Do Kids Really Want to be Challenged?

Marco Torres Multi Media in the Classroom
Breakout Session 1:30 – 2:30

Enter Rosa, collaborating with Marco via live audio feed from California. Rosa a former student shared the presentation throughout the beginning of the presentation using a shared computer screen and audio. One to one collaboration and one to one professional development are effective and easily accomplished today.

Marco suggests that for him the digital storytelling process is about teaching kids to be effective communicators – technology is not the goal. Digital story telling is about writing through the framework of a story. Telling stories intrigues and engages kids – writing is part of the process not the end goal.

When Torres works on storytelling through the creation of movies, the first step is to craft a story. Kids need to think thematically and they use Inspiration software to organize and plan around thematic writing. Rosa takes control and demonstrates how she used an inspiration diagram a story on the idea of “stars”, people that are considered stars, to map out the movie making process. Using the inspiration mind mapping process allows students to focus on elements of the “story” that are interesting not simply talking heads. It also provides a place to map other roles that are necessary to the movie making process such as camera, sound etc. It also allows teachers to differentiate content and roles based on the story elements and strands based on their readiness and interest levels.

Photography and films have been a tool for liberation for decades. At the onset of the first proliferation of the color TV also was the Vietnam war. The color red had new meaning through the lens of a war, red…blood…emotion. Think of the civil rights movement and the images that come to mind. If we can capture that much emotion and memory via still images imagine what we can do with digital video.

Consider this – do kids love challenges? Look at your own behavior to find the answer. We love Iron Chef because we want to see how the overcome the challenges of the ingredients they are provided, make something from eel tails. We love “Myth Busters” because they are always finding ways to challenge themselves.

“Get kids to come back tomorrow by infecting them with curiosity today.”

What are the stories waiting to be told in your class?