Reflection of Digital Story

Samantha Rae (Bartlett) Rexrode
I would like to start by saying that I personally found this digital storytelling an awesome experience as a student and therefore, based on those grounds, I would take it into a classroom. When working on this photo story, I learned so much about myself and the other students in the classroom that it truly made me proud of what I am and who I have become and it also linked me to many of my classmates who have a great relationship with their father too. Much like what Moll talked about in his study on the “Funds of Knowledge”, this dynamic study of myself game me a better understanding of who I am and how I became who I am and by watching my peer’s stories, I also learned what made them who they are. As I was watching particular stories, I also noticed that many of the people in the class are a lot like me in that they were raised playing sports, honoring family, learning “trades” of their families, etc. However, I also learned why I am not your “typical West Virginian” in that I don’t know how to grow flowers, plant gardens, can foods, and all those other trades because most people learn those from their grandparents and all my grandparents died at a very young age or became ill when I was a youngster myself.
Also, when watching the digital stories that were being created I noticed that many of them differed in the way that they were made. Some people had pictures from their own cameras or their own households, while others worked through Google to find pictures that related to their poem. I think that little difference in itself shows that open-ended assignments such as this are a good way to incorporate all learners, no matter what their resources, learning styles, etc. This digital story is a good way to give students who maybe don’t have a lot of literacy awareness a different form of knowledge when it comes to literacy. I keep thinking back to the Purcell-Gates article and thinking about what would have happened if that teacher would have simply given Donny literacy experiences such as these instead of automatically “kicking him out” of her class. Wouldn’t this type of literacy knowledge benefit him just as reading a book or writing? So maybe he’s not a linguistic learner, but let him show you what he is good at which may be representing his thoughts through pictures or song, and by actually doing a project rather than answering a paper and pencil test.
You see, I believe that this assignment take those stereotypes that teachers may have against a student or a group of students and proves them wrong, or proves them to be a good thing. This could help the teacher take the cultural deficit perspective that she walks into the classroom with and turn it in to cultural capital. What I mean is, for instance, for a child like Donny, rather than marking him off as someone who was raised by people who can’t read and write, maybe the teacher could have learned how the parents adjusted to those situations and mock that inside the classroom. I am trying to say that if we would teach students who can’t read or write, like we teach students who are trying to learn a different language we may see some progress. However, if we don’t know the symbols they use, or their “other language” than we can’t teach them a new one.
Overall, I thought this was a great experience and one that I think would be an eye opener inside the classroom year after year. I think that each year you would have a new eye opening experience, simply through this one project.

Here is my reflection online.