Week Eight - Double Entry Journal

Quote:
  "For example, students learned that it takes courage to share their stories publicly; they risk judgment from others. But once they develop confidence and commitment to the storytelling process, students can generate many new insights related to media production as a vehicle for engagement with culture identity work through producing short videos and by remixing and repurposing existing media content to tell new stories." (Raimist, Doerr-Stevens & Jacobs, 2010)

Reflection: 
 I was moved by the acknowledgement that it takes courage to tell a personal story, which I completely agree with. I think this is something that, as teachers, we must address and acknowledge to our students at the beginning of any process that storytelling is involved. I have taught documentary media production in the past, in which we asked students to create a piece about an issue affecting their community. The students with the strongest videos were usually the ones that came from a very personal place. I am sometimes wary of putting personal stories out into the open because I am a pretty private person. This sometimes effects my ability to tell a whole story and affects my ability to encourage my students to put themselves out there in a brave and courageous way. One thing this class is helping me to understand is that in order to tell an alternative, honest and empowering story, one must overcome initial feelings of exposure (tempered with good judgement, of course), and be brave enough to put it out there.  

What I am struggling with: I teach career-readiness and one thing we talk about is being careful about what you put out into the internet that can be seen and searched for by employers. We encourage our students not to put anything damaging out onto the world wide web. We even tell students not to mention they have kids to prospective employers. How do I reconcile this with being brave and courageous to put yourself out there in a digital storytelling format?

What do I do if I have someone who is 22 and looking for work, but also made a film as a teenager that showcases she was a teen mom or made some bad choices at 16? For instance, on the Reel Works website, I watched a film by a 17 year old who had dropped out of school and was documenting the immediate days afterwards while reflecting on how much she felt going back to school would be a waste of time.

 I disagree completely with the idea that an employer wouldn't hire someone because they made a film 6 years ago detailing their struggle as a teen mom, or as a drop-out, but I recognize that this is a reality. I am interested in using critical media literacy as a way to change the culture to recognize that every story is individual, but I'm concerned about what some stories could mean for the students' immediate future. One thought, is that teacher education could be the answer, because it could be the responsibility of the teacher to address these issues. I know that these could be somewhat separate issues, but important to think about and address. I believe creating media is a hugely important part of critical media literacy, but so is determining what to share of yourself personally, especially if the digital story will be published on the internet.

Additional Resource: 
 http://www.storycenter.org/ethical-practice/

  I was looking for a resource that helped me come to terms with my struggle I wrote about above. I was very pleased to see that the Center for Digital Storytelling addressed my concerns. I was not surprised because I felt like someone had to have brought these same concerns up and I knew the CDS was a great organization. I would hope that any teacher or organization entering into a digital media curriculum would follow these principles. I am, unfortunately, doubtful that this is the case but hope with greater teacher education (such as this class!), this will be addressed and the CDS' core principles will be adopted.

 Resources:

 Raimist, R., Doerr-Stevens, C., & Jacobs, W. (2010). The pedagogy of digital storytelling in the college classroom. Retrieved from http://www.seminar.net/index.php/home/75-current-issue/145-the-pedagogy-ofdigital-storytelling-in-the-college-classroom