Digital Storytelling

We probably all associate a favorite quote to people we listen to and read. For better or worse. “Well intentioned paperwork” is my favorite from Jason Ohler. He uses it to describe most of our “traditional” assignments and assessments. I bring this up because I am beginning to teach my 9th section of Digital Storytelling for the Discovery Education/Wilkes U. masters program. Students have begun to post their first reflections on this week’s assigned textbook reading from Jason’s Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity. I highly recommend that book to you too if you are looking for a good read on digital storytelling that pretty much covers all the bases in a very practical way. And while I look forward to 7 weeks of reflections from my grad students that begin something like, “As Ohler says on Pg….,” I anxiously anticipate even more the videos that will “resonate” with their classmates and eventually get their own students resonating.

Nothing very sinister here. That’s just the deadline  in the latest round of BrainyFlix vocabulary videos contest. Winners split the $600 Grand Prize with their school and anybody (up to the first 900) who submits 3 videos gets an iTunes gift card. This is a great way to visualize vocabulary in any language as well as concepts in other subjects.

And, hey! The Discovery/3M Young Scientist Challenge has just opened up for this school year. There will be a lot more on this later but you can start by checking out this year’s video application topics. The deadline for 5-8th grade students to submit their videos is May 27th, 2010.

What’s Your Issue Foundation’s mission “is to provide a unique national platform for young adults to propose creative solutions to some of our nation’s most important challenges and for that voice to be heard, honored, and acted upon by leaders in government, the media, the private sector, and the nonprofit world.” They’ve just opened the 2010 competition asking 14-24 year olds to use their video AND musical voices to identify and solve problems facing us all. The “next generation of leaders and social entrepreneurs” is encouraged to share their view in a video or a song approximately 3 minutes long. I don’t see a deadline yet and there are some tutorials to come, so keep checking their site for updates.

The Great Minds Foundation is starting the year with its newest challenge to create a 2-5 minute video on something that “you’d like your peers to be more aware of (such as anti-smoking, anti-drugs, anti-violence, or random acts of kindness, etc.)” This is open to  high school and college students. You have until June 1st, 2010. And there are cash prizes. BUT it’s worth checking the website just to look over the rules. They provide good ground rules for any school video project.

I have always felt that one of the recurring gifts of teaching was hearing from or about former students who were successful (I even taught and coached with a few). I got a bit of that feeling Sunday morning when I was thumbing through the USA Weekend  insert in our Sunday paper and Spotted the Pittsburgh Steelers’ #34 at the top of a page. In my school, we all knew Rashard Mendenhall was destined for the big time after his first varsity season as a sophomore. And I was fortunate enough to also see his creative side whenever he came into my multimedia lab to work on a video project for a class. What I learned in Sunday morning’s paper is that Rashard (along with a few other prominent athletes) is also a poet and he plans on writing a book. With all the negative publicity pro athletes manage to generate, it’s great to see the positive, less sensational side get some press - especially when it’s someone you know.

In spite of suspicions of “coercion,” the latest winner in the BrainyFlix series of vocabulary competitions has been announced. Kind of reminds me of a B movie I saw once about a high school sub who is really ex-Green Beret or something and comes in to clean up discipline in the school. Keep checking in on the BrainyFlix site for new contests and great ACT/SAT vocabulary review.

And - What’s Your Issue?

Submissions for this film and song writing contest “for all global thinkers 14 to 24″ begin in January with an April 10th deadline. This  round’s issues are

• Education
• Environment
• Economic Recession
• Health and Healthcare
• Pathway from Poverty
• National Security and Defense
• Public Service
• Human and Equal Rights

The Department of Education’s “I am What I Learn” voting closes today (http://www.ed.gov/iamwhatilearn/index.html). Pick your three favorites from the ten finalists. Then, if you can find a little extra time, share your opinion of those student thoughts on the role of education in their lives in a comment below.

Just got this reminder from the good folks at BrainyPics:

***This Is Your Final Week to Submit Brainypics***

We’ll be picking the LAST 5 FINALISTS who will compete for our $200 Grand Prize and win themselves iTunes songs.  Ooooohhhhh~

We won’t be setting a special theme this week. Just make your Brainypics funny and memorable.  Get started is easy (of course): http://Brainyflix.com.

P.S. - We had some really great submissions which we had to pass on because there was no source listed. Ooooffffff. Please remember to show the source!

I just want to remind you all of the Department of Education’s invitation to have students (13 years and older) share the importance and relevance that their education has and will have in their lives. The deadline is Monday, November 2nd.
Reposted from September 26th:

I am what I Learn

Apparently, that’s what the Department of Education thinks and would like to hear students’ thinking on that in a 2 minute video. And by student they mean “an active middle, secondary or college student 13 years or older.” I’m sure they set 13 as the starting point because of YouTube’s terms of service. If sharing their viewpoint with the federal government isn’t enough of an incentive for your students, the three winners will also receive a $1,000 award.

And if your students don’t want to or can’t enter the actual contest, they could still take the challenge to share their feelings with the class, school, administration, and maybe even the community as a whole. This is a great opportunity to encourage your students to think about what value they place on their education (and what investment they need to make personally).

Saturday, October 24, 2009
9 AM to 4 PM ET
Click here to register for the virtual sessions.

10.  College football is overrated.

9.  The digital treats you’ll take away won’t cause cavities.

8.   You can attend in your pajamas (virtually or in-person, we’re flexible).

7.  Two full hours of the soothing sounds of Justin Karkow
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director (9 AM and 3 PM ET)

6.  A chance to win a HD Flip Cam for dressing up as your favorite Discovery personality

5.  Brand new interstitials

4.  Any time Steve Dembo uses the word “bling” in a presentation, watch out!
Putting the Bling in Your Builders (12 PM ET)

3.  The archived sessions just don’t have the same pizazz.

2.  Amazing professional development for the very reasonable price of…FREE.

1. Networking, networking, networking!

For the schedule and more information, visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/virtcon09.

Crossposted from http://blog.discoveryeducation.com