Digital Story Relfection

What: This week we learned about Digital Stories and saw many examples of them. Digital stories are great ways to get the students interested in a subject and introduce it to them. It also allows teachers to be creative and put in what they want, instead of finding a source somewhere that only has some information pertinent to what will be taught.
By viewing the examples, I was able to get a good idea of positives and negatives aspects to creating digital stories. For example, the music plays a big role in the digital story. If the music is too distracting, the students will be too busy listening to it and not taking in the content of the story. Also, if this music is not appropriate for the topic, it can also be offensive and distracting. I also learned about different sound effects that are fun and useful, but that should be used sparingly. There are also different programs available to use when creating a digital story.
So what: Digital stories are great in teaching. Like I previously said, they can get students engaged in the subject and content that will be taught. Also, though they can be short, they still provide students with information that can be useful to the content. For example, one of the digital stories that was shown in class was on the Holocaust. I am a history major, and I got a lot from watching that video. I think in certain areas of history, like the Holocaust, a video can teach and show more than just a lecture.
Also, digital stories are very differentiated. They are great for different learning styles and allow many students to be engaged and participate. They are fun ways to introduce the content that will be taught.
Now what: I enjoyed the class on digital stories. Though there were some that I found boring or useless, I believe that is up to the creator of the story. In my classroom, I want the digital stories to be interesting, and varied. There are so many topics in history that can be better taught with pictures and music. I will not use it too often, but enough that my students truly enjoy them and get something out of them.
I also want to provide learning for a wide variety of learners, and I believe that digital stories helps me reach this goal.