Wk 4 Publishing Leadership Project Part 1 of 2

Students analyze Garage Band loops

Of the possible sites for publication shared with us by Dr. Bedard,  Edutopia seems most compatible with the kind of research I did.  While my research centered around using digital storytelling to teach world history, it is also very project-based in nature. In fact, given the very unusual enrollment and attendance issues I had to deal with throughout the project, I believe my results say more about project-based learning than they do about digital storytelling.

 Did students participate more fully when I used hands-on lessons and simulations? Yes. Did students complete tasks, and do them well, when they were part of creating the class documentary movie? Yes. Did students express positive feelings about the way we approached learning world history? Yes. Were there times students were reluctant to leave, or when we forgot the time because they were so engaged? Yes.

Having said that, carrying out this project has been one of the most frustrating things I have ever done because of two issues: enrollment and attendance.

My Cycle I actually started during our second trimester, but the project was interrupted by Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, and the beginning of the second trimester, which also brought with it a change in enrollment.  Our enrollment this year has been the most unstable it has ever been in the history of our Community Ed program.  After the Thanksgiving break, I lost two of the six students who were with me at the beginning of Cycle I.  Then, during the wrap-up of Cycle I and the implementation of Cycle II, the enrollment and attendance in my class fluctuated in the extreme.

I started the second trimester with four of my original six students.  Nine days into the trimester, four more students were enrolled, which was good because it gave me a bigger group to work with. However, these students had not gone through the foundational experiences I had used to create a background with.  This background was meant to be a springboard, allowing students to relate the experience of people at the fall of the Roman Empire with modern catastrophes.  I found myself repeating and backtracking to some extent in order to bring these new students up to speed.

Three and a half to four weeks into our 12-week trimester, three more students were added, and in the fifth week of the trimester, two more names were added to my roster.  Half way through week seven another new student was added, and in week nine yet another.  Although, technically, I eventually had 15 people on my class roster, I had one who attended five classes then moved away. I had one who attended once, two who came three times, and one who never came at all.

Of the students still on my roster at the end of the second trimester, I had the following attendance:
Days missed     Days enrolled
     27                        44
     10                        38
     10                        62
     16                        53
     17                        62
       4                        62
     25                        62
     17                        44
       4                        45
     32                        53
       7                        22

Two students eventually switched over to the GED program.  One moved to Mexico because her boyfriend was deported, so she moved to be with him. A couple had transportation issues related to not having money for gas to get to school.  A couple quit coming for no known reason.  It may be that after they missed so much, they knew they wouldn't get full credit and dropped out without officially dropping out.

In any case, it was maddening to try to accomplish anything, let alone the digital storytelling project, when I didn't know on any given day who would be there, and when people entered and left  my class at such random times.

On the up-side, even the students with poor attendance completed the main tasks associated with the digital storytelling project. All of the eleven listed above did research and created a storyboard based on their research.  Each of them also found copyright free images to use in their part of the movie. Most went onto ccMixter and found music they could use. All but one of them turned their research and storyboards into a script for the narration of their part of the movie. If you visit my action research web site, you will see there were some encouraging results. 

I do not know if I will be able to share my results on the Edutopia site.  I did send the following request, however.

As a student in the Education Media Design and Technology masters degree program through Full Sail University, I recently completed an action research project designed to discover if involving at-risk high school students in a digital storytelling project would enhance engagement.  Students participated in researching, planning, and carrying out a movie intended to be a documentary about the Middle Ages.

My target audience would be high school social studies teachers. I would like to share examples of the hands-on experiences students participated in throughout the project, with student feedback and examples.

I currently teach alternative high school students through the Sturgis Public Schools Adult/Community Ed program. This is my 21st year in the classroom. I hold a BS in Speech with an emphasis in theater and a minor in history. I also hold an MS in Reading (Reading Specialist).  Over the past six years I have immersed myself in the study of ways of integrating technology in my classroom, culminating in my pending completion of my Education Media Design Technology masters.

This would be my first piece for publication on another site, although I do maintain a blog of my own at www.edubabel.blogspot.com.  My Facebook URL is www.facebook.com/patricia.ort2 , however the best way to reach me is through my Google account at trishaweb2.0@gmail.com.