Passion and Purpose: Educating Society about Banned Books the Right Way (Digital Storytelling: Week 2)

 Hello all, 

    For my blog this week, I chose to focus on the Inequality is Real interactive presentation. I was so impressed by how they made it engaging and tailored to me as the viewer. The questions and activities allowed me to see how inequality was present for my individual situation. The interactive website was very informative and very personal. It showed me things about the world’s inequality through my unique perspective. The website actually created a very powerful story through its presentation of how inequality is real, personal, and fixable. This platform really spoke to you as a member of society and an individual consumer. The animations and interactions took me through an educational and informative journey by asking me questions to show me how I was a victim of inequality based on gender, education level, and salary range. It then gave solutions to fix the inequality issue through trade, employment, and financial regulation. By making this website engaging and unique, viewers became more enticed to explore. The more they explore, the more they learn. This website was both engaging for the audience and adept at teaching them something important about the causes of inequality. 

    There is tremendous educational value in this financial inequality story. Students need to understand both financial elements and elements of inequality to be successful in life. This interactive website does a great job at teaching about both. I think the target audience for this website is anyone in adulthood or preparing for adulthood as these key points of how inequality is both created and fixable are beneficial lessons for all. Since I am in the education setting, I will be applying it to student standards. Even though I teach English, evaluating sources is a key part of my instruction. This website would be a great resource for students to practice this real world skill. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 8.C states, “evaluate the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes” and 8.D adds “evaluate how the author's use of language informs and shapes the perception of readers;” (TEKS, 2024, 8C-8D). Both of these TEKS highlight the importance of understanding what goes into creating how a story is told and how a message is presented. This website would be a great opportunity for students to practice these very important skills. A key ISTE standard that aligns with the information within this website are 1.3.d Explore Real World Issues “Students build knowledge by actively exploring real world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions (ISTE, 2024, 1.3.d). The Inequality is Real website strongly connects to these standards that support a student's well-rounded education as they strive to become successful members of society. 

    The Inequality is Real website takes a very important concept and makes it easily digestible. If a topic is important but not easily understood, it won’t be taken seriously. This website reminds me that if I want to teach something important about banned books not being bad, I need to make it simple in order for the message to be effective and well received. I want to tell the story of the injustice performed when books are banned. Books contain some of the greatest lessons we as a society can ever learn. This story is really meaningful to me, and I want that to come across to my audience. In his article, “Digital Storytelling Cookbook”, Joe Lambert notes the concept, “We love stories. Stories keep us alive. Stories come from a place of deep insight and with a knowing wink to their audience, and stories that tease us into examining our own feelings and beliefs (Lambert, 2010). My main goal for my story is for people to rethink their beliefs about books being bad and view them as an opportunity to teach valuable lessons. To do this, I plan on following The Story Arc from Jason Ohler’s “How to Make a Story - Process Notes”. Focusing on this story arc will help me articulate my passion and make it understandable and impactful for my audience. 


References 

Lambert, Joe. Cookbook_full.pdf. (n.d.). Google Docs. https://drive.google.com/file/d/16D1rcoBwmyXd8TyhNCmmL6H6joNaHjJ_/view

Ohler, Jason. Storyconcepts. (n.d.). https://storyconcepts.blogspot.com/

Texas Education Agency. (2017). English Language Arts and Reading K - 12 Vertical Alignment Strand1.https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/Vertical%20alignment__K-12_English_06-2019.pdf

1. Students. (2024, July 15). ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/educators

Comments

  1. Trecia GeniusOctober 24, 2024 at 6:57 PM

    Hi Haylee, The story arc outline definitely served as a guide to create the digital story on Educating Society about Banned Books the Right Way. Elements of a digital story and the development process were also highlighted in the analysis of the content of the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen ScrogginsOctober 25, 2024 at 12:36 PM

    Hi Haylee, I also selected "Inequality is Real." I was impressed that it would be tailored to the learner and that, as a learner, you could explore how inequality affected others. I love how the information was broken down and applied to real-life situations. You have a great topic for your digital story and have created a great story map for this topic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Samantha SmithOctober 27, 2024 at 7:35 PM

    Hi Haylee,
    I thought you did a great job breaking down what you learned this digital storytelling "Inequality is Real". I really like the Story Arc you have added into your blog. It really paints a picture on what this story is projecting. It makes more sense when it is broken down into a situation in education because that is something a lot of us in this class can relate to. Awesome job!

    ReplyDelete

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