilities but in terms of however they want to invent the story of their lives.
3. My Two Column Story Script
It has been a wonderful experience to collect media for my digital story. The JAMM participants take pride in showing me their new skills and talk deeply about their love of music. I also collected footage of myself running with my running club in elementary school, and of a running trip out to the Mendenhall Glacier, which is where the Jogging for JAMM event will take place. This Two Column Story Table is an outline that shows where I will place video clips of images to my narration.
4. About My Digital Story
I created a digital story as a promotion to a race/fundraiser for Juneau Alaska Music Matters (JAMM). This digital story is quite personal; I was shy to share it. However, I am really excited to be a part of JAMM and The Mendenhall Quartet and I look forward to putting my best efforts into supporting this unbelievable program. Here is a link to my Digital Story. Please see below for a reflection and trait scoring guide and rubric.
5. Digital Story Reflection
Here’s a little secret: sometimes I write songs; usually singing with the piano or the guitar, and sometimes with the fiddle. Although I have no formal guitar, piano or vocal training I have this idea in the back of my mind that I would like to be singer/songwriter. Maybe, I would like to write an album or collaborate with other musicians. However, by the time I have put together personal lyrics, a melody, and chords, I usually find myself too shy to share my songs with anyone. In the few times that I have played my songs for anyone, I feel exposed.
Perhaps we are not used to hearing our own thoughts out loud.
I am writing this in my reflection because the process of developing a digital story reminds me of songwriting. In songwriting I put lyrics to a melody or vice versa. In this digital story I put images to my words. I think that seeing our thoughts presented in a visual manner can be a powerful experience. In the same way that hearing my own voice in a song really impacts me. For digital stories and songwriting the experience becomes lasting once it is recorded or published online because in a digital format, we can save these ideas. Through writing a script, collecting media and experimenting with iMovie, photos, and Youtube I learned that the use of technology can be a very touching and emotional process.
I always considered myself to be not a fan of technology. I am a hands-on person; I tend to veer away from spending time in front of a screen. Through creating Jogging for JAMM I realized that media arts is a hands on medium. Just as songwriting involves reworking parts, and a lot of trial and error, so does digital storytelling. This was an interesting experience because I felt as if I was using technology as a means of artistic expression.
I started by coming up with this impossible idea for a script. I wanted to write a personal story about what running has meant to me, but I also wanted to write about my experiences in JAMM classrooms. The result became: Jogging for JAMM. I recorded the script many times, but decided that my first run through actually sounded the most passionate and authentic.
Then, I collected all kinds of pictures, videos and recordings. I ended up with much more media than I could have ever used. While setting images and videos to my script I found that too many pictures and too much motion in the videos actually took away from the message of the story. I wanted my final product to be simple and from the heart.
The part of this project that I struggled with the most (other than writing this reflection), was figuring out how to use my collected materials with all the necessary software. However, by figuring things out on my own I developed a much deeper understanding of how to use iMovie, as well as other several other applications and programs. For that reason, I believe that digital storytelling in the classroom would greatly develop student technology literacy.
Experimental learning gives students something they could never get from a textbook. Sometime along the way, in the hours and hours I spent figuring out how to arrange photos, how to edit transitions, and how to fade the soundtrack, I realized that I was becoming fluent in iMovie. Before I knew it, I was freely using keyboard shortcuts!
In a classroom setting I believe it to be very important to allow for individual work time to provide students with their own learning experiences. In reality, teacher feedback and group work should also play a role in the students projects. A peer mentoring environment would be essential to provide optimize student learning and increased production as there are time and equipment constraints in the schools.
6. My Rubric
I created an Elementary Digital Story Rubric based on Marzano's 4 point rubric. Then, altered the rubric to be put in age appropriate wording. Making the rubric was a big challenge because there is such wide range of traits that could be used for assessment. Because this rubric is designed for an elementary level, I decided to focus on the traits involved with planning, understanding and creativity. As a musician and artist, I value creativity but struggle in assessing such an abstract concept. I believe that student self-assessment and teacher assessment might make more sense for assessing creativity. For an example a student might ask: "did I come up with my own ideas?" Whereas a teacher might ask: "did I provide an environment where student creativity was not limited?" Therefore, the rubric includes a student score and a teacher score. I have also included a teacher self-assessment scale. Although this is designed for elementary, I can see how, at a secondary level, a rubric could assess for writing, media application, citations, research...etc.