Digital Story

What?
My Digital Story experience taught me a lot and opened my eyes to a new way to teaching or prepping my class for a unit that we will be covering. I was amazed at how much impact a 2-3 minute video could really do. While making my digital story I noticed how simple and plain mine seemed to be until I added music. With the music it made the whole feeling of the video different. The words that I used help to set the mood and atmosphere of the movie I wanted but the overall impact came from the music. It taught me the importance that music and auditory can have in a lesson. Finding ways to create my movie without describing every picture was a difficult task. I found myself wanting to explain the pictures so the audience knew what I was talking about, but once i put it all together I could see that the pictures seemed to explain themselves. That is what I really liked about this assignment because the pictures and music could tell so much without me saying a word.

I believe that this would be best used for prepping your class or having a summary or conclusion about what you have taught in a lesson or unit. I would probably use it most in prepping my class to start the thinking process. Being able to do this makes the students start thinking for themselves about the concepts and ideas that will be covered. I may use this in my class every once in awhile but in a physical education class you have more of hands on experiences that you can discover and learn ideas for yourself. In PE skills are best learned through practice. I've always found that students learn better if they are able to get out and try for themselves. I think that in class instruction and demonstration of what we will be learning will have a better impact on the students learning than would a digital story.

So What?
This assignment gave me great ideas about being able to start my students thinking process by showing them a digital story. As a teacher providing a digital video provides an image of having an open mind and diligence in providing the best ways for my students to learn. I believe it has made me as a teacher develop qualities that can help the growth of my students. As a teacher it shows a true desire for giving my students the best education possible. It gives me another way to teach my students that will benefit them. A digital story creates another outlet and understanding for my students to comprehend the skills and strategies taught to them in my class. I believe that through a digital story it can provide a way to supply discovery learning for my students. By showing a digital story it can open their minds and think critically on a topic without me telling them exactly what I want them to discover. With each assignment and new discovery with how to teach my students it definitely develops my progress with the INTASC and NETS standards. It seems with each standard I get a better knowledge and understanding to the importance of these standards. I have developed professionalism that helps me continue to develop and learn the extent of the standards instead of the simple surface and meaning to each one. With the standards it teaches me a new way to obtain the variety of objectives that come with the content and standards. I believe I put my full effort into this assignment. I spend countless hours to find the the songs I felt would enhance the video. I also corrected several times and had others correct my grammar and what I would be saying throughout the video. I enjoyed this assignment especially being able to see the outcome that I produced was fun and insightful.


Now What?
One goal of mine always is to find the best ways to teach my students. Even though I enjoyed this assignment I don't feel that in my Physical Education classes this probably won't be one of the best ways to teach them. I might however, have a video like this in the beginning of the year to introduce myself and have my students get a feel for my classroom. Another goal of mine is to have my students really internalize and love being active. I believe to achieve this goal the students need to have positive hands-on experience after positive hands-on experience. I don't believe that having video like these in my class can achieve this internalization of activity. One final thing that I feel the digital movies fails to achieve is the idea of students learning through practice. With the variety of skills taught in a physical education class you rarely find yourself being able to be successful the first time when just learning. Being able to learn through your failure is one of the best ways to really learn and internalize what you are trying to accomplish. Therefore to meet these goals that I aspire to I will create lesson plans and instructions that provide the most opportunities for my students to learn for themselves through practice.